Returning from the Blue Lagoon I was finally able to get some sleep. We arrived back around 5:30pm, but we would soon be off for our Northern Lights adventure at 8:00pm. The entire group of 12 arrived in the lobby on time…surprisingly. I am guessing it had to do with the fact that our tour included dinner.
Our tour guide arrived, a tall burly man named Ziggy. He was the complete opposite of his
cartoon counterpart. An imposing
figure, you did not have to imagine far back along his lineage to see the imprint
of his Viking predecessors.
Outside the hotel we found a vehicle that fit the man himself. A huge off roading “Super Jeep” that
was more than aptly named. The
entire team fit comfortably. We
were informed that the Northern Lights might not be cooperating that night, so
he suggested we head to dinner first.
This met with little resistance since many of us only had a light
lunch. We drove towards the tiny fishing village of
Stokkseyri. It was about an hour
from Reykjavík so we all settled in. I was in the
back of the bus, and caught a quick nap, as my two-hour night sleep did not
quite cut it. During that time our
tour guide rattled off Icelandic information and those of us awake asked
questions. As we arrived at our
destination, we could still see that the sky was overcast…further diminishing
our chance at the Northern Lights.
However, now it was time to eat and the restaurant Fjorubordid was warm
and welcoming. The Fjorubordid was
a well-known restaurant. Also dining
there that evening was the hockey team from Vancouver…more on them in a later blog. The majority of us did the Lobster
dinner. Unlike Maine lobster,
these langoustines where much smaller in comparison. Two large bowls filled with these lobster tails emerged for
each table. Filled to the brim, it
seemed like a Nordic Crawfish Boil.
We tore into the tiny tails like we hadn’t eaten in days.
After dinner we headed back to the jeep. Our guide said he was on his smart
phone checking atmospheric conditions to see if things had changed…most of us
thought he was just surfing the web for porn. I will say, he did give the illusion of a full on attempt at
getting us a glimpse of the lights.
On the way back, he would stop and get out…and check the night sky. The overcast started to dissipate, but
another nemesis, a bright moon, now stood in our way. We were offered some off roading to replace our failed
Northern Lights attempt, but at this point the team was in a food coma. A long day of travel and a full day of
tours, we all agreed it was time to head back to the hotel. Tomorrow our adventures would continue.
The following morning the same guide arrived with the same
Super Jeep. We were off to the
Golden Circle tour. The Golden
Circle is a popular tourist route in South Iceland, covering about
300 km looping from Reykjavík
into central Iceland and back. The
three primary stops on the route are the national park Þingvellir, the waterfall Gullfoss (meaning
"golden falls"), and the geothermally active valley of Haukadalur, which contains
the geysers Geysir
and Strokkur. We were scheduled to leave at
10:00am and return at 6:00pm, so we were in for a full day. Our first hockey game was not until
10:00pm that night, so we would have time to rest a bit when we got back. Our first stop was Þingvellir. Þingvellir became a national park in
1928 due to its historical importance, as well as the special tectonic and volcanic environment. The continental drift between
the North
American and Eurasian
Plates can be clearly seen in the cracks or faults which traverse the
region, the biggest one, Almannagjá, being a veritable canyon. When we arrived we exited the jeep to
trek among the tectonic plates. Where
in California the plates collide, in Iceland they pull apart creating the
aforementioned canyon. We hiked
through the break and down along the natural springs. Our tour guide picked us up on the other side of the
park. It was time to see the Great
Gazoo…I mean Geysir. This was the
first geyser known to modern Europeans, but is not as faithful as it’s
Yellowstone counterpart. We did
not see it erupt, nor where we going to stand around waiting for it. We did catch the smaller geyser Strokkur
spew its boiling water a few times.
Sorry Geyser’s, ours in the US is much more impressive. Our next stop along the tour would be the Gullfoss
waterfall. Lunch of a common dish
in Iceland, meat soup, would be waiting for us upon arrival. The meat soup is basically a lamb
stew. Seems it is not safe to be a
lamb in Iceland since almost every dish contains it. The only thing more endless than the bowls of stew was the
breathtaking view. We were seated
in a banquet room with windows all around. Filled from our lunch, it was time to hike down to the
falls. An upper level overlooked
the flowing water below. A brisk
wind kept me from inching closer to the edge. There was a pathway below that took you to the edge of the
water. As we descended, a rainbow
appeared above. Seems there are no
shortages of rainbows in Iceland.
The last leg of our tour we were given options. We could head to the Lava Fields, we
could head higher in the mountains for a glimpse of the landscape below or head
to the Glacier. The choice was easily
made, Glacier it was! The semi-paved
road soon gave way to a rocky path among the moon like surface. Our driver stopped and made a quick
announcement. “I need to let air
out of the tires to make it an easier ride.” Of course some of us were curious how he was going to put
the air BACK into the tires…I was wondering how bad the terrain was we would be
encountering. As we approached the
Glacier, what was a rocky road became just rocks. It was like mountain climbing in a jeep. What in commercials they use CGI for,
we were now doing for real. There
were moments where I felt we were going to tip over and roll to the rocks
below. As we got to the Glacier,
it was so desolate, I couldn’t help but think of the Uruguayan rugby team in
the Andes. Hopefully we would fare
a bit better, none of my teammates looked that appetizing. In the comfort of the heated jeep, it
did not look so cold and intimidating outside. How wrong I was!
We exited to our perpetual winter wonderland. We were warned to stay close to the jeep, since you might
hit soft pockets in the snow that could be several feet deep. Great, I would be entombed for future archeologists
to find after the great global warming. Soon we were back in the jeep, but not for long. As we got to the end of the Glacier,
once of us announced he had to go…and took note there were no outhouses. Our guide said, well, it is easier now
before we get back to the rocks.
He brought the jeep to a halt so he could exit…and what was one now
became all twelve. And they say
women go to the bathroom at the same time! We all picked different spots encompassing the jeep. Jokes of writing our names in the
Glacier, of frozen pee and of shrinkage were bandied about. As we settled back into the jeep, one
of our teammates quipped, “I guess now we know why it is called the GOLDEN
circle!”
It was time to head back. We stopped at the falls, it was here there was a place to
refill the jeep’s tires. We
arrived at the hotel later than expected, but in plenty of time to get ready.
For soon it was game time.
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