Iceland I , the city,and the walk
Trip Start
Jun 03, 2008
1
18
23
Trip End
Oct 14, 2008
Reykjavík,
Iceland
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Still, you have to see iceland once. The land of fire, ice, waterfalls and hot springs. Arriving from spain it was a 20C change in temperature, and stark change in food choice from exquisite tapa to white bread, but there is the icelandic stuff to enjoy. I love hot springs, period, and iceland provides such varieties. The communal swimming pools have hot tubs, rather surreal to be swimming in geothermal heated pools or soaking in one of those perfect temperature hot tubs while watching the nordic sun leisurely linger on horizon at 10pm , and swimmers languidly glide along- yes the pools stay open really really late. Then there is the blue lagoon, probably more associated with iceland than anything else in the mind of tourists. THis is geothermal water drawn from underground, in a milky blue form because of all the minerals it contains, thrown into a artifically built rock pool large enough to hold all the busload of tourists coming on their way to airport and still feel airy and ample. There is also white silica offered on edges of the pool to smear on skin for an effective mask. The icelanders I met gripe that it is too expensive, but really, if you only visit once, this is the place to go to enjoy the art of soaking in hot water. There is also the hot springs of wildness, not quite well temperatured, and you have to content with weeds, mud, duck parasites(seriously, there is warning that the best way to avoid them is to not bath) etc. in the pools, but in return, you have a smaller crowd of hardy campers for companion, and outlandish views of colorful mountains, huge glaciers, vast wildness. More on that later.
For a country of 300,000 people, Iceland is fittingly hard to travel around. Buses often run on selected days of the week, and many of the most beautiful regions like Landmannalaugur or skatefell only have campgrounds and a few beds in mountain huts. So if you can afford a tent and a 4 wheel drive car, life improves dramatically. Otherwise, read the seemingly endless number of brochures that offer tours, plan obssesively, and be ready to learn that your tour has been canceled by bad weather. Even in cities, camping facilites are abundent, while if you are not married to a banker, hotels can be exorbitantly expensive, so bring or buy a sleeep bag to stay at one of the so called 'sleep bag accomodations´ to save. Don´t forget earplugs and eyepad in these shared rooms. And chat up, you will meet Chinese business men here to buy sea stars, loads of Dutches, French,and the ubiquitous German, which makes often interesting and informative conversations.By the way, the country offers generally weak beers(2%) and coffee, both consumed copiciously . There are also dense, decilous yogurts called skyr, and incredibly fragrant roses to watch out for. On the plus side, the fewer people and slower traffic means that things are more flexible. I changed my domestic flight date with no question asked.
My first serious efforts, after floating around the supermarkets and swimming pools of Reykjavík, was a 4 day trek through the wildness from Landmannalaugur to porsmork. For all its publicity as the most famous trail in iceland, it is true wildness you are entering. 2 out of the 4 days on the trail I was literally alone, seeing nobody ahead or behind, till at night in the mountain hut where everyone meets again. Now of course its rather silly to brave the often steep, dangerously exposed trails alone, espeically when weather is always a concern. But the sense of independency you get from such a trial! You and your little backpack are all to be relied on in this big world of wild wind, lava fields, and melting snow. If you fall, no one is there to catch, and thus the conquer of even a small hill becomes so much more delicous. You have the whole wild wildness to yourself, starting from the mountains of Landmannalaugur to the glaciers of porsmork. And you hear the wind, then you hear the silence of the wild, and life seems so much alive. Landmannalaugur is especially impressive, imagine death valley, with its painters palletes of colors in red, brown, coral, sandy, then thrown in patches of white snow, green moss, black lava, and trickling creeks of melt snow water, with glistening lakes in distance, you get this truely outlandish combination where everything catches the eye. The Next part of the trail crosses a plateu, covered by jarring contrast of white snow and black lava, and animated by steam vents and wildly blowing wind. As I approach Porsmork, the weather turned into moody overcast, perfect for enjoying the blue hues of the vast glacier ahead. By far the lagest glacier I ever saw at this point, it is a vast sea of white ice that extrudes from several different directions, sectioned by cliffs in between, spreading, hanging, perching on or from the rocks as they push to the edge to completely take the breath away the person who, on the last acsend before the full view, start to gradually grasp the magnificence of it on each further step he or she takes.
The food: carrying 4 days of food on shoulder, I naturally went lazy and packed the lightest stuff possible: instant noodles, dried fish, chocolate. The instant noodle cooked with 3 eggs purchased from the van/post office/grocery shop at Landmannalaugur was easily the best in my life. And guess what the French tour groups bring: grilled salmon, roasted yam. One evening as I was laying in bed in the mountain hut chewing my dried fish, could not stop laughing when I overheard one fellow declaring the next course being cheese from north of spain!
Word of caution: be aware of rivers, do not wade through one when no one is present, the last river before porsmork is strong and you can fall and really risk your life! The locals warned me more than once.
