Come fishing with Páll Tryggvason

Today we celebrate all the people that teach us and our kids about the nature we all live in. Having someone in your life that takes you into nature and gets you excited about it is a wonderful gift! For me it was my grandpa that took me with him whenever he went to work in his garden. Playing with the earth between the flowers and the vegetables is one of my earliest and happiest memories and started this love story I have with mother nature. Just like my grandpa took me to his garden, my father-in-law Páll Tryggvason takes all his children and grandchildren along when he goes fishing on Lake Mývatn. He has been fishing for Charr and Trout all his life and knows all the good spots. 

Fishing in Lake Mývatn has a long tradition as this beautiful but rough landscape did not allow for much farming, though not for lack of trying! So often people had to rely heavily on fishing to survive, especially in the lean winter months. Páll Tryggvason, or Palli how we all call him, and his family keep that tradition alive, by passing down the knowledge through the generations. Whenever his children and grandchildren are with him in Mývatn, he invites everybody to come along to place and check the fishing nets. When I went along the first time it became clear to me that all the kids knew exactly what to do. Once everybody is set up with a life vest the boat takes off. 

On the way to the first net Palli already points out all the different bird species that we encounter, and trust me, Mývatn has MANY! The kids also point out different things they see along the way. Whenever Palli checks one of the nets the excitement grows, as everybody is trying to guess if and how many fish are in it. Once in the boat Palli explains how to recognize the different fish species. Once back on shore he gets right to cleaning and filleting the fish. He again happily answers all our questions and shows how to do every single step. 

In the evening we all eat the fish that we caught and talk about all the things we saw that day. So, you can see how Palli not only teaches the children about the lake and all the animals that live in it, but also where our food comes from and how much work goes into it. I personally am so grateful for his generosity and patience, that allows the kids to experience nature first hand. People like Palli give our children the chance to learn in a different way, away from schools and books. These teachers allow our kids to be in nature and to learn from an early age how to move in it and to appreciate the value of it.