Da babes and some serious stuff

Nona and I (in that order, strictly) are without a shadow of doubt the hottest chicks in the Cornell mansion today.

See, we went surfing this morning. A friend of Nona's, a lady who's surfed for over 20 years, took us to Pine Trees beach in Kona, bringing a board along for each of us. The beach is kind of rocky and the bottom is really rocky, so the first thing I did after paddling out a few dozen meters on the board was to fall off of it and cut my heel (ever the babe, you see). Nona did pretty well on her board (read: stayed on it), whereas I kept falling off (such a babe, you know). Falling off, per se, would not have been a problem (you just get back on the board, which isn't too hard at all) but with that bottom, rocky and strewn with sea urchins whose spikes make you ache for days, it wasn't so great. After a while, I figured I'd have more fun bodyboarding, so I traded my super-cool surfboard for a boogieboard and fins. Had tons of fun!! The waves were nice, not too big at all, and being in the water watching all these people surf was just amazing. Especially seeing ladies in their sixties and kids who can barely walk gracefully riding the waves. Did I say amazing? Totally. Amazing.

Which does not mean that I'm not still a telemark girl at heart :)

Not taking anything away from Nona and I, I still think it's fair to say that the hottest babe on the beach was our host, Karen. She is such an interesting person. Thanks to her and some of her friends' efforts, Pine Trees beach is a public beach about to be turned into a county park, instead of a pricy resort for the select few. They fought a long and hard battle, stretching over 15 years, to get the developers away and secure the beach for the public. It was so inspiring to hear her tale. Made me believe that the Icelandic highlands, Þjórsárver and tons of other threatened places back home in Iceland still stand a chance of survival.

What secured their success? People hearing of the beach being threatened and going there to see it and enjoy it before it was too late. Everyone came to love it and a huge momentum was generated in the society for the preservation of the beach. So, all you Paris-London-Rome-going Icelanders, go to Kárahnjúkar instead. Go to Þjórsárver. See what you will be losing. Then decide for yourself whether losing it is worth what you get back (verðbólga, þensla, nýtt sjónvarp í eldhúsið). Please don't let Landsvirkjun's PR gang decide the future of our land for us.

Karen told me that if the battle for the beach had only been fought by environmentalists, it would probably have been lost. The only reason they were so successful is that indigenous peoples' rights and human rights were made an issue. Now, technically speaking we Icelanders cannot really think of ourselves as indigenous. We are, however, fighting against the same trespassing on our lands as the native Hawaiians (and native peoples everywhere): multinational companies (backed by our government and its institutions) taking our land for their own benefit, giving very little back to the community and not giving a rat's ass about how their arrival on the scene influences traditional land uses and values. A scene most understandable in the so-called third world, of which Iceland doesn't usually consider itself part.