After a close call at San Francisco International Airport (weather delayed my flight to Seattle by two hours - the wonderful people at Alaska Airlines put me on a van to Oakland International Airport to catch a flight to Seattle that would allow me to catch the Icelandair flight to Keflavik) I am officially in Iceland! And I am tired. My flight was on time, but sadly Brian's is delayed by an hour. So I sit here with the lady from the car service and write this entry.
Once Brian arrived we headed into Reykjavik. While waiting for him, I spoke to a pleasant young woman who was a PhD student in Icelandic literature. Oddly enough she was an Icelander but studying Icelandic literature in Denmark. We got our rental car, which was roomier than I feared and proceeded to become lost almost immediately. We eventually found our way to route 1 (the ring road) and headed out on our great Icelandic road trip!
Our first stop was in Hveragerdi. We had our breakfast at a bakery and went down the street to the local bank. We then stumbled on a little geothermal park and got to smell the sulfur and see the bubbling water and steam. It was a nice little park and best of all, was free (at least we think so, and no one accosted us telling us differently). Then we hit the road again. We stopped at a roadside waterfall so Brian could take the obligatory photos.
Once we got in range of the recently erupted volcano (which by the last day of the trip I was able to pronounce correctly - Eyjafjalljokull) we were in for a surprise. The road had been destroyed in three or four places to protect the bridges from being washed out by the abrupt melt of ice and snow caused by the eruptions. I saw these same places on a National Geographic special (of which I am still trying to find a DVD) a few weeks ago at home. The ash in the air was incredible. Around Skogar visibility was down to only a few feet. It was scary to say the least. It literally looked like night had fallen in the middle of the day. Having grown up in the Central Valley of California I am used to being around thick fog and even driving in it. But nothing prepared me for driving through the darkness of volcanic ash.
When we arrived at our first farm stay, Sólheimahjáleiga in Mýrdalur, the visibility was still low and the wind high. We checked in, took a pseudo nap, and headed down the road to Vik to look around and find some dinner. We stopped at the grocery store and got some Icelandic Glacial water (which ironically was the same price or cheaper in Oakdale's SaveMart). We stopped down the street at a restaurant/cafe and had the soup du jour, tomato. I also had a nice canned iced coffee. 2600 kronur for the two of us. That's some expensive soup. Luckily the ash haze was minimal in Vik and we got to see the black sand beaches (also a little grey from the ash). We poked around a wool/souvenir shop (called Vikurprjon) and headed back. We hit the same low visibility on our way back to the farm. From the dining room where I am writing this, the ash haze is obvious.
When speaking to one of the ladies running the guesthouse, she said it was not harmful, but still irritating. They had to move a lot of sheep out of the area to protect them from the negative effects of the ash. She also tole me how hard it is to scratch a living off the land here. We have it easy in California when it comes to agriculture (an abundance of arable land and the high availability of irrigation water, yes I know there have been tremendous efforts to bring irrigation to the Valley). I learned later that only 0.07% of Iceland is capable of supporting crops! Brian and I am enjoying the red vines my WONDERFUL girlfriend Jenn gave me before leaving on my trip.
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