Iceland - Skogafoss, Dettifoss, Intha Foss, Antha Foss...

*"intha" and "antha" are Tamil words

Day 1 - Travel to Iceland

It's summer and I am absolutely, definitely, positively sick and tired of school and planes. Yes, planes. Travel tip: Air Canada is the actual worst. First leg wasn't bad. I sat with my friend A and S who are also on the same Iceland trip. We are, according to my well-organized-but-travel related-stressed-out-mom traveling the Ring Road around the country. Now, the second leg, I was forced to sleep. If you have read any of my previous posts you will know that sleeping on plane is not my forte. The moment we entered the plane, we knew that something was wrong. First Class had Economy class leg room. So you can guess how much leg room Economy Class had. Think school bus, except even less leg room and even more stink. Bags had to be shoved under the seat except managing that was nearly impossible. Then, we wanted to take off shoes by because the bag was in the way, the task was all the more arduous. Then the food arrived. The pasta smelled gross, so I literally sipped water while smelling chapstick. If you want even more description, send me an email. Because I have plenty more to say... unfortunately.

We reached Reykjavik and after picking up our rental van drove to our apartment. First things first. We wanted some food. So we went to Glo (a vegan restaurant) where I had a good avocado toast. We all returned to the apartment and prepared for the upcoming puffin tour  by using the restroom, drinking water, and donning layers. A and S's mom V decided we shall all wear rain-pants and so we did. A's was really strange. Anyway, we walked to the place. The adults got coffee nearby. Big surprise! There was no need for rain pants so we ditched it.  We reached the boat and were warmly greeted by the guide. I took pictures of Eiders and Arctic Terns, and then the Puffins came. They were adorable.  You could just see them sitting on the water and then take off and flap faster than ducks. We also saw the sweetest gull chicks and fulmars (which look like gulls but are related to albatross).

Fulmar

Puffins on the water getting ready for take off

After turning back, I wanted some hot chocolate. So we returned to the same coffee house. We were ready for dinner. Gandhi's was where we were eating. If you remember the Chile trip i was nervous about the food. But the dal tadka, rice and naan was just what I needed. I was full and had finally eaten actual food. We returned to the apartment to sleep in the daylight.

Day 2 - Golden Circle and Drive to Vik

I could barely open my eyes. I don't know what in the name of the whole world went through my head but i remember thinking I felt like a complex number. Don't ask, 'cos I don't know. Anyway, we all got ready and hit the road. There were sheep everywhere and they were really cute. Well they were goats but I call them "shep" and the name stuck. After about an hour we stopped at Thingvellir (Thing-Vet-Ler) which is the site of the first democratic parliament called Althingi. We looked at an exhibition. We then walked outside and through a cleft in the rock and saw a redwing (bird) hopping rocks! R dropped his phone, so yeah! But it was recovered.

Althingi site - the vast plain, the rivers allowed for a huge gathering

We returned to the road. Blah Blah, driving, driving, snacking on spicy peanuts, la di da driving, you know. We reached Geysir which was like a mini Yellowstone.

Next stop was Gulfoss (Golden Falls). They were huge and beautiful cascades shimmering in the sunlit mist. Sorry I meant rain. We walked close to the top of the falls and were drenched by the "mist". But I had this awesome jacked that dried in like 5 minutes.

Back on the road we arrived at Skogafoss which is another waterfall This one was taller and there were crazy stairs that went to the top. Just as we reached the foot of the stairs it started to rain. But we were smart this time and wore rain jackets. The stairs were shaky and there were holes in them. They were also steep and had chains only on one side. There were some fulmars and gulls flying around the top. it was now raining rather than drizzling and the way down was somehow faster than the way up.

The stairs that take you to the top

Skogafoss

The sheep softly serenaded us as we started down the steep, shaky, scary set of stairs. We hit the road and drove to our cabin near Vik.

Solheimahjaleiga Guesthouse - 20kms from Vik

After we had dinner of Madras Lentils with rice and quinoa cooked in the shared kitchen. I took shower in one of the shared showers and went to sleep. Dad snored. My back ached. But I had no mathematical thoughts.

Day 3 - Vik to Hofn and visit to Vatnajokull National Park.

Today our destination was Hofn (Hup, but extend the "u" so it doesn't sound like "hup' as in "Hup 2,3,4") but we were stopping at the Black Beach at Vik first and halfway for a glacier walk in the middle because, yeah.

Vik Black Beach

The landscape became more barren and rocky and mossy and we saw some glaciers pass by. They weren't that blue that you typically see in glaciers, but they were huge. We reached the Visitor Center at the Skaftafell National park to use the WC ("Water Closet") which we started calling the "Wuk". The WC was in the Upplysingar (Information) but I just called it "Uppiliappan". We did that and went to - OH MA GAH I FORGOT! On the way we saw this awesome foss and we got off the van to see it. But there was this tourist in a pink jacket and a beanie who was running around and posing in weird poses. A and I realized that she was running around to be in two places at once in a pano. It would have been fine if a) she wasn't like 60 and b) she didn't do it 5 times! She photo bombed everyone's picture. I started referring to her as "pano aunty" and once again the name stuck.

The falls where we bumped into "Pano Aunty"

Anyway, back to the glacier. After a vegan lunch at the cafeteria we took a flat trail to a glacier. It was a pleasant walk.

Flat Trail to the Glacier - these Glaciers were the setting for the icy planet in Interstellar and some scenes in Batman Begins

Then we tried on the crampons and went on a bus where we met with our guide. We put on our crampons and walked up a steep icy slope on Falljökull glacier tongue.

The first icy slope to test our crampons

Crossing Crevasses

I felt like an Icewing, my favorite type of dragon from my favorite book series "Wings of Fire". I loved the whole experience. We then climbed up and down stairs on the ice which our guide made with his axe and crossed crevasses. I really felt like an Icewing. We took an easy path down. We then headed to Hofn where we found a great pizza place which had some of the best breadsticks ever. Mom realized that the cottages she booked did not have a shower. So yeah. I had the best sleep ever regardless.

Cottage in Hofn - no showers, but best sleep!

Day 4 - Drive to Myvatn ("Meevat")

I woke up slightly grumpy knowing fully well we had no breakfast plan. And then, my mother found it. Mentioned in tiny writing in her handy guidebook, the Viking Cafe. Just a small place, but they had coffee and waffles. Coffee? Great. Waffles? Even better. I was in. I jumped out of bed and got ready. We reached the cafe. It was small, warm, and cozy. The cappuccino was warm and cozy. The waffle made me feel all warm and cozy. It couldn't have been better. Soft, golden waffles, drizzled with sumptuous chocolate lay gently on the plate in front of me. To my left, steamed a warm cup of coffee, lifting it's divine fragrance to the world. The waffles seemed to smile, the coffee seemed to say "good morning". In my head, I said "good morning" back and devoured the waffle and savored the coffee. I will never forget the sunny smile of the waffle and the golden voice of the coffee.

Waffles at Viking Cafe

Then we began the drive to Myvatn. This was the most scenic drive. We zoomed past a lake full of Eiders and we could see so many fosses. You probably know by now that a foss is a waterfall. After some hours we reached Egilstadir and ate at a restaurant called Salt. The lady at the counter was rude but I had a really good vegan burger. Then we continued our drive to Myvatn. We stopped in the afternoon at a Kleina place for a snack. It was good.

Where we stopped for Kleina

Scrambling over rocks to get to Dettifoss playing "fall off the edge and die" game

We kept driving on and reached Dettifoss. It was okay. I mean, just another foss, right? But this was not a tinny foss with a litli bit of water (see below). It was quite massive. However, there were some cliffs and ledges. I don't remember if it was S who said the phrase: fall off the edge and die, but I came up with a game. Every sentence we say has to have some form of "fall off the edge and die". Here are a couple of examples:

• "Watch your step or you'll fall of the edge and die!"
• "That person should not be on that rock. They could fall of the edge and die!" (Part of the game or not, this one and the above are extremely true. Don't be one of those ridiculous selfie-op people)
• "We're playing the 'falling off the edge and dying' game. Basically every sentence we say has to have the phrase 'fall of the edge and die' in it." (This one is especially useful when explaining the game. I used it multiple times.)
• "Let's just hurry up before one of us falls of an edge and dies."
• "My fingers are so cold, I might get frostbite and my fingers will fall off the edge of my hand and die." (Just a ridiculous way to complain about frozen finger, I am not proud of this one)
• "Look at all the water falling off that edge, but it isn't dying because it was never alive in the first place!" (This basically is: look, the waterfall!)

Sidenote: I think was quite good at the game. SO FIGHT ME.

We finally reached Myvatn in the evening.

Words to Know:
 
Litli: we saw this word at Geysir, describing a small geyser. This, I now use in place of "little"

Tinny: I randomly said this instead of "tiny". This is commonly used to describe waterfalls: "tinny foss"

Day 5 - Drive to Akureyri

This  was boring, the drive that is. But we started off by going to a lava field in Myvatn. Weirdly shaped rocks covered with moss was everywhere. It actually looked like a drip castle people make on the beach, you know when you could just drip really wet sand in a mound and it looks really cool.

 

Lava rocks at Dimuborgir

Hole in the wall!

There were holes in the wall so A decided to chat "There's a hole in the wall" and I started to imagine the trip as a musical. Here's what I have so far

A (spoken): There's a hole in the wall!

Me (spoken): What? There's a hole in the wall?

A (spoken): Yes! A hole in the wall!

S (Spoken): Look! A hole in the wall!

A (spoken): There's a hole in the wall!

Tourist ensemble What? A hole in the wall!

A (spoken): Yes! A hole in the wall!

S and Me: S (Spoken): Look! A hole in the wall!

I decided this will be A's song in the musical. S wanted one about "binocs" and mine would be a slow, mournful one about the plane ride.

We then went to a place with pseudocraters and a lake for birds.

Pseudocrater and Lake at Skutustadagigar

We saw like 15 red necked Phalaropes (the females are the pretty ones in this species), two divers (Common loons) and many wigeons with chicks. They were SO CUTE! I wanted to hold one. There were also tufted ducks, horned grebes, mergansers and of course flies!

Wigeon Mom with her Chicks

Phalarope - pretty female

Horned Grebe

We returned for a lunch of tomato soup and bread. There was a really dense, sweet bread called Geysir bread that was nice with butter. Then we headed out towards Akureyri stopping on our way to see Godafoss.

Godafoss

La di da driving, driving. Mom forced me to come up to speed on my journal. Emerging from a tunnel, seeing the city (second largest in ICeland) spread wide near the river, felt like coming home. Our vacation home had arctic terns nesting in the backyard. We could even see chicks. Unfortunately we also saw a take. A black headed gull grabbed a chick and ate it. It felt just like tern watching and I forgot Arctic Terns (unlike California Least Terns) weren't endangered.

Arctic tern with chick

We headed out for Indian food. It was okay. We three kids also grabbed candy at the grocery store. There was one that tasted like barf. Speaking of barf, I threw up the food that night. It was gross. But I felt better after and then slept.

Day 6 - Drive back to Reykjavik (completed the Ring Road)

We drove. Nothing more to say. We stopped at Borgannes at a museum called "Settlement Center". Mom and V decided to do the exhibit about the settlement. The rest of us went to the exhibit on "Egil's Saga". It was boring and we couldn't remember who had what name. Basically a guy killed people and wrote poems and buried treasure.

Settlement Center at Borgannes

Then we drove some more and reached the apartment. Dad cooked dal and made potato which A helped with. I made rice. Great dinner. Then I had a coughing fit for an hour and finally fell asleep. I had about 5 to 6 hours of sleep.

Day 7 - Day Hike at Landmanalaugar

I have no clue how to spell the above word. Anyway, this was the longest day. Yesterday the moms packed sandwiches. There was this incredible hummus, the best tomato pesto and veggies. Oh and the multi-grain bread with the perfect texture that didn't need toasting with the chewy, salty flavorful crust that made my day.The bus drive to the 4 hour hike started out on normal road. It was your typical Iceland drive - grass, mountains all sprinkled with a pinch of sheep and horses. Then we left the road and it turned bumpy. Misshapen rocks were all over the place speckled with holes. The road had one lane so we stopped and pulled over a few times. We drove through a couple of rivers. After 4 hours of listening to Illayaraja music we arrived. I was attacked!

Flies were everywhere and went in my face, in my hair, in my eyes and up my nose. The rocks beneath our feet seemed to come in seven colors of the rainbow. I found 7 such pebbles. The mountains were shades of red and orange with yellow streaks of Sulfur. Then we started the hike. Dad went with another group and we went the slightly longer, harder route. Have you heard of a phone game called "Altos Odyssey"? You should get it. It's awesome. Basically, you are a sand boarder and you have to complete challenges that get progressively harder. You can backflip, rock smash, rock bounce, wallride and sometimes wingsuit. Oh, you can also find Birds of Paradise and crossing chasms is a thing too. S and I, on the trail, chose characters and "played" the game in the real world. Sometimes on railings we would "grind", if we saw a bird we saw a bit of paradise, we crossed "chasms"; rock smashes and bounces occurred frequently, every purple flower was a lotus flower (a power up). We went through the lava field this way. Then we crossed a river in a great valley. I was on the lookout for a Snow Bunting. A flash of black and white stood out against the colorful mountains and I can't describe how beautiful the mountains were. They looked out of a painting. Anyway, the guide called the bird as a Snow Bunting. It was a wagtail. I took a picture and showed the guide. I also described a snow bunting to him. The guide acknowledged that it was a wagtail and said he was not a birder. Then began our steep ascent.

The path was a foot wide and had a slope of like 1. It was also winding. Then we literally had to climb up a side of the volcano. We all were a bit out of shape (except S of course who plays soccer). At the top the view was beautiful. The dark lava field was broken by a thin line that was our path. There was an abrupt transition to a river and then to mountain, more lava and then the parking lot. The best part was the vegetable sandwich lunch we had at the top. After a wonderful break we headed down the other side of the mountain. It was just as steep as I imagined. We learned about snow that never melted because the sunlight simply reflected off of it.

View from the top

We continued to the geothermal vent part. Sulfur smell was everywhere. We could actually place our hand over the rock and feel the heat. Then we went back to the lava field.

Clambering over rocks through the Lava field

This was where the snow bunting appeared. Annoyingly it was mom who spotted it but she thought it was a wagtail. But this time I confirmed it was the Snow Bunting! It was so cute! I wanted to cry. We were at the back taking pictures so everyone else missed it.

The Snow Bunting!

We tramped through the field some more until we reached the river on the other side. The mountains turned green here. It was SO PRETTY! I felt like a SkyWing in Wings of Fire walking through mountains. It was at the end of the hike where I found the rainbow rocks. The green was so vivid but I lost all my rocks! Including the prettiest obsidian (which "Game of Thrones" fans apparently refer to as Dragon Glass. Not that I care.). We boarded the bus, rode back, and crashed.

Day 8 - Blaä Lagoon (blue lagoon)

Our last day in Iceland was going to be spent at the Blue Lagoon, the most famous spa/ thermal baths near Reykjavik. It was nice and relaxing, but slightly overrated.

We missed the bus to get there by fifteen minutes so *sigh* we went with the guys... but we had more time to get ready! We took shower and changed after depositing our stuff in the locker. Some people decided that no modesty was necessary. I was a litli bit uncomfortable, but that's beside the point. The water was beautifully warm. It felt like an oasis of warmth surrounding me like a blanket. There were some warm spots, cool spots, a network of bridges, and a mask place and drink bar. However, it is not as blue as the pictures. It is pale turquoise, almost white, with a hint of pink. It also was slightly (not sarcastic) crowded. A and I might have been the only people in a rash guard. But it was WARM. And I had an overwhelming desire to swim. But I couldn't because the water would dry up my hair and make it worse than it is. So I didn't. We headed for our first mask. This was a silica one. It was meant to exfoliate but I didn't feel any different other than the tinniest bit of stinging. It went in a bit. We struggled to wash it off in the water. My friend A loved it though. I preferred the mineral mask, meant for hydration. My face felt really soft afterward. So then, after we finished and paid and regrouped (once again, the showers were...), we headed to the store. I bought the mineral mask, A bought the silica mask, and A's mother V bought an algae mask. My dad was too lame to try a mask... (tsk tsk tsk, articulated passive-aggressively). We decided on the cafe there for lunch, realized it was 40 dollars per person, and left. There was a really nice Thai place that had great spring rolls. My mother, who didn't come to Blue Lagoon, met up with us and we went to a whale museum. The life-size models were REALLY COOL. Apparently, no one knows what narwhal tusks are for, beluga whales have really flexible necks, and right whales are so called because they were the "right" whale to hunt. Then we went to this church for a view that was kinda okay. Then we drove to the airport and left in Lufthansa. Which is WAY better than Air Canada.