Iceland

(30 July – 11 August 2005)

It smells like fish. This was my first thought as we deboarded the plane in Keflavik, Iceland. Keflavik is about an hour drive from the capital Reykjavik and is home to the nation's only international airport. The airport's existence owes itself to the Americans who opened a military base here shortly after WWII. Apparently they're still paying for maintenance.

We stayed the first two nights at the nearby Fithostel Youth Hostel. I paid at check-in and learned my first lesson about Iceland: This place is expensive, and this from somebody who lives in Switzerland! Only two nights, I thought.

Our first full day in Iceland was in Reykjavik. It was wet but it didn't stop us from playing tourist. The city was literally void of people and we later learned that most Icelanders were away at a festival. The lack of crowds suited us fine. I immediately noticed an unusually high proportion of 4WD vehicles, some of which reminded me of monster trucks. I read somewhere that many Icelandic youth buy these vehicles on credit and spend decades paying off the debt. It seems to be tradition or perhaps even a right of passage. We also found three geocaches. Our impressions were positive but we had no rush to return.

The next morning we collected the rental car from the airport and started our journey around the island. Luckily I was able to find somebody to share a cab with to the airport. He was in his late 30s, retired, and had been traveling the world for four years with the goal of visiting every country in the world. He estimated he had another four to five years to go. He even spent time in Iraq after the US invasion and blended in by getting a middle eastern haircut, adhering to the fashion, and keeping his mouth shut. Interesting stuff. We probed how he could retire so young and afford to travel for eight years. He calmly replied, “Marijuana plantations...” We were certainly not the first to ask.

We had luck with the rental car and were upgraded from a small two-door Toyota Yaris to a four-door Toyota Corolla. The car was missing its hubcaps and had an ugly grey hue that could be mistaken for just being dirty. Nonetheless, the car performed flawlessly for the 2000km we put on it. As we drove around the island we chuckled each time we saw a Yaris stuffed with luggage.

Over the next week and a half we drove around the island in a counterclockwise direction. We had no itinerary other than to stop when we saw or read about something interesting. Iceland is full of campsites that provided us with the basic provisions (WC, shower, laundry, cooking facilities). We tented each night and never slept better. It was disorienting having daylight until midnight!

Iceland's volcanic activity is probably its most prominent geographical feature. Some of the highlights were the steam vents, boiling mud pots, and the Geyser geyser (guess where the word originates from) that spouted hot water and steam 30 meters into the air every 5-10 minutes. Iceland gets much of its electrical energy from the thermal activity and I believe hot water is pumped directly to the tap. Turning on the hot water was often accompanied by the smell of sulfur. Iceland has some fantastic geothermal swimming pools where water temperatures are up to 38C. We visited three times and simply loved them. It was a welcome contrast to the cooler air temperatures that chilled us during the day.

Iceland has beautiful scenery. We saw waterfalls that could easily span the pages of many coffee table books. The bird life is interesting but unfortunately we didn't plan appropriately to see much of it. My favourite scene was the Jökulsárlón lagoon where icebergs literally floated around in a 1.5km long lake. It was unbelievable and I wish we could have stayed longer. The landscape and sparse traffic made driving a pleasure.

Husavik claims to be the #1 place in the world for whale watching. Before our trip we got informed with a tour at the Husavik Whale Centre. Our tour guide was a passionate young German woman who has been volunteering at the centre for over five summers. We learned the basics of whale migration, reproduction, eating habits, whale hunting, international law, and the new tourist phenomena of whale watching. There was a strong conservation bias to the centre that leaned more on emotion than fact. I'm not suggesting that facts are absent in whale conservation arguments, but they were absent from this centre. There is some irony that the whale centre is located in an old slaughterhouse and that whale meat can be purchased at a shop down the street.

The whale watching tour was horrible. We were on an old whaling ship (more irony) and our safety lesson was that life jackets were stored below deck and would be distributed in the event of an emergency. Yeah, right. The weather was cold and this was compounded by the gallons of salt water that drenched us as we went out to sea. I promptly put my camera below deck for the rest of the trip. On the way out of the cabin I annihilated my head on the low overhead. Ouch! The guide was useless and guided us once by saying, "I saw a whale there. I don't know if you saw it, but I did." At any sighting the boat captain would hit the throttle and rush to the spot. By then the whale was long gone. I can't blame the whales for not putting on a show but I can blame the tour company for over hyping the tour. The entire thing was kitch and my biggest regret of the trip. In the end we paid CHF 70.- each to freeze and see the fins of two whales. I couldn't wait to get off the boat and leave Husavik. The next time I want to see whales I'll visit the aquarium or my uncle's summer home in South Africa.

A few days later we were back in the western parts and decided to go on a hike. My girlfriend read about a natural thermal pool and a cabin where we could hike to and stay for free. Her book had an ambiguous explanation of the travel time and this was confused by the conversations at the nearby tourist office. We packed some food and our sleeping bags and hiked the 12km along the dirt road. After 12km we came across a gate. Still confused, we realized that the book meant the gate as the starting point and not where we had parked the car. We still had another 7km to go. We pushed on and finally arrived exhausted and sore. To make matters worse, the cabin was out of gas and so we were unable to cook our pasta. We ate some of our breakfast and disgruntlingly went to bed.

In the middle of the night we heard clopping sounds and the building periodically started to shake. You don't really expect this when you're 19km away from civilization. It was very unnerving and made it difficult to sleep. We looked outside and saw a herd of horses who found the cabin balcony a great place to scratch their backs. It brought some relief knowing what it was, but we were still restless and couldn't get back to sleep.

Morning wasn't great. We were tired, had few rations, sore legs, and a 19km hike before us. Our mood was quickly fixed by soaking ourselves in the thermal pool. This made up for the night and by the end of our dip we were laughing about the horses.

In the end we felt slightly rushed circumnavigating the island in 11 days. It can be done but doesn't leave much time to stop and appreciate an area. My next visit would be focused around a multi day hike or cycling. I was slightly jealous of the many cyclists and hikers we saw (except when it was raining). I highly recommend Iceland to any outdoor lover. The locals are extremely friendly. It is expensive but costs can be offset if you're willing to camp and cook your own food. One consideration is to take advantage of Icelandair's free multi day stop over in Iceland when traveling between Europe and North America. Think about it!

Photos are online.