Home Again

Four weeks is a long time to be living out of a backpack in a country where you don't understand the language (and don't even have any comprehension of it at all because once you think you've figured out how to say one simple word and then say it in front of a local you find that you still have it totally wrong).

Four weeks is a long time to be constantly one the move, afraid that by staying in one place for too long means you will have to forfeit seeing something else (and that just can't happen in a place where everything you see is pretty much the coolest thing you have ever seen in your life).

Four weeks, however, was not long enough to see everything I wanted to see. This trip has been one of the best, most amazing experiences I have ever had, and, though I'm ready to be back home, I'm truly going to miss that little island of ice and fire.

.........though, I can't say I'm not excited for showers with real towels and beds with real sheets.........Good bye Iceland. Hello home....it's good to be back.

Eyjafjallajokull........now say that three times fast

Our adventure (for this particular leg in our trip) started in a little hostel in Hvol (which is about three hours to the east of the volcano) We were debating on what to go see for the day.....more waterfalls and rivers or the volcano. We were debating, that is until we looked west and saw that giant mushroom cloud of mayhem that has been disrupting so much of the world. There was no way we could drive away from that site.....I mean, you see an active volcano with ash spewing into the air, and the only rational thing you can do is drive toward it, right?

Although our main mission was to get to the volcano, we did have to make a few mandatory stops at two of the major waterfall attractions in the south. However, there was nothing could have distracted us from our goal, including the cloud cover that began to form after passing under the big, black, threatening ash cloud that blocked out some of the sun.


<---Skogafoss
Seljalandsfoss-->








Hoping that the cloud cover would dissipate on the back side of the mountain we headed towards a hostel made up of turf homes. It was at the end of a very long half paved/half gravel dead-end road. Unfortunately the clouds were still hanging low and the road up to the actual hostel appeared to be closed. Disappointed, frustrated, and hungry we turned back to Hvolsvollur (not to be confused with Hvol because they are two totally different towns), which was the last place we had seen any sort of establishment.

We never found a payphone there, but we were able to sustain ourselves on some less-than-satisfying burgers and fries. The sun started to break through at this point and we could, once again, start seeing that ominous cloud. With food in our bellies and slightly lifted spirits we went back the way we had just come from until we found a church on a hill that had promise of a better vantage point in which we could view this spectacle. It payed out.

We sat on the hill taking pictures and just watching the ash rise until the clouds started creeping back in and we realized it was getting a little late. Toying with the ideas of going back to the end of the road and sleeping in the car or chancing it and driving to the next hostel (where who knows if they would have even been open at that hour.....which, by the way was only about 8:00pm), but unable to decide, we left it to chance and flipped a coin. The coin said to sleep at the end of the road. And that's what we did......hoping that the morning would be clear.

4:40am:

cory: holy shit!!
me: ..........no response...........
cory: caitlin! you have to look at this!
me: what?
cory: the volcano!!At this point I came out of my slightly sleep-deprived daze and realized where we were. I swung open the car door and to my awe-struck eyes saw clear skies, the sun not quite up and over the horizon, and a massive, pink pluming cloud of ash billowing out of the mountain side. It was one of the most mesmerizing sights I have ever seen. You can see the ash come up as the cloud gets bigger and bigger, and you are just unable to look away. We stood there for I don't know how long, it might have been 20 minutes, it might have been close to an hour......and every now and then we could hear the faint sounds of earth and ice breaking and crashing.

Seyðisfjörður: quite possibly the makings of the best horror film ever

Seyðisfjörður is such a unique little town I thought it deserved a post of its own. It is a little fishing town at the end of a fjord on the very east side of Iceland, surrounded on three sides by giant, snowcapped mountains. The only way to describe it is as a town that lives on the brink of a blissful existance and complete insanity. It sucks you in with its quaint peacefulness, and just when you are getting ready to leave, the mountains close in like teeth until you are trapped. Unable to leave, every day is spent exactly as the last until they all run together and you can´t tell yesterday apart from tomorrow. (very much like ''Groundhog Day'')

It was completely random that we even found our way there. We were heading east towards Egilsstaðir and, flipping through the travel book, randomly found a town (just a little further east of Egilsstaðir that had a hostel) described as ''a writer and artist´s hub with a bohemian flair.'' That should have been our first clue as to what we were in for.....because everyone knows artists and writers are just a tad bit crazy in the head. But we went. We drove up, and up, and up into the mountains, over this pass, the snow gradually piling up higher and higher on the sides of the road. Then we descended into one of the most beautiful valleys I have ever seen. (words can not do it justice, so you will just have to wait until i insert the picture once i am home. but it will go here)

Upon arrival we were directed to the old hospital-turned-hostel where we were to stay for the next night or two. We were greeted by Richard, and American man with a Brittish accent trying to get his residency in Iceland. He was slight of frame, and his thought process was so inconsistant he could could not string together more than two or three sentences before changing the subject he was talking about (generally mid-sentence). It was quite obvious that he, at one point, had drank a few too many cups of mushroom tea or maybe a few too many hits of LSD.

It was at this moment that I was convinced that we were in the midst of a horror movie gone terribly wrong......Four travelers coss over a trecherous mountain pass, though blowing winds and snow (it was actually quite nice as we came over the pass, the sun was out and we stopped quite a bit to take pictures) and find themselves in a sleepy fishing village at the end of a fjord. Late in the night (it was actually mid-afternoon), with no other place to go (I´m sure we could have turned back if we had really wanted to) the only refuge they can find is at a converted hospital run by an old, drug-dazed American.........

We survived the night, however (no ghost hauntings, and Richard didn´t have any crazy hallucinations and try to kill us in our sleep), and the night after that. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay, climbed (most of the way) up a mountain, saw the town, drank lots of beer, and had some very interesting conversations with Richard (he´s crazy, but he grows on you).

We hardly saw a soul in town, but it is apparently quite busy in the summertime, and I can hardly imagine what it must be like in the summer time with the hustle and bustle of the artists and writers and tourists who flock there.

Highlights from Week Two

As the (somewhat cliché) saying goes, '' time flies when you are having fun,'' and week #2 has ended. While in Akureyri we met two Americans (who happen to be from Bellingham, of all places) who had rented a car. So we jumped in with them and traveled together for the week. We went from Akureyri to Lake Mývatn (staying in a little cabin in Reykjahlið). From Reykjahlið to Húsavík. From Húsavík to Seyðisfjörður. And from Seyðisfjörður to Egilsstaðir.

We´ve seen\done:
- the waterfall Goðafoss
- Stakhólstjörn (a psuedocrater filled marshland)
- lava formations at Kálfastrandarland & Dimmuborgir
- The Námafall Hverarönd mud pots
- Volcano Kraftla & the crater Viti (though it was a bit snow-filled)
- swam in the Mývatn Nature Baths (considered the ''Blue Lagoon of the North'')
- climbed up a volcano-crater and walked around the rim
- climbed (almost most of the way up a mountain side)
- partied with the locals

And now we are beginning week #3 (also known as the second half of our trip) where we are staying and working at an organic farm just south of Egilsstaðir. There are quite a number of other kids that are here as well, so I am predicting that it will be just as interesting as the first half of the trip has been.

Week One Highlights

Today marks the end of our first week in Iceland. We have gone from Seattle to Reykjavik, Reykjavik to Grundarfjörður, Grundarfjörður to Blönduós (via Borgarnes), hitch hiked from Blönduós to Varmahlið to Sauðákrókur, then Sauðákrókur back to Varmahlið, hitch hiked (again) from Varmahlið to Akureyri.......and that brings us to where we are now. Akureyri.

Highlights of the week:
- bird´s eye view of Reykjavik from atop Hallgrímskirkja
- our first waterfall in Grundarfjörður
- an icelandic sunset over the Westfjörds in Blönduós
- the natural hot baths just north of Sauðákrókur
- stayed up to witness the aurora borealis with our hosts (also in Sauðákrókur)
- met some americans in the hostel and drank rum & cokes in Akureyri

Phase Three: make it to iceland

status: completed

We are on our second day in Iceland. We stayed in the City Hostel in Reykjavik and had the pleasant expierence of waking up at 6:30 this morning to a big beer-bellied American shouting ''I´ll kill you! I´ll kill you, you f*cking french f*ck!'' to a little elfen ginger, who was (obviously) French, no more than four feet from where we were sleeping. They started to get into it with each other, I´m not sure why or how it actually started (the beer-bellied American said the French ginger was hitting him in the head with his sneakers and what-not...it was all very early), but we decided it must be time to get up and start our day.

Welcome to Iceland.

The Plan.........sort of.

The plan is only tentative (as with most travel plans, all is apt to change). The only things that are fact are: Cory will be my travel partner. We leave Seattle on April 18 (arrive in Iceland April 19). Will be WWOOFing (working worldwide on organic farms) on two farms in May. We depart May 19th. The up in the air part is where we will travel before the farms. So far we are going up to the W. Fjords, then to Sau∂krokur, a couple of nights in Akureyri, and maybe check out the whaling town of Húsavik before heading to Eglissta∂ir and Selfoss (where the two farms we will be WWOOFing on are), making our final stop in Reykjavik.

I want to do some hiking. Cory wants to go fly fishing. We want to see some whales and some puffins. Some waterfalls and some hot springs. I want to take lots of pictures, and meet new people, and try something new everyday.

So thats the outline. How we are going to get from place to place is unknown.......but I guess that's just going to be all a part of the adventure.

Next up: Iceland

Lately I've been feeling the urge for a new adventure. I've been in this town for just about a year and a half now, the snow hasn't been that great this winter, and I have gotten bored with going out to the bars every night. It's been almost two years since I left the country (Canada doesn't count) and I thought a little jaunt in an aeroplane would do me some good (even though I greatly dislike flying). I'm sure a nice long road trip around the country would have sufficed.........but probably not for long (the need to be immersed in a different culture is almost overpowering). So, instead, I chose: Iceland. (plus the tickets were really cheap)

"Iceland? Why Iceland?" is generally the response I get from people around here. (said almost in a "why-would-anyone-want-to-go-there" tone)
"Why not?" is usually my reply.

But seriously, why not? There is so much to see and do there, and that question can really be asked about anywhere anyone visits. It perplexes me that this is the reaction I get when I say I'm going to Iceland. Maybe it's because they're just jealous. I would be, too, if I wasn't already going.