Something Mystical

Today’s Faroese would never consider living without modern technology but still have preserved much of their ancient culture — including some hunting and herding practices that may indeed seem surreal to outsiders.

In a small cafe in a town called Nólsoy, on an archipelago in the middle of the North Atlantic, surrounded by barflies and the blue fug of cigarette smoke, I am trying to be unobtrusive. This is not going so well. There are precisely two occupied tables in the establishment, the barflies’ and mine. At mine, English is spoken, pallid beer is sipped, and all eye contact is avoided. At theirs, they speak a derivative of Old Norse, drink a rigorous liquor and shoot glances my way, accompanied by throaty chuckles. I, in fact, look not only like an American and a tourist, but also like an idiot, having walked up onto the quayside at Nólsoy, through its most famous landmark — the bone archway formed by the massive jaws of a sper m whale — and into its one bar wearing a flotation suit. A giant, puffy, one-piece flotation suit. Ten minutes ago, thudding across freezing harbor waters in a Zodiac, a flotation suit had seemed like a good idea. Now it makes me look like a Power Ranger. The chuckles are starting to crescendo. As I exit the place, from behind me I hear, “Zay hallo to George Bush.”

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