It rains as predicted.
The products in the fridge result in a tomato
omlet, yoghurt and coffee. The Irish guy from next door appears. He
travels with public transport and had a problem with his whiskey last
night. It's open so he cannot take it to the airplane. People should
think twice before they buy alcohol. There's only us in the whole
building and we both have a private room. Nice.
I drive to Djúpalónssandur beach. The wind is so strong that it's possible to see it galloping over the field. In car park it rocks the car and hits against the windows with water. At least the rear window is clean now. It was very muddy from the gravel road yesterday and the water sprayer only reaches the bottom half.
I dress rainproof in the car because it would obviously not be possible to do this outside. Towards the sea it goes fast becase the wind is from the back. But if I turn around then rain hits in my face, it's difficult to breathe and my waterproof cape turn into a kite. I gather some round stones for weight. The beach is cool though. In addition to all kinds of rock formations stones shine and glitter in the rain. Throwing hot lava into cold water has resulted in something like tin casting. It's not difficult to guess what it foretold Iceland - hordes of tourists. Suddenly the beach is filled with colorful jackets but they disappear as fast as they came. Four lifting stones are on the beach. These were used to test fishermen's strenght, from 23 to 154 kg. I can at least rock each of them.
It would be nice to spend the rest of the day indoors. First indoors is Vatnshellir cave. Tourists are let in there three times a day in the winter, at 13, 14 and 15. It's half past twelve and the cave is right here. A small bunch of cars gather, two guides arrive, sell tickets, give everyone a helmet and a torch and then you have to slip through the snow and glide down a spiral staircase to go underground. There's a lava tube down there. The biggest cave around here, about 200 meters long. Furnishing is modest: some lava colums, a troll scoff, shining bacteria and dripping water. The best moment is when everyone is asked to turn off their torches and be silent for a while. Total darkness. Murmur. From the sound of the water it is possible to tell which side the cave is longer. And it has been like that the last 2000 years.
The next insdoors is a cafe in Hellnar called Prímus. It makes a good profit because of the rain. I read half of the story about going to the center of the Earth from Jules Verne. The opening to the center was just seen. The whole day I'm circling around the glacier under which the sleeping volcano should be the access to the center. Relevant literature was freely available in Reykjavík.
Then I drive around and try to remember places where I should come back to take pictures once better weather arrives. The places are many. The rain is so strong that landscape seems flat until somewhere up appears a gap with higher land terrain.
The shortcut through the peninsula that was closed yesterday is open today. It goes right next to the glacier. Not much to be seen. Everything is white. And I'm counted. On each road there's a web camera that shows how many cars have passed within last 10 minutes and since midnight.
On the other side the mountains that were there yesterday are no more. For example in a place where one fellow tourist had fully lost any sense of criticism, parked his car in the middle of a bridge and climbed over the road border to take a picture. With his phone.
The right time to go swimming to Ólafsvík. Or rather to sit in hot water. Three men already sit in hot water and discuss how expensive it would be to have a hot tube at home. Easier to come here. One of them comes here three times a week. The other would like to come in the mornings but then he's busy going to work. The pools are generally open from six in the morning until 21-22 in the night. Further they talk about which car is good and how much cars cost. And when is vacation. The blond guy goes to Poland in July. Of course, that's why it was difficult to understand him. Hardcore Polish accent. It rains on my head and raindrops create concentric circles around me. It feels warm and nice afterwards.
I buy some food from the next village because the rest of the contents of the fridge didn't seem very trustworthy. I already threw some stuff into the garbage bin in the morning. While I don't lock the doors of the car when I go to the shop then Icelanders leave also the engine running. So that a row of cars stands in front of the shop, engines running, lights on and no-one inside.
New people arrive in the hostel. From the Netherlands.
I drive to Djúpalónssandur beach. The wind is so strong that it's possible to see it galloping over the field. In car park it rocks the car and hits against the windows with water. At least the rear window is clean now. It was very muddy from the gravel road yesterday and the water sprayer only reaches the bottom half.
I dress rainproof in the car because it would obviously not be possible to do this outside. Towards the sea it goes fast becase the wind is from the back. But if I turn around then rain hits in my face, it's difficult to breathe and my waterproof cape turn into a kite. I gather some round stones for weight. The beach is cool though. In addition to all kinds of rock formations stones shine and glitter in the rain. Throwing hot lava into cold water has resulted in something like tin casting. It's not difficult to guess what it foretold Iceland - hordes of tourists. Suddenly the beach is filled with colorful jackets but they disappear as fast as they came. Four lifting stones are on the beach. These were used to test fishermen's strenght, from 23 to 154 kg. I can at least rock each of them.
It would be nice to spend the rest of the day indoors. First indoors is Vatnshellir cave. Tourists are let in there three times a day in the winter, at 13, 14 and 15. It's half past twelve and the cave is right here. A small bunch of cars gather, two guides arrive, sell tickets, give everyone a helmet and a torch and then you have to slip through the snow and glide down a spiral staircase to go underground. There's a lava tube down there. The biggest cave around here, about 200 meters long. Furnishing is modest: some lava colums, a troll scoff, shining bacteria and dripping water. The best moment is when everyone is asked to turn off their torches and be silent for a while. Total darkness. Murmur. From the sound of the water it is possible to tell which side the cave is longer. And it has been like that the last 2000 years.
The next insdoors is a cafe in Hellnar called Prímus. It makes a good profit because of the rain. I read half of the story about going to the center of the Earth from Jules Verne. The opening to the center was just seen. The whole day I'm circling around the glacier under which the sleeping volcano should be the access to the center. Relevant literature was freely available in Reykjavík.
Then I drive around and try to remember places where I should come back to take pictures once better weather arrives. The places are many. The rain is so strong that landscape seems flat until somewhere up appears a gap with higher land terrain.
The shortcut through the peninsula that was closed yesterday is open today. It goes right next to the glacier. Not much to be seen. Everything is white. And I'm counted. On each road there's a web camera that shows how many cars have passed within last 10 minutes and since midnight.
On the other side the mountains that were there yesterday are no more. For example in a place where one fellow tourist had fully lost any sense of criticism, parked his car in the middle of a bridge and climbed over the road border to take a picture. With his phone.
The right time to go swimming to Ólafsvík. Or rather to sit in hot water. Three men already sit in hot water and discuss how expensive it would be to have a hot tube at home. Easier to come here. One of them comes here three times a week. The other would like to come in the mornings but then he's busy going to work. The pools are generally open from six in the morning until 21-22 in the night. Further they talk about which car is good and how much cars cost. And when is vacation. The blond guy goes to Poland in July. Of course, that's why it was difficult to understand him. Hardcore Polish accent. It rains on my head and raindrops create concentric circles around me. It feels warm and nice afterwards.
I buy some food from the next village because the rest of the contents of the fridge didn't seem very trustworthy. I already threw some stuff into the garbage bin in the morning. While I don't lock the doors of the car when I go to the shop then Icelanders leave also the engine running. So that a row of cars stands in front of the shop, engines running, lights on and no-one inside.
New people arrive in the hostel. From the Netherlands.
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