While of course each day here in Iceland is special, and everything we see is amazing and worth noting, days 5 and 6 of our trip were much the same. We spent these two days mostly just backtracking our way from the north so that we were in the SW to catch our flight. We traveled many of the same roads and saw many familiar sights, now from a different direction. Actually, let me correct that. We spent the days mostly on Route 1. Route 1 is our friend. It is paved, it is wide, and it goes around the whole island.
It was still snowing lightly when we awoke, a few inches having gathered over the night in Myvatn. We had a lovely breakfast of typical fare: toast, cheese, ham, salami, tomatoes, cucumbers, jams, corn flakes, mueslix, juice, coffee and tea, with the additions of sliced apples and oranges and hot chocolate. Also, there was a local treat. This region, it turns out, is known for its earth-baked breads! Much like the food cooked in the Caldeiras of the Azores, here bread dough is mixed up and placed in underground plastic buckets for 24 hours to cook. The bread comes out with a very smokey, earthy flavor. Though I was glad to have tried it, it was a bit to heavy, and far too smokey for me.
So we packed ourselves into our new, fancy car, and headed for the hills. Literally. Given that it was still less-than-ideal weather, we opted to spend much of the day tracking our way back west. We knew that we only have a few days left, and we wanted to be sure that we weren't scrambling to make our way back in the last moments, particularly when the weather proved itself to be so unpredictable. So without even stopping to see the local nature baths, the strange bubbling pink mud, or any more of the incredible volcanic landscape, we headed off.
While much of the day was spent in the car, 11 hours, the scenery started to blend together so that my memories are mostly distinguished by the weather. We were shocked to find ourselves in white out conditions for perhaps an hour, and then suddenly, to be in bright sunlight with far off clouds... Then not long after that... freezing rain! By the time our heads hit the pillow, we had experienced just about every weather pattern, save extreme storms. One of the most remarkable moments, though, came when we were passing along the north side of a fjord. I remember distinctly the feeling of the sunlight on my arm as we drove. There was so much sun streaming in from the right side, that the car was getting hot and we were both feeling a bit sleepy. Just as my eyelids were drooping, wouldn't you know, from over the cloudy peaks to our left came bit, fat, fluffy snowflakes. What an odd feeling. On the left of the car, clouds and snow, while on the right, sun and blue skies. Magical. In fact, I think I might have to write a letter to Disney. I have now realized that their theme parks are falsely advertised. Perhaps Iceland could just adopt their tagline instead, and Disney could use a more realistic one like: "The second most magical place on earth,".... or perhaps "Moneytrap" or "Adults wearing costumes."....I'll workshop the replacement, but suffice to say, Iceland deserves it more.
We ended our day from Myvatn in Borgarnes, in a small and simple hostel--Mom´s first experience in one! The next night we found an amaaaazing guest house. We had been driving for some time and had been unlucky in finding a place to stay. We happened upon a good sized town and gave it a shot. We had gotten loose directions to a hostel in the town and tried our best to find it. It was in our search for this hostel that we found the sign for Frost og Funi, Frost and Fire guesthouse. The prices were fair, and their location amazing--right on the edge of a hill next to a babbling stream and overlooking steaming geothermic holes. Awesome. We checked in and went to grab some dinner. When we came back, Kira, the staff, showed us to our room and informed us that we had access to two hot pots (jacuzzis) and a pool. Excitedly we changed into our bathing suits and courtesy robes and sandals, and headed out to the back.
The rest of the evening, until well near dark, we soaked ourselves in a lovely hot pot with vies of the river and steam and all.... chatting with a father and son from Pennsylvania here for a week. They are doing the exact opposite of what we are. While we are charting our course day to day, driving here and there as the spirit moves us and making arrangements as needed, they are on a package with a guide. They snowmobile one day, snorkel the next, climb a glacier the next.... "a real man´s vacation," as mom put it. They don´t have to worry about anything. Their guide picks them up, drops them off, provides their meals, and all of their entertaining stories. Most amusing was the fact that their young guide, only 30 years old, claims to have driven his truck on Antarctica, and both the north and south poles. This is of course after he owned his own construction business and had to move because a volcano destroyed his town. Not too bad for a man of 30.
Nonetheless, their stories certainly were entertaining, though they made our tales of adventure pale by comparison. When we told of our car breaking down and getting a new one, they regaled us with tales of deflating their tires to drive over 5 feet of snow .... advantage, Men. When we told of arriving at our first hotel with horse on the menu, they told of their guide serving them nearly raw horse as a delicacy which they ate to be polite,... advantage, Men. When we spoke about arriving at the continental divide and walking to the waterfall, they said the next day they had plans to snorkel in the lake there where you could see the divide go 900 meters down,... damn. Advantage, Men. So sure, their vacation is a lot more adventurous, but we comforted ourselves with the knowledge that they must be paying through the nose. Iceland is incredibly expensive, so to have someone else make all your arrangements, while easier, is no doubt costly. sniff, sniff. I´m almost convinced that our vacation is just as cool... are you?
Looking back on those two days in the car, I see now that everything about Iceland is unpredictable. The weather, the volcanoes, the tourist industry, and the landscape seem to change at the drop of a hat. One minute it is sunny, but at any moment clouds could move in and rain or snow could fall. You have to be prepared for anything. Certainly the changeability of the volcanoes is obvious to all now, given the headlines. Most notably, In one day's drive you could see a wide variety of landscapes. As we drove, I was amazed at how familiar parts of the scenery felt. At times views felt like the sedimentary peaks of the Badlands in the US, at other times, I felt like I was back in the Azores with the sharp looming peaks and bubbling hot springs, and still other times the townships felt distinctly European.... While I suppose this could be a testament to Iceland itself, to me it is starting to be more of a reminder of our world. Human societies have developed to cope with the individual environments they face, and different cultures may deal with the same challenges in different ways, but all in all, the more I see, the more commonalities I find. While cultural differences and topographical variances stand out, underlying it all is so much of the same. It's easy to see how all of this land was once connected. It makes life on this planet seem so simple, but yet so amazingly complicated at the same time. Nowhere is the simplicity of life or the path or environmental change more evident than in Iceland. It's a great place to go if you are in need of a little reality check, and a humbling sense of how decadent, convenient and indulgent our culture is here in the US. Apparently my address is on Easy Street, and I had no idea.
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