An Expedition to the West

After a somewhat hectic week, we (meaning the core group of people I hang out with on my floor and three others from a different building) decided that we wanted to have a little bit of an adventure on Sunday and get out of Reykjavik. Reykjavik is a neat city, but I think all of us were feeling ready to see a little bit more of Iceland, especially the beautiful countryside to the west. We had heard that you could rent cars for the day for a pretty reasonable price, so we rented two little cute, round cars (that are not designed for ice, we learned) for ~9000 kr (90 usd) each. Not bad when we split it between 5 people per car! We left at 9:00, which, for most people, seemed super early. It was dark when we left, but as we drove out of the city, we got to watch the sun slllooowwwlly rising behind the mountains. It was magnificent. Everyone was SO excited to be seeing more of the country. We were absolutely in awe.

We had planned a grand adventure with many stops, but because of slow driving and unexpected hikes, we wound up only going to the highest waterfall in Iceland (Glymer, 198 m), some super hot and vigorously steaming and bubbling hot springs, a pool in the town of Borgarnes, and a Filipino/Icelandic restaurant. Additionally, we got to see a ton of the countryside while driving all about.

After almost not being able to negotiate a necessary turn because of CRAZILY slippery roads (terrifying at moments, for me anyway) we made our first stop of the day at the trail head to Glymer. We hadn't realized that it was a hike, but I was really excited to get a chance to get off the main roads. We were initially paranoid about following the little painted yellow rocks that marked that trail, but eventually excitement and enthusiasm took over and the trail was completely abandoned. As we walked through the most amazing country I think I have ever had the chance to be in, everyone was just BEAMING. We all had purpley faces from the cold, but none of us could stop smiling. We saw a roiling boiling blue river that was flanked by outrageous ice formations, caves dripping with icicles, snow, sun, a blue-grey ocean, cute little trees, tiny footprints, and so, so, so much more. We wound up hiking up to the top of one of the snow covered mountain ridges to see the falls, which gave us a spectacular view of everything around us. Because of the lack of large vegetation, one can basically get a great view of something from anywhere. Additionally, the openness allows one so much freedom to explore, because there is really no concern about getting lost or losing one another. I guess that would be different on a snowy, cloudy, rainy day, but we lucked out and had stunning weather. We had debated not going because the forecast looked so dismal, but I guess the weather changed its mind and decided to cooperate beautifully. I wish that I could describe the feeling I had while looking out at everything from the top of this ridge. I will include some pictures in this post which might give you some idea of what we were seeing/feeling, but they really don't do it justice. After diddling around up on top of the ridge, we began to get really cold and decided to head back to the cars. We scrambled down from the ridge, making a little detour to walk through a small stand of tiny spruce trees. If we crouched down, it sort of felt like home! The joke "If you get lost in an Icelandic forest, just stand up" is so very true.

Upon returning to the cars, we munched chocolate chip cookies that Allie and I had baked on Saturday (We made ~130 and then delivered some to each floor in an attempt to make more friends) with frozen lips and hands. I don't think it was actually THAT cold, but the windchill made it feel pretty biting. Because we were so cold, hot springs sounded pretty good, so we set out to find them! When we got to the ones we had been looking for, we discovered that they were WAY too hot to swim in, but we huddled around them for a little bit, admiring their forceful bubbling and loving the heat that they were transmitting to the air. After driving around a bunch more (now watching the sun set beautifully), we wound up in the town of Borgarnes. We got to the town pool an hour before closing and had a pretty amazing swim/soak. It felt soooo good to thaw out our toes in the hot, hot water!

After swimming, we found a quaint Filipino/Icelandic restaurant. I guess they weren't expecting any customers at this time of year, so a few minutes after our large group descended, the cook came bustling in the door. After we finished eating, the cook/owner came and sat down at our table with us. She wanted to hear all about our impressions of the Icelandic students at the university and whether or not we thought they were still super nationalistic like their parents. She had immigrated to Iceland 21 years ago from the Philippines and had a lot to say about her impressions! We eventually had to cut the conversation off because it was snowing harder and harder and we still had a long drive home!

On the way home, we got to drive through the tunnel that goes beneath one of the bays on the west coast. It was pretty eerie to know that we were underneath the ocean!!! We got home at around 11, satisfied, tired, and excited to go on many, many more adventures! We were all so happy that we had taken the initiative to get out of town. It was a great reminder that there is so much more to Iceland than Reykjavik.

I have included a few pictures. Who knows where they will turn up in this post. I seem to struggle with the placement. I'm off to continue the battle with figuring out logistics! I don't think it will ever end!!!!!!!