Wednesday we got up and had our breakfast with the cows (see previous blog entry) and then went off to explore the nearby lava fields. Stop number one was a gigantic fissure in the ground which I think I am not wrong in saying is the place where the mid-Atlantic tectonic plate bits crunch together in Iceland. I have never seen an earthquake fault line up close, so that was pretty cool. There were a couple of cavey type things underneath the rocks at the top of the fissure with pools of near-boiling water - completely mindbending that there can be snow on the ground just a few feet away, and yet water hot enough to fill a cave with steam just bubbling up out of the earth. It is a little scary to think that all that underneath stuff (magma, hot water, everything else that we probably learned about in the geology segment of sixth grade science class that I have not retained) is RIGHT THERE UNDER THE SURFACE all the time, and it's only in places like Iceland and Hawaii that you are reminded of it. After the great big crack in the ground, we went on a hike up to a volcanic crater (way cool), and then to a vast lava field with all these weird rock formations, arches/towers/etc., and then after THAT we drove to Kafla, which is a totally, totally bizarre place that defies description. Big geothermal vents belching steam, on a mountain, with eerie bright blue mineral lakes; mudpots of bubbling brown boiling goo, black lava, snowfields - one of the most surreally varied landscapes I have ever seen. We made an abortive attempt to get to Detifoss - the waterfall with the largest volume of water in Europe - but were stymied by the shitty road (snow, gravel, mudsinks. not a good idea in a little 2WD Hyundai without chains). Never mind, next time. (The road was technically closed, but we were naughty and went down it anyway. So annoying when the Icelandic highway service proves to be right). Deprived of the biggest waterfall in Europe, we instead drove to a place called Seydisfjordur (except with more nifty Icelandic letters in the mix) on the east coast, whose claim to fame is that it has the most picturesque setting of any town in Iceland, right at the end of a very steep fjord with waterfalls coming down both sides. The sunshine fairy (who has otherwise been extraordinarily obliging this holiday) wasn't cooperating as we drove into Seydisfjordur, unfortunately, so we saw some of the waterfalls and a lot of fog, but it's still a cute little town. We left our mark there as well: the car got cleaned out after several days, and I am sure the room service people were horrified the next morning when they got to the rubbish bin in our room. "Oh my GOD" [except in Icelandic] "these people were only here ten hours and in that time they ate a sticky toffee pudding" (heated up for us by the hotel lady; I lied through my teeth and told her it was J.'s birthday), "several bars of chocolate, a slab of Penrith fudge, a packet of digestive biscuits, a ginger cake, [and probably several more high-calorie treats that I'm forgetting about now]".
Thursday morning we walked out along the south side of the fjord in the hopes of seeing some puffins; we didn't see any puffins (apparently they're all out at sea at the moment) but we did see lots of other birds, and lots of pretty wildflowers, and a waterfall, and Jonathan did some yoga out on the rocks where we had a picnic lunch which provided what I expect will be the iconic photo of the week (again, sadly, we are without a way for camera to talk to netbook). We then drove to Hofn, on the southeast coast (pronounced like a hiccup, for reals), where we had bacon burgers and red wine for dinner (I am on a special 10,000 calorie per day diet for my, um, complexion? it helps with recovery from sunburn. mm, yes, that sounds plausible) and then spent the night at the Hotel Skaftafell, which has to win the prize for the Least Foresight in Hotel Site Selection ever: it's basically right at the foot of a bloody great glacier which is one day (unless global warming comes to get the glacier first) going to squash Hotel Skaftafell flat.
Today (Friday) we did a loop hike through Skaftafell National Park, which I think is the most beautiful place we have been so far: pristine peaks, waterfalls, the first real vegetation we have seen (although it's fairly pathetic what passes for a forest here; joke of the day - Q. What should you do if you get lost in an Icelandic forest? A. Stand up.) and a really, really, really, really big glacier (several, in fact: Skaftafell is at the edge of the Vatnajokull icecap - the biggest icecap outside of the North and South poles - so all the valleys are filled with these massive tongues of glacier coming off the icecap. Everything here is five times bigger and weirder than everywhere else). Dinner at the Sisters' Cafe (named for nuns who were executed there for having sex with the devil - eesh) in Kirkjubaerjurklaustur (say that five times fast) and then through the Sandur, a great big nuclear winter wasteland where nothing grows and it's flat flat flat as far as the eye can see and where they have hidden traffic cameras to nab tourists from California driving 75 mph instead of the posted 55 (it's flat! there's no one out there! the road is completely straight for about 100 miles!... oh, never mind). There was a terrifying few minutes when the cop asked J. to get into the back of the cop car and I was having panicked visions of having to follow the cop car to whatever dungeon they were going to throw him into (ha! you all thought it was me driving, didn't you?) and figure out how to bail him out before his flight on Monday, but luckily they just gave him a ticket and that (hopefully) will be the end of it. Very exciting.
I'm now tucked up in bed in Vik, a little dot on the map on the south coast, having had a shower and a cup of tea; tomorrow we will make a last ditch attempt to see a puffin before heading to Reykjavik for urban delights, but until then, delicious sleep.
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