pushing the size limits of carry on

Well, we´re going to see how big a bag they let me carry on. Icelandic wool memorabilia is not small in size and I have a gigantic plastic bag to carry on the plane. I´m nervous but hopeful that iceland is not as strict with carry ons as the US.

And so today I leave iceland, at least for a while. But there are still quite a few blog posts I´ve written that I will add in the coming days. But there are better ways to spend my last few hours in Reykjavik than on the internet.

See you all soon!

Who says there is no such thing as a free lunch?

So here i sit in Siglufjordur. The herring capitol of Iceland-- or at least it once was. A spectacularly quaint town perched beneath towering peaks at a fjord. It´s hard to believe that I left Akureyri this morning and that I have miles more to go before I set up camp tonight. I´m "on the loose" with a ford focus hatchback. winding my way back to reykjavik. After leaving Akureyri this morning though I stopped back at Dalvik. It´s "the big fish day!" where the entire town shuts down for a huge festival and gives away free fish to anyone who comes. It was a mad house. People everywhere, mostly icelandic. Boys swimming, booths of handknit sweaters, singers in traditional icelandic garb singing... "let it be". And of course, free fish.

The lines were daunting but i couldn´t go to fish day and leave empty handed and I was hungry! So I scoped out the dozens of vendors looking for what I thought would be the best meal. And so I ended up with my meal of fish balls, Salmon with lemon and dill, and chili spiced halibut. Complete with a roll and coke. For the grand price of free. And let me tell you. It was perhaps the best fish I have ever had in my life. Spain ruined olives, Argentina ruined steak and now perhaps Iceland has ruined fish. I can´t imagine ever tasting anything so fresh and perfectly cooked again in my life. And this was just one line I had stood in. If I had had all day I could have stood in each line and gorged myself to utter satisfaction. It was amazing. But alas, I had to get on the road and drive over the mountain to where I now sit in Siglifjordur.

Judging from the quaintness of this town, which sits just 60km south of the artic circle. I didn´t do too much of a trade off. But tonight I will probably dream of that fish.

I think i´m falling for iceland

(originally written last night)

I had the most amazing day today. When I last wrote I was off to meet women from seattle who were looking to charter a flight to grimsey.

First let me tell you the story of how I met these women. After my post a few nights ago about the beef jerky I had set off into Reykjahilð to get a burger at the cafe/pub. The place was packed and before I realized the system was find an empty table and grab it. Two italians stole the only empty table out from under me. I noted that the two american women next to me also felt it was stolen from them. So, a few minutes later when they scored a four top I walked right up and said, "Can I share your table?". They hesitated but then agreed. "Where are you from?" I asked. "Seattle". "me too!"

It was non stop conversation from there out. Towards the end of dinner we were discussing our plans for the coming days. I mentioned I was thinking of getting a sightseeing flight to see myvatn. "no way! they said. They want to charter a plane to get to grimsey. They need three to do it. Did I want to be their third?

Now me, I hadn´t really cared about going to Grimsey. It seemed sort of silly to take a ferry all that way just to say you´d been to the artic circle. But combined with a sight seeing flight that was something I could get on board with. It would be expensive but I´d missed the dogsledding and horseback riding and it´s my experience that experiences are almost always worth their cost. So I agreed.

Once the 11am weather report was in we headed to the airport. The Myvatn Airport is really just a landing strip in the middle of a lava field with a one room hut next to it. The pilot was the only person in the building so we talked directly to him. The weather in Grimsey was good enough to fly (first time in three weeks!). But the tour in Grimsey couldn´t happen until 2pm. When meant we wouldn´t land back in Myvatn until 3:30. The time my bus left.

We discussed options with the pilot. Was there any way to go sooner?

No, because the woman who gives the tours also does the banking for the island so she is busy until then.

Was there any way to get a later bus?

The pilot called my bus company. They stop in goðafoss so it would not be leaving there until 4:15 and that was only a 20 minute drive from the airport. I could make it and the seattle ladies agreed to be my taxi.

Finally, Was there any way to fly over dettifoss on the way there?

For an extra 20€ it was a go!

Done! I was so excited this was going to be the perfect way to get a survey all I hádn´t seen and get a second glimpse at dettifoss to boot!

At 1:00pm we boarded our little prop plane. The seattle ladies, me and the pilot. At 1:05 the only bad thing to happen that day happened. No battery on my camera. What?!! I paid 1000 kr to charge it in landmannalauger. Something had gone awry! So here I was on this amazing adventure with no camera.

In a weird way it was sort of liberating. I was forced to sit back and just soak it in rather than looking for the perfect shot.

I saw craters and the lake myvatn. I saw the lava field I´d walked 13 kms over yesterday. I saw the earth crackling and splitting and steaming. I saw blue pools. I saw dettifoss and selfoss and the mighty canyon of jökulsárgljúfur national park stretching out from it. I saw the mountains of the northwest and their fjords and the falls that fall off them. I saw whales blowing and breaching. And then I a saw Grimsey.

We landed in a herd of thousands of artic terns. Amazingly, i think only one got caught in the propellar. Our guide met us at the plane. She was a woman of about 20. She had lived there for 11years. Her parents, grandparents and great grandparents still lived there. Her ancestors were buried there. We saw the fish business and the restaurant/post office that her family owns.

We saw cliffs and cliffs with hundreds and hundreds of puffins! Flocks of them fluttering about a mere 10 feet from us. We saw thousands and thousands of terns dive bombing us for fear of their nests in the grass. We saw kittiwalks and sandpipers. A thriving fluttering island.

The weather was calm and sunny and there was laundry fluttering in the breeze. It was one of the most picturesque and amazing experiences of my life. I wish I had had a month on this little island of 90 people. But we were only there for an hour. But it was just us. 3 tourists from seattle. There were no ferries today only monday, wednesday, and friday. So we had the place to ourselves.

I was noticing and we pulled back to the airstrip that my watch read 3:15. I tried not to look at my watch on the amazing flight back. "I will hitchhike" I told myself.

We landed in myvatn at 4:10. I had missed my bus.

I´m proud to say that after at least a half dozen trips alone and 2 weeks experiencing iceland that i´ve learned to trust travelers fate a bit. (knock on wood). The seattle ladies told me they were not going to let me hitchhike. We would check the information center in town for any later buses and if not, they would drive me. (an hour and a half each way!). The kindness of travelers never ceases to amaze me.

We raced to the information center. Were there any more buses? We were in luck. The day touring bus was just leaving. They would take me to reykjavik at no charge. ( just my bus passport number). And so it was that I got a guided tour of lake myvatn on my way to Akureyri complete with tales of the cleverness of the artic fox.

Upon arrival in akureyri I asked the tour director where my guest house was, and if it was possible to get a cab. "It´s too far to walk with all your bags" he said. Could i wait 15 minutes? If so, he would come back and drive me.

And so it was that i got my own private guided tour of akureyri on my way to my guesthouse. The old town, the cathedral, the botantical gardens. My guide was terribly sorry he didn´t have time to guide me through them himself. It seems he was running late to meet friends. "But it was too far for you to walk with your bags" he said.

Amazing. They more I see of Iceland. Or perhaps moreso, the more icelanders I meet. The more I love it. Do I really only have four more days? I feel I´m just now discovering it´s true beauty.

A little gasoline is good for diesel

(originally written august 1)

So the night before Jessa´s departure our stove started giving us problems. We were having a harder and harder time lighting it and we presumed we didn´t have enough gasoline in the fuel bottle. I was getting increasingly nervous about traveling with it and so we decided to send it home with Jessa. This left us with quite the dilemma though. We were in þorsmork a pristine nature reserve only accessible by a 2 hour drive down a 4 wheel drive road. Where were we to get rid of the gasoline?

So I was wandering around the campsite, looking for someone to ask or somewhere to put it. I was walking in circles not knowing what to do and (gasp) considering pouring it behind the nearest rock when I spied a large group of Icelandic men standing around the BBQ. I walked to them "Excuse me, can you help me?" I asked the nearest one. He must have seen the desperation in my eyes as I relayed my plight. "And my friend and I need to leave directly for the airport tomorrow" I ended. He turned to the group of men around the bbq. And said what appeared to only be two short sentences in Icelandic. All of a sudden one of the men gets up in his 66 degree north fleece and says "Follow me". "It´s just gasoline?" he asked. " yes, but unleaded not diesel" I replied.

"how much is it?"

"1/3 full i guess?"

He shrugged. " A little gasoline is good for diesel" and walked to the other side of this truck, opened the gas tank and poured it in.

"thank you!!" I proclaimed.

" I hope my car doesn´t die on the way out" he said.

"I hope so too" I replied.

Cats

I made it to akureyri. And am back in cat land. This is a great town, as is any town with a cat. I´ve only seen cats here and in reykjavik. They don´t seem to be other places in iceland, although Jessa claimed to see one in Vik while I was inside using the internet. I found out yesterday they´re actually outlawed in Grimsey. They even revoted a few years ago and it was 90% vote to keep the law. Too many birds on the island, it wouldn´t be good to introduce predators.

But Akureyri is an idealic town. It helps it is the first real town i´ve been in in about a week. And even though it´s population is a mere 17,000 i could easily see myself settling in here for a week. Unfortunately I only have two nights. And then I´m off in a rental car to return to reykjavik. The weather here has turned glorious and after I´ve found internet at the library for only 200kr per hour. So I am using this opportunity to catch up and post some of those posts I´ve written without internet. Then i´m off to a fjord town Dalvik where they are having their annual festival. The whole town gives out fish soup to everyone. Should be interesting.

The key to sleeping in a tent.

í´ve discovered the key to sleeping in a tent is to tire yourself out completely! Yesterday it was mission accomplished. I slept in because it was raining but rose around 10am to make it to the bus to dettifoss that left at 11am. Dettifoss is the largest and most powerful waterfall in europe. It was amazing. It was a long drive down a four wheel drive road to get there but as soon as we arrived the clouds opened up and it was beautiful and sunny and there were rainbows everywhere.

Rainbows were my favorite as a child but I´ve seen few since leaving the midwest. I kind of had forgotten about them. But here in iceland I´ve seen one almost every day and they are amazing the clearest rainbows you´ve ever seen. My favorite I actually don´t have a picture of but it was in landmannalauger. The sky was black the hills were painted and it was a brilliant rainbow stretching down to the painted hills. Amazing.

Anyhow, after my time at dettifoss which was much to short the bus took us back to the largest geothermal area here around myvatn-- Krafla. Which is a volcano, lava field, and geothermal plant. Faced with the decision to spend only 5 minutes there or walk back to town I decided to walk. I guess from my map it was about 9kms. Twice around greenlake, I could do that. But when I reached the trailhead I realized it was 13 kms! And I was starting at about 4:30 pm. Luckily it was flat and well worth it. I saw the newest lava field in iceland, steaming up from the ground still. I saw lava fields from the 17th century. I saw perfectly circular lava tubes and craters and the most unusual patterns in the lava. I didn´t see people. only passed 3 the whole 3 hours of hiking.

It was worth it. But i was exhausted when I got back so I treated myself to some meat stew and that lava beer and then passed out in my tent. I slept well. Now I am off to airport with two ladies I met from seattle. We´re going to see about chartering a plane for a sightseeing flight and possibly getting to grimsey. An island inside the artic circle. We´ll see. We won´t know if we can go until the weather report comes in at 11 and I need to be on the 3:30 bus to Akureyri. And I will make it to Akureyri because I have an actual room! In a guesthouse! For two nights! I can´t wait.

things about iceland

A few little interesting things about iceland.

1. Everywhere has wifi and cell reception. Busdrivers are constantly speeding down the roads (sometimes 4 wheel drive gravel) talking on their cell phones. Landmannalauger was the place with the least reception. In the store there they had this random hook in the middle of the ceiling that was the sweet spot where they were able to get cell reception. If you paid with your credit card they´d hook the machine on it to send the signal.

2. The country is so organized it kills me. Yet they do it in this sort of relaxed way that makes you feel like it shouldn´t be so organized. I think in the US we feel you have to be uptight and organized or relaxed and disorganized but icelanders are relaxed and organized. Everything just sort of works. Without a lot of hastle.

3. Everywhere has hot water. But the hot water smells like sulfur.

4. Fresh produce is pretty much impossible to find. Save the odd mushy apple. And they put cucumber on everything I think because it lasts longer than lettuce.

5. Buying wine or beer outside a major city is pretty much impossible unless you are at a restaurant or buy the 2.25% light beer at the grocery store. Last night though I had my first icelandic microbrew. LAVA. A smoked imperial stout. It was actually pretty amazing. The smoked flavor was interesting.

6. It never rains hard for more than an hour.

7. I´m windburned.

8. You can´t get a large coffee to save your life. I´ve taken to ordering two cups.

9. The campgrounds are remarkably quiet starting at midnight and no one stirs until 7am.

resurfacing

I´ve never been so happy to see a gas station convenience store. Beef jerky?! Yes! that´s what happens to you after 5 nights in the interior with only the groceries you bought in reykjavik when I posted last.

þorsmork was beautiful. Peaceful and serene. Well, peaceful and serene after the first night. We were "lucky" enough to have two troops of swiss scouts, the late teen or young adult variety staying with us at our campground. There are scouts everywhere in iceland... they´ve taken over the country.

Thursday night jessa and were lulled to sleep by choruses of kumbaya and awoken early friday morning to que sera sera as they packed up their camp and headed on the þorsmork- landmannalauger Laugevaguer trek. A four day trek from the two places I have just been þorsmork (pronounced-- thorsmork) and landmannalauger.

My last day with jessa was spent hiking around the þorsmork area and haivng a singalong bonfire with the other campground guests (sans scouts). Then i was on my own and on my way to landmanalauger. As I neared the place I realized, the half day I had budgeted was NOT enough time. It was like nowhere I have ever been landscape like none I have ever seen. The best way to attempt to describe it is like a cross between the badlands and mordor (otherwise known as the area the tongariro crossing in NZ that Dawn and I visited in 2003).

I´d been itching for a place to slow down for a bit. So i decided if i could by chance get a few more nights in the hut I had booked there I would stay. I was in luck! Unbelievable as they say you need to book these huts months in advance. So I stayed til today. Hiking, sitting in the natural hotsprings there and just soaking in the beauty.... and a bit of mayhem as well. It a major tourist site and the beginning (or end) of the Laugevegar. People are constant coming and going and taking pictures. With large cameras and zoom lens of you sitting in the hotsprings... Really? And english is not the primary language. I feel like I have been to france. Or france when it is frequented by a lot of german tourists as well. But not an american to save my soul. Except a few northeastern college kids i overheard talking in the bathroom about how they couldn´t wait to get back to reykjavik for a shower and the mall. Really?

The one downside to the area is that the store (which was housed in a green bus) had nothing except some crackers, chips, and apples for 2o0kr. No meet just some dried fish. So I had nothing but backpacking pasta and pb&j and trailmix and 2 expensive apples during my time there. Hence, you can see my excitement at some beef jerky, doritos and a banana! I feel like I´m in heaven.

But Landmannalauger was beautiful, and mystical. And I only thought I was going to fall to my death maybe 3 times. Hiking on gravely lava up steep slopes is a bit sketchy. Don´t worry I didn´t take too many risks but I did take lots of pictures.

Anyhow, this is all to say that I have only just now arrived in Myvatn. After a 10 hour bus ride through the interior. I was really looking forward to seeing the landscape but now realize it is just hours and hours and hours of back rocky sand deserts. I could fall asleep and wake up and nothing was different. But it was beautiful in this desolate sort of way. And we surfaced to two beautiful waterfalls the second of which was called goðafoss-- which means waterfall of the gods.

And so now I sit in the house next to my campground. squeezing out my last three minutes of internet use. After this I´ve told myself I´m going to get a hamburger or something good to eat. As a reward for many many nights of backpacking food. The only thing I´ve bought out in the last few days is a boat sandwich in reykjavik and those apples. So I´m starved!

Tomorrow and the next day I´m supposed to squeeze what I can out of this area and then I will be off to Akureyri. Only 6 nights left....


PS-- Although I haven´t had internet, I have been writing my typical blog posts in my journal so once I am back I will add those. I found I didn´t want to let the lack of internet keep me from writing to you all.