Iceland – Land of LIES (Day 4)

We pretty much expected the weather to be bad when we woke up this morning, based on the warning we got from the B&B notice yesterday. We checked the maps just to make sure.

So, we had a nice relaxing morning.

Remember when D.Rough sent the house owner a message about the hot tub not working and she promised us a paid trip to the fancy spa?? – we decided today was going to be the day that it happened. The spa opened at 11:00am, and we wanted to be there when it opened so we could make sure the pre-payment had gone through. Also, this particular spa has a bread-making experience at 11:30 and we wanted to get there in time for that. Thankfully, even with the terrible weather, the place is relatively close to our house.

The road conditions and weather were looking “better” than earlier, so we thought we’d risk it. We had to get gas, so we headed to the nearest gas station – which is an adventure in itself (and frightfully expensive). While I was filling up, my lovely wife had gone inside to get us some typically Icelandic snacks: hot dogs and sodas. Seriously, people rave about these hot dogs at all of the gas stations. They were pretty tasty, actually.

After navigating some treacherous roads, we made it to the Laugarvatn Fontana Spa right as they were unlocking the doors. Perfect! We told them about the pre-payment and there was no problem. We paid for our own bread experience, not quite knowing what we were getting. They said it would start shortly and there was no one else signed up. We walked around the facility and checked out what we had signed up for. There’s 6 or 7 pools, some natural looking, and some swimming pool like, a shed full of saunas and steam rooms, and a dock that goes out to this partially-frozen lake – really a cool facility.

While we waited for our tour, we watched these four local older folks – four of them, about 70 years old or more – came in and chatted with the workers, then went into the locker rooms to change. We saw them come outside to the pools and they immediately walked down the steps into the lake. It was hilarious. There was lots of yelling and back slapping, but we watched them wade across the chest-deep water about 300 feet out to the frozen part and then HEAVE THEMSELVES UP ONTO THE ICE!!! I’m not even joking. They were up on the ice in the middle of the lake jumping up and down cheering. Then, they hopped back into the lake, waded back across the water to the dock, and ran into the steam room. I was wondering how cold that water actually was. Either way, it was hilarious. We knew right away that D.Rough and I were going to do that ridiculous thing shortly!

Our tour guide showed up and told us we were the only ones for the tour that day – I guess the terrible weather was keeping people away from the roads – not us idiots! She walked us outside the complex down to the shore of the lake. She had a plastic wrapped pot with her all sealed up and a shovel. We walked over to where a thermal vent was spitting all kinds of fumes and bubbles up next to the water. That’s where she had D.Rough dig up the previous day’s bread pot out of the volcanic sand, where it had been cooking for 24 hours in the vent (not exactly lava or anything, but well above the boiling point. The lady then buried the pot she had brought out for tomorrow’s tour and then washed off the one D.Rough had dug up. She brought it back inside and cut it up for us to eat.

Normally, there’s a whole tour sharing this bread, but since it was just us, she let us eat as much as we wanted and then even boxed up the rest of it for us to take back home. Awesome tour and an awesome tour guide.

We headed out to the pools after that and had a blast. These pools were all different temperatures, some of which had different temperatures depending on where you were sitting. Some of the pools had a view out to the lake, so you could watch people trying to get into the water. I say “trying” because we tried to do it, but failed. Our plan was to hop in the water (which was surely warm, right?), walk out 300 feet, hop up on the ice, and then come back in and steam. Remember, it’s  below freezing outside right now, and we’re wearing swimsuits. I took some photos of D.Rough going out into the water. She turned around after about 40 feet and ran back up the stairs.

I was confused, but I knew I was going to go for it. She took the camera so she could get evidence that I made it to the ice. WRONG. I made it about 20 feet into the water, dunked myself and ran back to the steps. I had no idea water got that cold. D.Rough and I do the polar plunge every year and the water in Lake Laugarvatn was somehow waaaaay colder than the lake we jump into in Minnesota. It felt like my heart and lungs were stopping and my body just stopped walking in the water. I had to turn around. But, I love that you can hear the staff worker/lifeguard say, "Now, you are a real viking" in the video.

I have no idea how those old folks walked out there and then hauled themselves up onto the ice. Turns out, this group of locals does this a couple of times a week.

We went back to the safety of the geothermal pools and chilled out for a bit while the weather kept changing from bad to good to weird to bad to good again. I was highly amused at the number of men that tried to do the dip in the lake and not make it past their ankle. I was even more amused when D.Rough would talk those same men’s wives and girlfriends into going out in the water and showing up their significant others in public. D.Rough ended up going out in the water four or five times and eventually got some of the other girls to go with her. It was a proud moment for me, as I watched from the comfort of the hot tub next to the lake. Hahaha

We had a good break in the weather, so we decided to hit another famous Icelandic waterfall – Gullfoss. This waterfall is special for multiple reasons. Most waterfalls, you stand at the bottom and look up at the falls. This waterfall, you’re actually standing on a rock formation watching the waterfall below you. It’s really an impressive set of waterfalls.

There were a lot of tour busses and tourists there taking photos. The whole thing parking lot, steps, and walking paths were covered in ice, since (like the first waterfall we saw) all the mist from the waterfall freezes where it lands. We put on our crampons so we could walk around much more safely. There were lots of tourists, however, that didn’t have them and we saw some close calls as people stood near the railing or rope above the falls and then trying to brace against the wind, start to slide over the edge. We saw a guy get grabbed by his jacket just before he went over.

Apparently, that’s common in Iceland and probably doesn’t make any of the brochures or travel sites, just so you know.

Like a lot of things in Iceland, the weather doesn’t cooperate and closes lots of things. This is just another example.

Since it was on the way back, we had to stop to see one of the famous geysirs in Iceland. (It’s just called Geysir.) It’s a quick stop if you time it right. You park your car, walk across the street to stand next to the geyser. Then, you wait a few minutes and the thing makes a huge bubble and explodes into the air. Again, lots of ice everywhere, so wear your crampons. This thing is pretty slick and goes off every few minutes, so you don’t have to wait around very long. The ending of this video is really awesome.

It was already dark, so we had to head back home. On the way, we saw these Icelandic horses battling. Rad.

But when we got back, we were still feeling like a soak. We decided to head to the town “athletic center”. There’s no other word for it. It’s like a YMCA – there’s a gym, a bunch of sporting things, tons of exercise and weights, and of course, saunas and a swimming pool. We grabbed some towels from the house and headed to the town pool.

It was awesome, actually. They have an Olympic sized lap pool outdoors – all water is heated in Iceland, so it doesn’t cost much to maintain it outside – and it even has a water slide (which was actually closed, or I would have used it. We chilled out in the hot tubs and then swamp a few laps in the big pool. It was pretty relaxing and fun.

On the way home, we stopped by this nearby restaurant that had a mini-mart in it. We needed some drink mixers and thought we’d see what else they had. The restaurant worker apologized for their pizza oven being broken and said we could come back tomorrow and hope it was working again. No problem – we were just getting snacks. I grabbed four beers, two children’s juice boxes of orange juice, and a bar of chocolate. Guess how much money it cost… Guess… Higher… Higher… Higher still. It was $96 in United States currency. I told you it was expensive.

We headed back home to do some drinking and relaxing.

Day 3   |   Day 5