The crazy Asian lady and the exotic Long Island baby...

Saturday, August 3, 2013

So, I admit, I would like to kick myself for not keeping up with this.  I'm already worried about writing the next post because I am not going to remember everything.  If I don't, I have Jess' wonderful memory which means I may as well make shit up and I probably will.  Get ready for that post.

We planned the day as a counterclockwise tour of the Snaefellsnes, hitting about 3/4 of the place.  When I say 3/4, that's really just what we are able to access from the roads that go around the peninsula. 

We got up and headed over to the hotel, our technological oasis and generally crappy breakfast.  It's not totally crappy but, it's not great.  There are no cooked eggs, omelets or pancakes, but there are some sardine looking fish, deli meats and hardboiled eggs.  Fucking Europe.

I spend a good portion of the time checking work emails and making sure no one has cut into a gas or oil line, causing a major environmental hazard - which, no one would probably give damn because it's in the ghetto.  Then I remember, they're suspended from working, so unless there is a major issue at summer school, there really should be no problems.

I believe we took a little bit of time getting ourselves together, but we did and we headed to the first stop Ondverdarnes, right on the water.  It's a lava field.  The ride takes us to other worldly places reserved for the likes of film locations for The Hobbit and science fiction films.  

From the parking lot. you can see this tiny lighthouse.  There are quite a few small ones like this around and they are all painted safety orange, I would imagine for obvious reasons and not an over purchase of safety orange paint.

The trails to the lava filed start out green and grassy with little pools all around.  The sky was overcast and the pools were actually far more reflective than in these pictures.  The trails were really only marked by the grass that had been trodden by those who went before us.  There were rocks strewn about the landscape, clearly having been blasted to their current locations millennia ago.  The ground was soft and I took my time walking to ensure that I did not find any spots that were either too soft or gave way so that I would find myself in the pools.

As I walked through the fields pondering the secrets that this ancient land held, I stumbled upon Falki, an ancient well that has been in use for over a thousand years.  

Ok, I didn't stumble upon it, I saw the sign that said Falki and went over to see what the hell it was.

It looked like it could still be in use and the entrance did in fact look like something from the Lord of the Rings.  The well, according to legend, was fed by three sources:  fresh water, holy water and ale.  This is my kind of well and if possible, I would like to find the source of the ale.  The site is considered archaeologically and culturally import to the people of Iceland.  

There was also the ruins of a building there - probably not as old as Falki, but still pretty cool to see.

The lava field was quite the sight and what you would expect it to be - black.  The lava flowed to the sea, where it cooled.  It must have been an awesome sight, and one that can still be see whenever volcanoes erupt around the world.

The Chief continued on his rock hunting expeditions.  He had two large ones with him, one nice and smooth that you see above and another piece of lava, which may or may not have made it home with us.  We also found these skeletal remains which just really put the exclamation point on being in a lava field.  I'd like to tell you it was something really cool but it was probably a big fish that a bird was eating within the past two weeks.

 We had to head back to the car because someone had to pee - it wasn't me, and the baby wears diapers.

I tried to use my chameleon powers but forgot that I had back paints on.

When someone was finished, we got back in the car to head to our first planned hike for the day.  Djupalonssandur to Dritvik. It was a 1km in length.   Dritvik is only accessible by foot or boat.  It was a seasonal fishing village for over 600 people at one time.  On the way, there is an awesome pebble beach where the fishermen used to engage in picking up large boulders so that they could decide what your role would be when out fishing.  

When we got out the car, we realized that we had left the weather cover for his backpack at the hotel.  It was really windy and I wasn't about to skip the hike, so we improvised, using the pack towel that we had with us, wrapping it around his legs for an extra layer.

The hike along the coast beautiful and the landscape was immaculate.  It started off on a trail that was quite rocky and a bit annoying to walk on but the views were well worth it.  We were again transported to a movie set, easily think shades of Mordor.  It was barren yet stunningly beautiful.  The ocean on your left and the other planet on your right.

The trail evens out and you can make the walk fairly quickly.  The Chief has fallen asleep in the backpack and Jess tells me that she thinks he likes to fall asleep when she is walking on uneven terrain as opposed to the road.  Dritvik slowly sneaks up on you (though it may be the opposite) during the hike.

I thought that a good part of the village would have still been there, but it was not.  There were some stone wall foundations below the safety orange shed you see above.

There was also an amazing little cove where the water was green because of the algae that was growing there.

We hung around for a bit while the Chief slept, snapped some shots and then headed back out the way we came for the 1k return.  The sun started to poke through on the return walk to the car.

When we got to the car park, I started to look for the geocache that was in the area.  Some of the workers were painting benches near the cache site.  I pretended that I was looking for something, I wasn't exactly trying to hide myself.  After a few seconds of looking, the girl who was there asks, "Can I help you."  And I replied, "No thanks, just looking around."  I was pretty sure she would leave me alone at this point.  She then says, "Do you want a hint?"  I was like, "Huh?" and then Jess says, "Oh, you know where it is?"  Then we started talking and said she had just found out the day before that it was  there.  So we BS'd with her for a few and she is planning on heading to New Zealand within the year.  Of course, we found the cache and headed on our way.  

Next stop was Mallarif another beach and lighthouse and good views of the glacier.  There were two huge rocks there and we didn't drive up to get close and take a look.  This spot yielded two of my favorite shots from the trip.

Hellnes, the next stop is a little town that had a very cool  cove where there were tons of birds nesting.  It migh  be the town nearest the glacier since it seemed to be pretty large in the background behind the houses and buildings that were there.  We were supposed to do a hike to another town from here but didn't.  We headed down to the area where the birds were.  Lots of boulders and rocks for the baby to collect and throw.  The area had very cool looking rock formations, probably formed because of lava and the glacier pulling back on it.  The striations in a few areas were pretty deep and made very cool patterns.

We hung out and climbed around the rocks and watched the birds fly around and shit.  Literally, I think.

Our next stop was Arnastapi – where the hike would have let us out.  It was a quaint little town.  We drove through rather quickly and just made one stop near a geocache.  Grabbed a few shots and then headed to the next stop...

Budir.  We looked at the church.  It was very tiny.  We missed the seal that was suppsed to be at the beach and then beat it out of there.  The town was like three houses and the church.

We had to take the gravel road back again.  Only this time we were blessed with a fairly soupy fog.  Luckily, there was no truck right up out ass and Jess could take it a little slower.  Once we got out of the death trap, we headed to the Hotel Hellissandur for diner.  It was about two towns away from Olafsvik.

Once in a while, you catch a really odd story on your trips.  This one wasn't so odd as it was slightly bizarre.

We're eating our dinner, or at least the appetizer and a tour group comes in and starts doing their thing.  It was a big mix of people and there were a bunch of sixty-something women sitting near us.  The Chirf, of course, starts to flirt and this one Asian lady is absolutely in love with him.  She's really animated too.  If you worked in my district, you would know the ATR Asian substitute (can't think of her name), she's not THAT animated but she certainly has her own special way about her.  She was like a tiny hurricane amongst the cool calm and collected Canadians and Germans that were also in her tour group - they must have loved her.  No harm - she was having a good time as she should, she's on vacation.  They flirt for a good number of minutes and he is really good when engaging with people.  We laugh and smile and she finally comes over to start talking to us.  She asks if she can take his picture because we are so exotic looking.  We say sure and laugh.

Through the conversation, we find out that she is from NYC and lives in the Village.  Then we let her know that the exotic looking baby she just took a picture from is from Long Island.