Iceland Continued

Day Four in Iceland

Vestmannaeyjar (the Westman Islands) are an archipelago of 15 islands off the southern coast of Iceland. One of the islands (Surtsey) is brand new. It appeared in 1963. It is a Unesco World Heritage Site. It is a unique natural laboratory. Scientists have actually been able to track the evolution of life forms on brand new land here. 

Only one of the Westman Islands is inhabited. That is Heimaey. To get there from Bogarnes involves a long drive through unbelievable landscapes and a ferry ride. Today was another super scary driving day, so scary I wanted to cry. But I couldn't because I was driving. Picture curving mountain roads very very high in the sky with no guard rails. 

In the middle of the night of January 23, 1973, the residents of the island of Heimaey were woken up by the eruption of the Eldfell volcano. Although this would seem to be an incredibly unlucky event, the people of the little fishing were blessed that night: there had been a storm the night before, so all of the fishing vessels were still in the harbour. Over the course of the next 3 hours, the entire population was evacuated. 

The volcano continued to erupt for the next six months. The eruption was officially declared complete on July 3, 1973.  A third of the town was demolished, and another third was covered in tephra (volcanic particles). One third was left untouched. 

During the course of the eruption, volunteers blocked streets to try to divert the flow of lava. A complex pumping and transportation system was installed on the active lava fields to divert cool sea water into the lava flow. The volunteers who did this were called the 'Suicide Squad' because of the dangerous work they were doing. Thankfully, there were no fatalities. 

You see these signs all over Iceland. We were walking here, so I was finally able to take a picture!

The most important part of the island that needed to be saved was the harbour. If the lava were to flow unchecked into the harbour and block it, it would destroy the fishing industry and livelihood of the people of Heimaey. 

The cheerful stoicism of the Icelandic people is exemplified in the story of Heimaey. These people saw their homes and businesses destroyed, but most of them came back and started the hard labour of digging their town out and rebuilding. There is a fabulous museum and a few monuments to the event. 

Where the lava stopped flowing

The lava stopped flowing in the back room of this house. 

Iceland Part Deux

Day Three in Iceland - 'Petta Redast'

'Petta redast' translates as 'This will all work out one way or another.' It is used so often that Icelanders say it could be their national motto. And when you think of it, this is a great motto for people who live so far north they are in darkness for several months of the year, the weather changes minute by minute, and the landscape is strewn with lava boulders the size of small cars.

On our third day in Iceland, Christy and I set out to explore Snaefellsnes Peninsula. I need to point out, first of all, that the driving in this country was often terrifying. Roads winding up and down and around mountains had no guard rails. Today, I was driving in the morning, and we went up a mountain by accident. When we realized our mistake, we had to keep going, because there was NO WAY we were going to attempt to turn around on the edge of a sheer drop. Eventually, we did find a turn around and we were able to get back on track. 

We made our way to Djupalon Beach, the site of a 1948 shipwreck. Bits of twisted metal from the English trawler Eding are still strewn on the sand. The drive down to the beach was awesome, like driving on another planet. We were crowded on either side by fields of chopped up lava. 

Our next stop was an excursion into a lava tunnel. 

Taking advantage of the five minutes of sunshine that day.

The scary entrance to the tunnel

After going underground in the dark, we climbed a volcano. True story. 

Okay, so the volcano had steps. But there were a lot of them.

At this point, we were on the western tip of the peninsula. We kept going to the northern coast. Which is where I had a fairly frightening (for me), absolutely hilarious (for Christy) encounter with some birds. 

To preface this story, it is important to understand personality quirks of both Christy and me. Christy is afraid of birds. She can tell you in detail of the various times she has been traumatised by birds in her short life. I am an idiot when it comes to wildlife. I lose all caution and common sense when confronted by living, breathing things. I forget that wild creatures do not instinctively know that I am a vegetarian animal-loving crazy cat lady. I want to cuddle and talk to any creature that crosses my path. Which means that I have been jumped by an orangutan, bitten by cats and dogs, screeched at by baboons...

So, Christy and I pull into a parking lot by the beach to watch some beautiful birds. I, of course, grab my camera and start moving. Christy is a bit more cautious, and hangs back. After a few steps, the birds seem to betting a bit aggressive. But I'm getting such good pictures. 

The birds are swooping closer and closer. "Donna," Christy says urgently, "I think you should come back to the car." 

"One second," I answer. The birds are so close, but you have to really focus to catch them in flight. They're so beautiful....

And then, WHOOSH, I was being bombarded from above by a flock of PISSED OFF birds. And what did Christy, my staunch friend who would walk on fire for me do? Not only did she laugh at me, she FILMED me being attacked!!!!!!1

The attack continued even after we were in the car. They actually followed us out of the parking lot!!!!!

After this traumatic experience, we decided to retrace our route back to our home base. On the way, we spotted an Arctic fox. Very exciting, because they are pretty elusive. No photos, though...

The day still one more trauma in store for me.....

We stopped to hike up to Raudfeldsgja Gorge. This is the scene of one act in an Icelandic saga. Bardur was half-human, half-titan. His beloved daughter was named Helga. One day Helga was playing with her cousins, and ended up on an ice floe that took her all the way to Greenland. In his grief and rage, Bardur gathered up the cousins in his arms and threw them into a gorge. 

Again Christy, the sane traveller, stayed back while I crawled and jumped and slogged through very very cold water so that I could get into the inner cave. 

And then, you guessed it - the sure-footed Canadian bird lover slipped and fell. Into a FREEZING cold stream of Icelandic mountain water. 

And that, folks, was the end of Day Three in Iceland.