Mena and I awoke excited for our ‘Golden Circle’ tour. We elected to take a large tour bus rather than the smaller ‘Super Jeep’ because the tour bus was $80 per person and the super jeep was $250 per person. We figured for a tour like this, where we were being driven to various places throughout Iceland and then getting out and walking around, the Super Jeep added little value.
A smaller bus picked us up at our Hotel at 8:00 and drove us two blocks to the Headquarters of Reykjavik excursions. Mena and I positioned ourselves well in the parking lot and we got the first seats in the bus giving us a view out the front and side window. We were also situated directly behind our extremely excitable tour guide, ‘DeeDee.’ She was way too excited for 8:00 in the morning. She wore a Santa hat and a wool Christmas sweater. She placed the loud speaker to her mouth and fired off a couple of bad jokes.
“My boyfriend needed more space so I locked him outside.'
As we drove past the smaller trees and brush she asked the group, “What do you do of you get lost in an Icelandic forest?”
Silence.
“Stand up!”
“This is going to be a long day.” I mumbled to Mena.
As we headed to our first destination, a geothermal power plant, DeeDee fired off interesting factoids about Iceland, “There are three sheep to every person…Bill Clinton ate at the hot dog stand when he came to Iceland…Iceland has the highest per capita: amount of debt, number of writers and artists and largest consumption of Coca Cola…”
We arrived at the geothermal power plant after driving for an hour. The sun hadn’t come up yet and we walked around the building, viewing the videos with mild interest – the whole country basically gets their electricity from the steam turbines and heated water from the underground heating. They don’t use water beneath surface directly because it has too many minerals and things (although it is used for certain attractions, such as the Blue Lagoon).
The next stop was an old Lutheran church (which was not quite so exciting after seeing Notre Dame cathedral the week before) then a small waterfall off the road side. When the bus pulled over the tourists piled out towards the water fall, but one man, who had a shock of white hair and a black skunk streak down the middle, went running in the opposite direction.
DeeDee yelled after him, “The waterfall is this way.”
The man pointed eagerly at the sky behind him and yelled “Pink cloud! Pink cloud!” as he scuttled in the direction of the pink cloud with his tripod.
Mena and I couldn’t stop laughing, the guy really had a thing for pink clouds (as would become increasingly apparent throughout the day). I nicknamed him Pepe Le Pew after the Looney Tunes skunk because of his hair style.
Next we saw Gullfoss (Golden Falls) which were big and powerful and icy. The mist kicked off the falls and froze on the embankments. You could see the mist and feel the power of the falls from far away. For lunch we ate lamb soup and shared a bagel with lox, cream cheese onion and tomato.
Next we saw a geyser – the ground surrounding the geyser was alive with steam and boiling mud and hot cauldrons of water. A sulfurous steam blanketed the landscape. The geyser hole was blue and clear and deep and the entire area felt primordial and mystical – I felt like a crusaders in the middle times coming across this bizarre and contradictory landscape. Cold and barren up top but boiling beneath.
Afterwards we walked to the gift shop and finally found the hat I have been looking for my whole time in Europe! It is made of Icelandic lamb’s wool and covers my entire face with the depiction of a Vikings mien complete with a handle bar mustache. It was hysterical and very warm. Just my type of thing!
Next we saw the divide where The North American and Eurasian tectonic plates met. The plates were composed of darky and rocks that were covered in a green moss. I crossed from the North America tectonic plate to the Eurasian one on foot. It was surreal to walk across the plates dividing these sections of the world.
Afterwards we headed back to Reykjavik. I looked out the front window of the bus and it was frozen tundra for as far as I could see. It felt like maybe the most inhospitable places on earth. Golgotha. When we got back to our room I emailed the Super Jeep operator to see if the Northern Lights tour was happening that night. Mena and I were both drained from DeeDee’s extravaganza but we figured we ought to at least try to see the Northern Lights if an expedition was going out. I got no email response.
We ate hot dogs and went to the spa again and tried to figure out where we were eating that night. Still no response from Super Jeeps. At 8:30 we got a call to our room.
“Mr. Singh (Mena booked the tour with her card and they assumed I was her husband) a Super Jeeps guide is outside waiting for you. “
“We emailed the company to see if the tour was happening tonight but nobody responded to our email.” I said. “We’re not ready to go. Just please apologize for the misunderstanding and tell them we’ll pass.”
I hung up. The phone rang again.
“Mr. Singh they told me they are happy to wait for you to get dressed.”
I turned to Mena. “What do you want to do?”
“I guess we should try and go. We are in Iceland.”
We got ready in a hurry and walked downstairs. I pointed at a jeep down the street.
“Do you think that's them?”
No sooner had I said it than an old man with white hair wearing a blue super jeep jacket walked over. He threw a cigarette into the street.
“Mr. Singh?” (lol)
Let's go!
I sat in the passenger seat. The driver was not as talkative or cool as Axl was. He smelled faintly of cigarettes and cheap coffee. We discussed Icelandic hot dogs and Jeeps versus Land Cruisers.
A large English man with a deep baritone voice sat behind me. He talked a lot and wanted you to hear it. He was nice enough, but a little annoying.
The last time we went to northern shore of Iceland to view the lights but because of rain we were headed to southern shore. We drove a half hour through driving rain. I wasn’t feeling very optimistic. To allow the clouds to disperse they took us to a black beach in the Land Rovers. We fishtailed in the black sand as we drove along the beach…it was completely dark. You couldn’t see your hand if you held it in front of your face.
When the clouds cleared we drove off the beach and to a lumpy, moss covered field. We looked around for a bit. It was not as remote as the first place we went to. We could see lights from nearby houses. Fairly thick clouds overhead had moved on top of us again and we couldn’t even see the moon. I wasn't feeling optimistic. The guides brought out the customary vodka and hot chocolate. Mena and I were too cold so we went back into the truck. I fell asleep and dreamed strange, enchanted dreams and was awoken by our guide rapping on the window.
“Hurry up!” He yelled. “The lights are visible.”
Mena and I rushed out of the truck. There was still a smattering of clouds in the sky and in the distance I could see nebulous green lights. They were more powerful than the first night but not as epic as I'd hoped – they looked more like green noise pollution than the northern lights. I’m happy we 'saw' the northern lights but may have to give it another shot some other time.
We drove through town. The blackness of the night was illuminated by houses and buildings decorated with Christmas lights. We found out the Icelandic folks use Christmas lights as a way of escaping the monotony of the winter season. They even put Christmas lights on tombstones in a cemetery. It added quite a nice touch J
The three Land Rovers continued through town and back onto the black, winding road that led into Reykjavik. The guide drove fast and the roads were treacherous and I’m glad we made it back safely.
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