Today is my last day in Iceland. Am very sorry to be leaving this grey, wet but amazingly bizarre country. Every day has been fantastic and damp and I now know the difference between water-resistant and waterproof (waterproof is infinitely better on the top of a glacier with freezing wind and rain). The landscape is crazy. When you go from one place to another in Europe, sometimes you forget where you´re headed or where you´ve landed but as soon as you see the scenery in Iceland you know where you are. On the way from Keflavik Airport to Reykjavik the land is just flat with black mounds of cooled lava covered in pee-coloured grass and moss. No trees.
I missed puffin season, so was going to console myself with eating puffin but couldn´t find that either so have had to content myself with postcards of puffins. I did eat the putrefied shark meat though- the woman at the fish stand in the flea market kindly let me try a piece and I wasn´t masochistic enough to buy a whole fillet. Whereas the Swedish rotten fish just tasted salty, you can actually taste the putridness of the shark meat as a lingering aftertaste that creeps up your nostrils and into your lungs.
I also went ice climbing and was the only girl in the group to actually make it to the top, haha! But I was extremely inadequately dressed and by the time I got halfway up the ice face my hands had frozen around the ice hammers so I couldn´t swing them properly. One of the guys in our group, Edwin, took a video of me climbing and I look extremely uncoordinated and slightly mentally challenged. When I got back down they had to prise my hands off the hammers. I didn´t dig my crampons in on the walk down the glacier and I slipped and burst open the scar on my right knee (yes, the one from the biking accident 3 or 4 months ago). So it is now a wound once again. It didn´t actually hurt that much, being frozen so I only realised it was bleeding when my leg wouldn´t move properly. The scar is still attached by two bits but the cuts have formed a sort of tunnel through it. I was very surprised to see the detatched part was purple because I thought it would be pink or at least flesh-toned. I also have lava bits embedded in my palms.
Went horse riding on one of the Icelandic horses and I love them! They are the cutest animals on earth. So tubby and round. They´re apparently very independent and intelligent. My horse wouldn´t walk in line but kept running to the front and then farting in the other horses´faces. He obviously also didn´t like walking through the streams (I´m not surprised) because he´d always pause a bit to think about it and then try to dash across. I got a really sore bum from the ride but soaked in the Blue Lagoon and felt much better.
Had dinner with Edwin on his last two nights in Iceland. He´s the guy I met while ice climbing- muy majo as the Spanish would say. It´s one thing I´ll miss after I get back to Spain, being able to meet people randomly and finding things in common.
The clothes and designs here are really unique. I think being so close to the magnetic north must affect their brains somehow. Am spending another night at the airport. Yay.
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3 comments:
Errr spending nights in airports really sucks. But not as bad as spending nights outdoor at bustops or train stations without adequate clothing - must have done that at least three or four times in Europe.
Geez so glad you didn't post any photos of the newly reopened scar - dsh the description was bad enough!
Iceland sounds amaaaaazing. I thought I'd covered Europe pretty well, but you're proving me wrong!
darling, icelandic horses! how very cute. are they small like oversized dogs?
you must post your pictures on the blog.
you make me hyperventilate reading a post like that. how could you go ice climbing!!!! father would turn in his grave if he were dead. i dont want to think about how you could have died or got frostbite. awful.
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