A Song of Fire and Icelandic

The exhaustion of flying for almost thirty-six hours brings everyone into a slow pace of walking, pulling our luggage towards the arrival area, where Helga, our tour guide is waiting for us. A little smile and a warm " welcome to our country", she hurriedly usher us outside the airport. When we reached the exit door, our spirits were set on alert and we all began to run-jog toward our bus a few meters away. The name of this country lives to its reputation- the wind is blowing wildly, cold penetrating our jackets, I can feel my lips slowly having a wind burn while my hands are going numb cursing why I didn't wear gloves. Why I missed the little detail about this trip, It still makes me wonder. I should have packed a lot of winter clothes because I am currently shivering in Iceland, the real-life  Land of  Fire and Ice.

As we are warmth by the heater of our bus, we got curious about the view outside. Sure it is cold, but the picturesque winter wonderland that we expected was not what Iceland greeted us. Instead, a vast mossy soil and mountains with snow capes are the only things that we saw during our forty minutes of land travel. This is the first surprise that we've learned about this place - that Iceland is not entirely covered with Ice. The mossy soil is the result of the volcanic eruptions that simultaneously taking place in different parts of Iceland. Seriously, they got a lot of active volcanoes to the point that their main source of electricity is from geothermal plantations. As Helga told us, they are an island beneath the lava, an island flourished by fire. 

Taking advantage to their natural resources, Iceland pride itself as a producer of geothermal hot springs. The most famous of them is the Blue Lagoon Geothermal Hot Spring. The natural silica makes the water white, almost blue. The warm water on it claims to heal skin diseases. 

Bathing on the Blue Lagoon is a challenge. You need to brave the cold wind first before going to the hot spring. We literally ran to dive on the water. The hot spring offers a silica mud facial, it rejuvenates the skin but you can't let your hair touch the water since it will leave your hair into an awful state. The only consolation, gorgeous men and women on swimsuits bathing together!

Gotta see we gotta know Blue Lagoon

Another interesting fact about Iceland is its bipolar weather that keeps on changing every now and then. It is like a metaphor of its volcanic activities underneath and the freezing cold on the ground. A fascinating example of this is the Strokkur Geysir located at the Golden Circle where hot waters are violently erupting every five minutes.  

It might look pleasant but the surrounding smells like rotten eggs, yeah, that is definitely sulfur!

People braving the light rain and cold temp waiting for the eruption of this geysir

And so it rises ..and together with the strong smell of rotten eggs,haha 

Litli Geysir can be also found in the area

Just a half hour away from the geysirs, there lies the awesome view of Gullfoss, The Golden Waterfall. At first, we just walk and walk to an endless canyon, where it feels like it is an abandoned place. Minutes of trekking, yes, trekking the uneven land, we can already hear the running water, with light rain showers and the heavy steam coming out from the waterfall.

Trekking the Golden Waterfall

The Gullfoss was made up of melted ice from the mountain, enticing the viewer with the mossy soil around it appearing to be golden in color.

Have you ever been to two or three different places at the same time? Well, I did tick this off my bucket list, in fact,  I have been to three continents at the same time! Iceland is the only place in the world where you can actually walk in the plate tectonics that should be sitting on the bottom of the sea. Iceland is the middle of what we called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where the tectonic plates of EuroAsian continent and North Amerika continent meets. Surreal but Iceland is the plate sitting on the surface then disappearing the rest of the plates undersea, both EuroAsia and North Amerika tectonic plates tearing each other apart each year. You can say that you can put one foot on North Amerika and the other foot on EuroAsia, how cool is that?!

See the big cracks? Well, it still looks beautiful and magical.

I cannot forget the warm feeling that I felt while walking on this place, it is like we are drifting to  a gazillion positive energy. The wind is touching our skins but it felt different, it is like a mixture of an ice age and different seas, the kind of sensation that you will feel just in this place. 

Aside from its amazing geographical importance, this place is a historical place for Icelanders. This is where their first parliament was held, big decisions like switch is religion and government took place.

A walk to history

And like old traditions, tossing a coin to the lake promising to see this place again

And of course, you cannot leave Iceland without experiencing the snow activities in this country. It was my first time riding and trying the snow mobile, strolling one of the largest snow cape in Iceland, the Langjokull Glacier. For Game of Thrones fans, this is where the wildlings lives. 

Riding and exploring the wilderness of endless snow for about two hours is beyond crazzyy. It is almost zero visibility because of the snow rain. I attempted to record videos but my hands froze before I can even film a decent one haha.

The only almost solo photo that I have before my iphone was shut down because of the snow. 

Now I know why almost everyone has Iceland as one  of their dream destinations, it was built with fire, covered with Ice and bind with Icelandic tradition. Who we are to resist it?

Next post , what Reyvjavik , capital of Iceland has to offer, the Viking era, the tulips, religions,etc.

//somewhereira.