Husavik for Lake Myvatn
Wow! Today was my favorite day. This is what I was expecting of Iceland. Such beauty and diversity. Our first stop was Godafoss. This was one of the places I was really excited to see because I love waterfalls. My tour notes say "The water of the river Skjalfandafljot falls from a height of 12 meters over a width of 30 meters. In the year 999 or 1000 the Lawspeaker Porgeir Ljosvetningagodii made Christianity the official religion of Iceland. After his conversion it is said that upon returning from the Alpingi, Porgeir threw his statues of the Norse gods into the waterfall." It looks kinda Niagara falls in it's half circle formation. But I think I like Godafoss better. There was a little river section that you had to jump across some rocks to get a better look at the waterfall from the top. Shannon and I were debating if we could make it or not. After watching how others did it, we went over and were glad we did. Unfortunately, we only had 30 or 45 minutes there and to walk down one side, cross the bridge and go up the other took about 15 minutes in itself, and then another 8 min walk to the parking lot for the bus. By the time I crossed the bridge I only had 8 minutes left. I ran all the way up to the other side of the waterfall and was quite tired, but I was glad I did because that view was wonderful too. Ran all the way down and made it within 60 seconds of when I was supposed to be there. I was sore from my sprint the next day though.
Next we went to Lake Myvatn. Myvatn is a type of gnat, so basically we went to gnat lake. Here there are lots of pseudo craters. They aren't directly connected to a vent from the earth, instead the crater was formed when the hot lava hit the cool water from the lake and created steam explosions. There were lots of bugs, and they had head nets for us, but I didn't use them, which means I did swallow one while I was talking to Shannon. It was peaceful, but kinda boring and the 30 min was plenty of time.
After Lake Myvatn we went to Grjotagja which was a small cave with a thermal spring inside. There were 3 openings, 2 that connected together, and one that wasn't. The cave that was separate some people were testing the hot waters out. We only had 10-15 minutes so I just took off one shoe and sock and stuck a foot in. It was pretty hot. One of the naturalists put a thermometer in and said it was 110 degrees F. There was also a big riff which was steaming. The angles of the rocks were really interesting and it felt like you were in a sauna. I then went in the middle cave entrance and took some pictures where you can see straight through the clear water. I climbed over to the other cave hole and went back to the bus.
I would have loved to have more time there, but we had to go to lunch. I ate it quickly, skipped dessert and went to take photos of the horses across the street. I'm assuming all horses in Iceland are the famous Icelandic Horses? I think one of the things they are known for is being short.
Another great site was Dimmuborgir.The word means dark forts because it is a lava field of crazy cool formations. There were arches, caves, and plenty of rocks that looked like Trolls. I would have loved to wander more on my own, but that's okay. The tour lady talked about how there are trolls in Lord of the Rings and since Tolkien had been to Iceland, you can see how some of the Icelandic tales and myths inspired Tolkien's story.
Namaskard is an area of sulphurous mud springs. The sign says "fumarole gas rises through surface water, producting sulphuric acid, which makes the water acid. Rock and soil dissolve in this acid water, producing the mud which is typical of put pots and their surroundings." I heard it smelled bad, but at first when we were there I couldn't smell anything...but I soon learned I was just up wind of everything. Despite the rotten egg smell, the natural phenomenon made me want to stay there for longer. There were so many vents and pools that bubbled. Some were thick and wouldn't spout very high, others were dark liquid that would shoot up at least a foot quite often. It was beautiful and fascinating.
Our final stop was Hverfjall, which is a tephra cone. The crater is approximately 1 km in diameter. When we drove up to it there were doubts on the bus as to how difficult it would be to climb. There were no switch backs, but the path up was at an angle around the cone so you kinda spiraled around instead of hiking straight up. It was amazing to see how huge the crater was. Grace has figured out that I like to go and see as much as possible, so she said she could tell me stuff later and I could hike to the highest point I wanted. Shannon and I took off. The wind was really strong and we leaned in towards it, took some photos, and came back in time to hear about the different types of rocks from the naturalists before we hiked back down.
On the bus, the tour guide told us a hidden people story, a troll story, and sang a Raven song. The hidden people only have one nostril. Most people can't see them, but they look just like normal humans. They like ot wear bright light blue or light green. She said the stories were from the pegans, but when the Christians came they cleaned up the stories a little or put in "Christian characters." For example, one of the well-known stories say Adam and Eve had many children and were trying to wash their kids to get them ready for God's visit. Unfortunately they only were able to bathe half of the children before God knocked on the door, so they told their dirty children to hide. God told them "If you won't let me see your children, nobody will be able to see them." And that's how you have hidden people. At the book store I read that 80% of Icelanders (including adults) believe in hidden people.
The song the guide sang to us was translated as "Raven on a cold winter day, he is sitting in the cliffs, looking all over the place, looking for a sheep or some kind of meat because he is starving and freezing." This song is usually sung in Jan or Feb.
After dinner we were supposed to land on Grimsey Island in order to walk to the Arctic Circle monument. Unfortunately, the weather did not allow us to take the Zodiacs to shore, so instead, our ship sailed around the island and the captain made an announcement as we crossed into the Arctic Cricle. Us teachers went out on the bow and took pictures, sang and danced a little and just were silly as all of the older guests stayed inside watching from the bridge. Later there were dolphins that were really close to the ship that we were able to see, so that was exciting.
Summary:
Wow moment- Today was such a great day it's hard to choose. Grjotagja was really cool to see a cave with such hot water. I don't think I've experienced that ever. Namaskard was also amazing to see bubbling mud.
Worst part of the day-Not getting to get off at Grimsey Island to walk to the Arctic Circle monument.
Human/Nature connection- I think it's because of all these hot pools that Icelanders are so in to swimming. They have a rule that every child must pass a swim test. Usually Northern cold countries are into Ice Hockey and Skiing and cold sports, but I think it's because of the thermal pools that Icelanders love their pools. In fact, they are labeled on all the maps.
Teaching connection-Dimmuborgir was perfect for collecting lots of interesting pictures for my students to analyze. Everywhere you looked you could imagine a Troll face. I am excited to see what my students can imagine and then pair it with the Troll folktales. Shannon said, "No wonder the Icelanders believe in Trolls, look at their landscapes!"
No comments:
Post a Comment