Yesterday was a day of driving from the interior of Iceland to the west coast. The weather changes constantly, even with just a slight elevation change. Dry to rain to snow to hail to dry all day long. We went through a 6km tunnel and some of us were a little uncomfortable near the middle knowing we were under the ocean. We went to the interior to see some of the geology, a remarkable water fall and “Geyser.” Geyser was sort of interesting, but after living next to Yellowstone for two years when we were in Wyoming, it wasn’t all that different. But the waterfall Gullfoss was stunning. Mary, Ellie and Amaya walked right down to the lip of the falls and then we all drove down below to look up at it/them. What made it so remarkable was not just the power of the falls, but the power of the ice-cold wind that came off of them. It felt truely “Arctic,” and it was hard to walk against the wind–the rain and spray felt like being hit in the face with pebbles. It was kind of scary really.

The drive after the tunnel left us on the west coast, an area with lots of farms and ranches. Ranches with Icelandic horses and later on with cattle that were long-haired. The farms were mostly hay it seemed, until we saw a series of peat farms.

Amaya posted pictures of Stykkisholmur. It’s a beautiful fishing village and seems so Nordic and Scandinavian with the rough sea coast and the dramatic colors of the homes set against it. Louis and I are off to the local bar now to see if it is open at noon and, if so, if they will play the Chelsea soccer game for us.

Update: The bar was closed, but a couple of cooks who were there advised Ken to try the gas station/food store at the edge of town, next to the geothermal swimming/hot pools that Ellie, Amaya and Mary enjoyed last night. Success: Louis and Ken are there right now. The cooks also told Ken about a special food market starting today at 2, so we’ll probably head to that later today.