The Land of Fire and Ice

[elleflies]

Every time I go somewhere cold, my body goes "hey, cold! That's a good idea! Lets get a cold!"

Regardless of my sniffles, I am in Iceland and happy as can be - even though almost everything I've done here, I've done alone. Prices are insane and most of my crew is suffering from a bout of sticker shock, which is completely understandable. But where I can be a complete shrew about hoarding money in places where they would blow it (shopping) this place is pretty much geared towards making me spend wads of cash. Outdoorsy things suck my money dry.

The day I arrived it was driving around in a rental car, the day after that it was a relaxing day at a geothermal spa in an ancient lava field, yesterday it was horseback riding through another lava field and today it was taking a guided tour around the countryside of Reykjavik so see all the sites (mountains! waterfalls! rivers! lava fields! geysers! volcanoes! tectonic plates!). Tomorrow it will be whale watching and I'm hoping on my last day I can make it to Reykjavik to go through the city itself before I have to leave.

And the thing that boggles my mind is that I'm here for work. I'm getting paid for this. Not much mind you, but every hour I spend here is another couple of dollars in my pocket.

But I'm okay with doing things on my own though. I go out and make new friends. Yesterday I tooled around with three random Aussies I met horseback riding - we went out for dinner and drinks and lost track of time. (It was still light out at 11 in the evening which threw me off, meaning I missed my bus and had to beg the gentleman at the bus station for help - wonderful man that he was, he arranged a ride for me, and the guy that drove me was awesome, we exchanged e-mails...)

Today, it was tooling around with a lovely British lady, two enthusiastic entomologists in Iceland for a fly convention (seriously) and three guys from New York over on a whim for a day. And a wonderful couple from San Diego.

I also walked from from one continent to another today. In the space of a few minutes I went from Europe to America. I'm still mind boggled over it. Just standing beneath the towering wall of rock that is the North American tectonic plate has blown my mind.

I love this country. If you're into outdoorsy stuff (and don't mind the cold) it's the best place on Earth. I'm already planning what I want to do if I ever get the chance to come back.

I've also got a gazillion pics...

Comments

Jealous

[(Anonymous)]

I'm looking forward to the pictures. I hope you don't get too sick. A little sick I'm ok with because you shouldn't be allowed to have that much fun while I'm stuck in Denton.

-Ben

Re: Jealous

[elrina753.livejournal.com]

Well, I wish you were here, as grand a time as I'm having, it's more fun when you have people with you who are enjoying themselves too (I've given up beating my head against the brick wall that is my crew)

And I'm only a little sick *g* Not enough to ruin my fun. And my god is it fun over here.