Welcome to Iceland, may I see your credit card?

I knew before coming here that Iceland was going to be expensive. The friendly folk at Lonley Planet claim Iceland is second only to Japan in cost of living. I successfully managed to overlook the cost of goods in Japan for 3 years (perhaps to the chagrin of my bank account) thus thought 2 months here would be a cinch. However just how expensive the supermarket in Sauðárkrókur is versus the rest of Iceland caught me a bit off guard. Even though I am on an account, I cannot bring myself to take chicken breasts to the cashier at $44/kg - no matter whose money it is! In order to quench my chicken appetite I’ve purchased legs at a reasonable $12/kg. Last week I was in Akureyri, Iceland’s second largest town at 15,000 people and went to a store with prices that were remarkably comparable to Canada. I was in shock. Amazingly Campbell’s Mushroom Soup goes for about $1 there compared to the $2.50 that I shell out. The chicken legs were probably free...

However being an island nation, fish is a bargain in comparison. Anyplace where smoked salmon lox is cheaper than salami can’t be all that bad. Thus my sandwiches have comprised mostly of smoked salmon and for that I can't really complain.

Meals

The only meals that I really have to cook are dinners. Breakfasts, lunches, and teatime snacks are in the university cafeteria. Mmmm… teatime… Icelandic cooking isn’t the friendliest to calorie counters, and the teatime cakes are dreadfully delectable. Once the clock hits 3, it's off with the rubber gloves, off with the raingear and out the door for a relaxing afternoon tea. Trevor, my predecessor here, said teatime was his favourite. Now I know why.

Accommodation

Thankfully I don't have to pay for lodging because I have read that for rustic (shall I say meagre) accommodation anything upwards of $100/night, even as high as $800/night, is not uncommon. My accommodations are definately better than rustic, thus would probably fall somewhere within that range. However, if I do venture out of Holar it may cost me a small fortune to find a place to rest my head. It's a good thing there's lots of camping.