Day of Waterfalls

 

No internet system working at SeaTac airport on the day of our departure, nothing! No automated bag check, no automated check in, no reader boards with airlines, gates, arrivals or departures. Then an amazingly easy 7 hour flight that left Seattle early and arrived in Reykjavik early. Then a brain dead, jet-lag fog that resulted in me stupidly leaving my very important BP meds in an airport bathroom. Finally, an early morning trip to a small town Iceland hospital where a very nice ER staff re-supplied my BP meds. Oh! The joys and ups and downs of travel!

Then, on Thursday we were on our way, counter clockwise, around the island of Iceland, the plan to arrive back in Reykjavik on September 11. Our first stop was Gullfoss, a massive waterfall on the Hvita River, about an hour and a half northeast of Reykjavik. The story is (all places in Iceland have a story, or a legend, or a historic saga) the man that owned the land that Gullfoss flowed on, was approached by developers that wanted to dam the river for hydroelectric power (this in a country where hot water is so plentiful below ground that the forces that create it are forever blowing up mountains with glowing lava, burning embers and ash,) The man was interested but his daughter threatened to walks all the way to Reykjavik barefoot to prevent the developers’ plan (don’t know if she did it) The guys went behind the man’s back and got it anyway. Then the daughter threatened to jump off the falls—a certain death (don’t know if she did it.) Alas, the developers didn’t pay their bills, the falls remained with the daughter and her father and were later donated to the government of Iceland. Now all who come can view this amazing spectacle.

On through the south of Iceland—amazingly green, flat land, the North Atlantic at its edge. This is the land of horse farms and shaggy sheep herds The special Icelandic horse is revered and nearly anyone that has any land owns at least one. They are a pure breed, descended from the ancient Mongolian horse and brought to Iceland from Norway by Viking settlers in 986 AD. If one of these horses leaves the island, it can never return, to prevent contamination of its blood line. They are exceptionally friendly, stocky, shaggy horses with a unique gait that no other horse in the world exhibits.

Next stop: the waterfalls of Eyajorjoktull, vocalno that blew in 2010 and shot an ash cloud 5 miles high that fouled up European air traffic for months. Its glacier is the source of uncountable waterfalls that cascade off its massive escarpment of lava. The escarpment on its south side is spectacular—a waterfall you can walk behind and many more, including one that disappears into a hole and then emerges to fall into a pool hidden in the dark.

We spent a couple hours in the Icelandic Folk Museum, a fascinating place that housed thousands and thousands of artifacts of settlers lives, some from as far back as the 1200’s. Outside, restored traditional settlers homes were displayed—these turf covered homes were first made from lava rocks, then eventually evolved to be built from milled drift wood claimed on the beaches—that, because of it’s impregnation with salt water, proved to be highly durable. Drift wood, whale bones, fish bones, fish skin and sheep wool were used for basically every single tool in sheep herding and fishing.

Then on to the black sand beach of Reynisfarra, where the famous Icelandic wind was blowing so fiercely you could not walk in a straight line over the polished black basalt stones.

The only disappointment of the day was that the puffins have already left for their 10 months of life in the open ocean. I already knew that, but still, denial is a strong force . . .

On around to the eastern fiord area today, then we’ll be on our way toward the Arctic Circle.