Pokey and Gumby have been sitting on a packed suitcase for about an hour. If they were not made of rubber I’m sure they would be tapping their toes, or in Pokey’s case, hooves.
Pokey and Gumby are ready to go!
They are anxious for days of sun and sea…so we are joining them on a Caribbean cruise!
Our cruise leaves tomorrow from Fort Lauderdale, FL so today we are flying from Denver to Miami. Yes, I know that Miami is not Ft Lauderdale, but there is a plan for our craziness- we can fly to Miami for free with airline points. This cruise is on the “Caribbean Princess” and is a week long; just enough time to relax and unwind.
Jeff puts our one suitcase in the car, we grab our backpacks and are off to the airport. We are pleased with ourselves because even with our snorkelling gear we are sharing just one suitcase for the weeklong trip. This is Friday of Memorial Day weekend and traffic to DIA ( Denver International Airport) is heavy and slow. We have plenty of time because we’ve left home 30 minutes earlier than we normally would. I check my phone to verify that our electronic boarding passes show that we are TSA pre-approved and hmm… oh yikes! “Hey, our flight time is 3:35 not 4:05!” I tell Jeff. “What?? when did that change?” “I don’t know…” He pushes down harder on the gas pedal.
We arrive at the airport without delay and thank goodness we are pre-approved because my “FlyDIA” app shows the normal security lines have wait times of 35-40 minutes. Luckily for us the TSA lines are only 6-8 minutes.
The flight to MIA was a little bumpy and seemed longer than its scheduled 3-1/2 hours. Right after takeoff we gave the flight crew a thank you note and bag of fancy chocolates acknowledging their hard work. Then we spent the rest of the flight fending off their offers of free drinks, though we did accept two free bottles of water. Because we are arriving in Miami very late, and because Frontier Airlines charges for everything (I’m surprised they don’t have pay toilets), I’ve packed two big bowls of teriyaki noodle salad (recipe upon request 😀) and a grocery store container of cut-up melon. Those things along with our apples, carrots, snack bags of mixed nuts and granola bars will tide us over.
Also because we arriving late into Miami, we’ve opted to stay in the airport hotel – a first for us. Because the flight was turbulent the seatbelt sign was on most of way and we are happy to get off the plane. After collecting our suitcase, which seemed to take forever, we walk to the Central concourse to find the hotel. It was well hidden but we got there eventually. We checked in, went to our room and neither of the electronic keys we’d been given worked! Well, crap. I took the elevator back down to the lobby, exchanged the keys, back up to the 6th floor where one of the keys worked and one didn’t.
We stepped into our room. “Holy crow!” I said to Jeff, “We’re in Japan!”
Our tiny hotel room
The room was miniscule! We both, startled by its tiny size, and being quite tired, started laughing. To use the toilet, you had to go all the way into the bathroom and close the door before you could sit down!
You faithful readers of our travel blogs know Jeff and I well enough to know that after sitting all that time that we’ve got to get some exercise. What better place to wrack up some “steps” than in a nearly deserted airport with lots of long concourses? It is the perfect walking arena. We walk until we both have over 10,000 steps (5 miles for us) and go back up to our room where…neither of our new keys work! Seriously?! Back down the elevator, back to the lobby where we get 3(!) new keys, I promise the woman at reception that we won’t leave our room again, back to the 6th floor where the first key we tried worked.
Though it is only 8:30 pm in Colorado we’re exhausted. How can sitting on a plane be so draining? Now that we’ve had our exercise, we’re going to sleep.
We had to get right up this morning because though we are returning here after our all day tour, we need to check out. Happily we have our car and can stash our luggage there for the day. We have a quick breakfast of instant grits and instant coffee which we brought with us; load the car and stand in the drizzle waiting for our driver. It’s cold!
We are his first pickup (8:45a.m.) and soon the little van is almost full. Our driver, who’s name is unpronounceable as well spell, tells us just to call him Number 1. Number 1 is a true Viking and his family has been in Akureyri for hundreds and hundreds (thousands?) of years. He points out the island that his family owns and lives on; the mountain that was left to the family by is maternal grandmother and is very knowledgeable. Turns out he is also an opera singer!
Our opera singing guide
Apparently singing is very important in his family and his grandfather was a noted Icelandic singer in his time.
We mention having had dinner last night at the fish and chips restaurant and he asks how it was. “Delicious” “We’re still full”. He is pleased and then tells us that his family owns that restaurant and if something weren’t right he would tell them. His brother owns the local flight school.
The ride to Myvatn is about 90 minutes, but we don’t go straight there. In fact, there really isn’t a “there” to Myvatn as there is no town. It is close to Husavik. The point to Myvatn is that it is known as Iceland’s Yellowstone (though on a much smaller scale.)
Our first stop is the dramatic waterfall, Godafoss Waterfall which plays an important part in the Icelandic sagas and in it’s history. In 1,000 A.D. the speaker of the Alpingi (government back then) had to decide whether Iceland should remain pagan or convert to Christianity. He choose Christianity (under duress from Norway) and to show that he was serious about his decision, he became a Christian, went home and got all his carved pagan statues and tossed them into the waterfall; the name of which translates to “Waterfall of the Gods.”
Godafoss isn’t very tall (maybe 40 feet) but it is about 90 feet around and feels huge!
Very beautiful!
We all took many photos, and soon were on our way again. Number 1 asked if any of us were “Game of Throne” fans. No one in the van was, but he stopped at the Grjotagja Thermal Cave. Apparently this is a well known filming location for Game of Thrones.
I took this photo for those of you who would like to see the spot. You can get down into that crevasse into a steaming pool but it was really uneven footing and no guardrails or barriers, so none of us walked down. This was a short little stop.
I’m excited about our next place. Actually, I’m excited about the whole tour because these are all the things I had hoped to see in Myvatn (well, except for the Grjotagja thermal cave). We arrive at the Skutustadir Pseudocraters, which for some reason, I insist on calling “pseudo cones.” Oh! Pseudocraters are also called “rootless cones” which is probably why I keep confusing the name. Anyway, these aren’t real volcanic craters, but they are what is left of gigantic bubbles of molten lava.
Water under the lava boiled into steam, rose to the surface and then popped! Except for one place in Hawaii, this is the only area in the world where pseudo-craters can be found. There was a nice trail around the area; and there was a second, much longer trail for birdwatchers.
I think they look like little volcanoes. It was a nice half mile walking trail and there were a couple of places with stairs up to the rims of the craters.
When Jeff, Tom and I were in Iceland in November 2016, we visited Pingvellir, a rift valley where the North American and the Eurasian tectonic plates are pulling apart. There was an enormous valley between the two walls. On this sightseeing trip, we are once again at a rift between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates! The gape in the Earth’s crust was a bit unsettling and the gaping trench was deep, deep, deep. This rift is tiny compared to Pingvellir, but somehow I found it more powerful.
Tom bravely straddled the rift and while the sides are not far apart it was scarier than it looks!
Number 1 told us that under the rift, there was a thermal cave with a pool and a river. It is unmarked and you aren’t supposed to go into it. So, of course, Jeff and I did. It was a steep climb in near darkness, but worth the trip. I did keep thinking though “if there’s a tremor now, I’m dead.”
I crouched down close enough to get my fingers into the water, and it was very hot. What an amazing place. Getting out of the cave was tricky because of the low rock “ceiling” which you can’t really see here because Jeff is almost out.
Back into our little van… and we are off to the Dimmuborgir lava formations. I’ve never heard of these and I think if the three of us had been on our own, we might have missed them. “Dimmuborgir” translates as “Dark Castles” and it is aptly named. First of all, it is cold, overcast and a little rainy; second, they are definitely ‘dark’.
According to the sign I read (the signs are all in Icelandic and English) this whole area was underwater. It was a huge lake, and then magma leaked up and solidified forming spiky, stalagmite columns.
There were a lot of walking and hiking trails here and we opted for a short 15 minute one. It got cut short because the path was covered in snow and ice and was slick. Brrr…
Like I mentioned earlier in this post, the area around Myvatn is very active geothermally. And our next stop was the Namafjall geothermal area. This area doesn’t have a spouting geysir like the one we saw in November 2016 at Geysir, but it pretty much has everything else! You practically have to plug your nose becuase the smell of hydrogen sulfide is so strong.
There was a large bubbling pool (and I’m excited that I figured out how to upload this very short little video for you)
There were fumaroles which look like stacked rocks spitting steam
Fumerarole
Here’s a couple closeups of the fumarole and
a photo of Jeff standing in the warm (but smelly) steam it is putting out.
There were mud pots and because of all the sulfur and chemicals in the soil, the terrain was pretty colorful.
Mud potsSteaming, unstable ground
What there wasn’t, was no crowds, very little signage and kind of beaten down areas where it was safe to walk. A couple of the very dangerous spots had wooden walkways, but not the over abundance of cautionary signs you’d see in the United States.
The last stop on our tour today is the Myvatn Nature Baths (Jarobooin vio Myvatn). Every town in Iceland has a hot pool, but the Myvatn Nature Baths are said to rival the famous Blue Lagoon. Well, I’ve never been to the Blue Lagoon, but if it’s anything like this…
There are two big pools with rocky walls and a semi-rough pebbly bottom and when you are in it you can see out over the volcanoey countryside. You can see black rock and steaming vents which would make me think twice before taking an unguided walk in the area.(pg 301-311)
Apparently the water here is the naturally heated excess from a nearby geothermal power station. It’s fresh water and relaxing in it was wonderful!! Getting in, was not, however, wonderful. When we visited Iceland previously, we went to another nature bath and we knew the ‘rules.’ First of all, you take off your shoes in the hallway and put them onto racks,a and hope you can remember where you put them.When you check in you get a tag or something with a locker number on it and that’s where you put all your clothes and stuff. Everyone has to shower naked, with soap, before entering the baths; so you put your suit on after you shower. There are women in the locker room to be sure everyone does this. The final step, and, this was not fun today, is scurrying from the exit down outside into the bath. BRRRRRR…. It was windy and cold! But we remembered that the last time, we had also had to content with ice on the walkway in and were happy that it wasn’t that cold. I think we were in the baths about an hour and I could have stayed an hour longer. Tom, Jeff and I walked and floated around, searching out hot spots and made our way to the divider between the two pools. The other pool seemed much cooler than ours, so we stayed put.
When you get out of the pool (reverse freezing run back into the building) you shower to get the sulphury water off you, your suit and out of your hair. Then you have to dry off completely before going to your locker. This keeps the locker room floor nice and dry.
Oh, so relaxing!! Because I knew we’d been hitting some thermal pools, I packed our waterproof beach bag and everyone’s suits, water shoes, shampoo, hairbrushes were in there for easy handling. I let Jeff and Tom take the bag since there were two of them. Jeff said carrying the gaudy striped beach bag didn’t make him feel very manly. LOL
Speaking of bags, between the three of us we have 3 backpacks, a camera bag and a beach bag. Tom bought a few things at this stop and when he added that bag to our stash, which took up all the space between the driver and passenger seat, Number 1 said “More bags?! You have so many bags!?”
As we start our return trip to Akureyri, Number 1 points out our hotel. Super nice of him and know we know we’ll easily find it. He talks about Myvatn while driving. Myvatn is famous not only for the geothermal aspects of the area, but also for the “midges”. You know, midges, teeny tiny aquatic flying bugs? Well, in the summer here everyone (locals and tourists) wear nets over their heads to keep the midges out of their ears, mouths and noses. They don’t bite, but apparently there are massive swarms of them that even make driving difficult as they obliterate windshields when you drive into a swarm. Ick.
Soon we’re back in Akureyri and as Number 1 drives away, Jeff and I walk up to the guesthouse. We’re hoping that the front door is still unlocked and we can use the bathroom. It is and we do! Then, we walk back down the hill a ways to the Vinbuden (liquor store) to stock up before we hit the road.
Jeff is driving, Tom is riding shotgun and I’m in the back and we retrace our steps back to Myvatn and the Foss hotel.
Wow! This hotel is super nice and modern (and expensive). There is a fancy lobby with a nice restaurant and bar, and elevator and on the second floor where we are, there is a sauna. The door locks are electronic keys which are very common in the US, but not in Iceland. Tom’s room is just down the hall from ours and we all have a very nice view of the pseudo-craters. The wind has picked up and it is cold out as we lug our stuff in.
As I mentioned earlier, there is not a “town” in Myvatn, so no nearby restaurant except the hotel eatery. We check the menu, expensive! Always prepared, we regroup in Jeff and my room and enjoy our inexpensive ‘just add water’ dinners.
Tom enjoying his instant dinner!
We don’t have any plans for tomorrow, but please check in to see what we’ve been up to.
We all slept wonderfully. Tom said that was the longest he’s slept in his life. Happily we remembered to set alarms so we would not miss our free breakfast. Our buffet breakfast was yummy with a nice variety – eggs, a waffle iron, yogurt, fresh fruit, baked beans, lunch meats and cheeses, toast – very European.To my surprise there was also a jar of peanut butter. I love peanut butter; in fact, there is a jar of peanut butter in my suitcase! We sit, enjoying our breakfast and review the day’s itinerary.
We know that in Varmahlid, between here and Akureyi, which is several hours away, is the Glaumbaer Museum (Skagafjorur Heritage Museum) but it is only open from 10a.m. to 4p.m. Since it’s already 10a.m. we know we’ll have to skip that as much as we’d love to see some traditional turf houses. But we have some other sightseeing plans in mind (always a backup plan).
We check out, load the car and Tom takes the wheel. The Snaefellsnes Peninsula, where we are now, is the middle of three peninsulas jutting west off the coast of Iceland. The peninsula is known for its beautiful mountain, Kirkjufell and the waterfall next to it, Kirkjufellfoss. I have an Icelandic candy bar with lava salt for the first person who can tell the answer to this question: Kirkjufell (Mountain) is featured prominently in what classic Christmas movie (in looks, not by name.) Here is a photo to help you.
We spent about an hour at Kirkjufell and Kirkjufellfoss wandering around and taking photos. Time to get back in the car as we have a long ride. We stop a couple of times to stretch our legs, gawk at the scenery, and marvel over what looks like hiking cairns that run next to the road for miles and miles and miles. Turns out that they are cairns because we go over Holtavorduheidi or “Hill-Cairn Heath” a pass at almost 1,400 feet. We can see where the fjord almost meets the road (Ram Fjord or Hrutafjordur)
Here we stop at Stadarskali, a big rest-stop complex. Kind of like a truck stop – free bathrooms, burgers, etc. Coffee seems in order since we’re not half way to our destination yet.
Driving on, each of us, pretty much at the same time, sees a wonderful mountain spire. Tom pulls over and we get our photos. Turns out this is a notable area, and the sign along the side of the road tells us that we are in front of Hraundrangi, a national landmark, and Hraun, the birthplace of Iceland’s most beloved poet, Jonas Hallgrimsson. The valley is called Oxnadalur.
It is only about 4:30p.m. or so when we arrive in Akureyri, which bills itself as the “Reykjavik of the North.” We zero in on our guesthouse and walk around and around trying to figure out how to get in. Finally, Jeff opens an unlocked door and we find ourselves in a foyer. There are two antique suitcases open on a shelf and in each there are several binders; one with a sticky note that says Barnes and the other is Delaney. This must be the place! We have a room on the first floor and a room on the third floor…Jeff and I take the room on the 3rd floor. This place is great!
Here are some shots of our room (Jeff liked the funky shower and bath curtain), and a bird’s eye view of the town.
Notice the pull toilet flush
The check-in binder has information that we need. For example, parking in Akureyri is free, but is timed; so you either use a little paper clock (that you can pick up at tourist info or just about anywhere) or there was a piece of paper in our binder. You write down what time you park and put that paper on your windshield. The paper had several slots, so if you’re shopping or going different places, you just write the times down.
There is a business card in the binder for a couple of local restaurants. The fish restaurant sounds good to all of us, but first we need to go to the grocery store for a few things. We head to Bonus supermarket, only to discover that they closed about 15 minutes ago at 6p.m! There is a Netto grocery store very close by so we go there and just in time! It is 6:20 and they close at 6:30! Just in the knick of time.
We have fish and chips, and Jeff samples a local microbrew, at Akureyri Fish.
Definitely a local place and very good though the servings of chips was massive. One serving would probably have sufficed for all of us.
It has been another long day and we’re stuffed from dinner. I go back to the hotel to write, Tom goes to his room and Jeff decides to go for a walk. The church in Akureyri is famous because it was designed by Gudjon Samuelson, the same architect who designed the Hallgrimskirkja Lutheran Church in Reykjavik. You have probably seen photos of that church and the church in Akureyri certainly displays the similarities. Jeff also walked by the public library which was right next to our guesthouse.
Church in AkureyiLibrary in Akureyi
I kind of messed up our itinerary for tomorrow but I think it will be okay. We are going on an all day “Myvatn Classic” tour. Myvatn is an area about an hour from Akureyri – the tour will pick us up here at the guesthouse and at the end of the day return us here. And then because I wasn’t planning very well, we will get in our car and drive back to Myvatn to spend the night. Can never spend too much time traveling, I suppose!
Please join us tomorrow for some really interesting geological and thermal sights. Oh! And here’s a photo of the prize for today’s post!
As we begin our Ring Road adventure all three of us laugh at our “little lady” the GPS voice we’ve dubbed Katie. At the first 8 or 9 round-abouts she directs, in her British accent, “Enter the round-about and take the 2nd exit.” Always the 2nd exit.
Jeff, Tom and I have spent a bit of time planning this trip and have designed an itinerary for the first three days. This being day one, the top 2 things on our checklist are 1) get car (check) and 2) get groceries. Spotting a Bonus supermarket, we rudely take the 3rd exit of a round-about. Our detours send Katie into a “recalculating route” chant.
Good grief. It is 8:30a.m. and the grocery store doesn’t open until 10. But, the gas station next door has a Dunkin Donuts sign. We trot over there, it is too early for donuts, who cares? They have real coffee. Hooray!
Part of our planning was also driving responsibilities and as I am the person most likely to sleep on an airplane, I will drive the first day. This first stretch is 8 hours. Because the 3 of us were in Iceland in November 2016 and did the popular Golden Circle tour then, we are going to skip that area and do the Ring Road (also called simply “Highway 1”). We are going in reverse order heading west today.
And we’re off. The clouds are hanging low giving an overcast and foggy atmosphere. Our first stop today is Borgarnes, about an hour away.
We drive through the 3.5 mile long Hvalfjordur Tunnel which runs beneath the fjord. Although the tunnel area is not actively volcanic, the undersea rock is warm (up around 135 degrees (F) on one end!)
After the tunnel (and paying the 1,000 kroner toll), we pass between Akrafjall and Hafnarfjall Mountains. It is a serious understatement to say the scenery is incredible. Even though it is raining and we cannot see the tops of the mountains, what we can see is breathtaking.
We safely arrive in Borgarnes and set out to find our first attraction, the Settlement Center (Landnámssetur). This is said to be the prime place in Iceland to learn about the Settlement era.
There are two distinct exhibits: the first discusses why and how the Viking Age settlers came to Iceland, and the second is “Egils Saga” (Skallagrimssonar).
The Settlement Center’s entry fee pays for both exhibits and for each you get an audio narration (required). The settlement exhibit was very interesting providing much information about the Vikings, where the various original settlers arrived – you push buttons that correspond with the narration, lighting up the locations on a big map. There was a fun prow of a Viking ship to stand on. (looks like we’re sailing into the sunset.) It rocked as the sounds of waves and seabirds played on the audio. It was a well done exhibit.
The downstairs exhibit, Egil’s Saga, was very different both in information and presentation. It was illustrated by locally carved figures and carvings. That woodwork was amazing.
In short, Egill was a poet-warrior who got in all kinds of trouble in Norway and in Iceland. He wrote his first poem at age 3 and at age 7, after losing a game, “buried an axe down to the brain in the head of his opponent.”
It’s unknown how much of the Icelandic sagas are historically based and how much is fictionalized, but it looks as though Egill would have benefitted from some anger counselling. You can read about Egill’s Saga here.
Viking Jeff
This exhibit also took about 30 minutes – its time for lunch, but first we have to get by this scary Viking.
Our itinerary for the day includes having lunch at the Settlement Center and what a good idea that was! Upstairs in the restaurant there is a huge vegetarian buffet (includes coffee and tea).
and this wonderful gigantic loaf of warm bread. The bread was covered with a heavy tea towel to help keep it warm and for you to hold onto the loaf as you sliced off however much you wanted.
Jeff and I both chose for the buffet, while Tom opted for a burger of local beef, which he pronounced “delicious.”
Time to drive on. We are now going to the village of Reykholdt where we will leave the Ring Road to visit two waterfalls. As we drive out of Borgarnes, I glance up a hill and catch sight of “Brákin” a big monument that looks like a giant wheel with wings. Because it was raining and “way up there” we decided not to stop. (The story of the monument is very interesting and I do suggest you Google it.)
Along our drive I pull over when I spot a sculpture beside the road. Interesting.
The drive to the waterfalls is only about 20 minutes (one-way) out of our way and we hope they will be worth the detour.
The Hraunfossar and Barnafoss waterfalls are close together and share an easy walking path. The Hvítá (White) River runs through here but it is not the cause of the Hraunfossar (Lava Waterfalls). See, part of the valley above the falls is new lava which is very porous. Groundwater streams have sunk into the lava fields and (across the river) there a rivulets of groundwater coming out from under the lava field and falling into the river. It looks like water on top in the photo, but it is black lava. Like 1,000 bridal veil falls – gorgeous!
About 100 yards upstream, the Hvítá River does create the Barnafoss. Barnafoss translates as “Children’s Waterfall” and there is part of what looks like the remains of a natural bridge over it. The legend is that 2 children were supposed to stay in the house while their parents went to Mass on Christmas Day. Of course, they didn’t. They went out to play, fell off the bridge and drown. So, their mother destroyed the bridge to save other children. A dark story, but a beautiful waterfall.
It is cold and still raining, but we spend quite a bit of time enjoying the falls .
but now its time to get back in the car and drive to Grundarfjördur near the tip of the Snæfellsnes Peninsula. The weather is clearing and I’m having a tough time keeping my eyes on the road, not because I’m tired (I am) but because the scenery is seriously spectacular.
Tah-Dah! We have arrived at Hotel Framness. It is 5:30p.m. and we have all been awake 29-30 hours; and I think we’ve held up remarkably well. It has been a wonderful first day, and it has been a LONG first day! We unload the car and lug our suitcases, backpacks and “food bag” up the stairs. Tom’s room is directly across the hall from ours.
Jeff and I resolve to stay awake until 7p.m. at which point we collapse into bed. Dead to the world.
Here we are, Kevlavik airport outside of Reykjavik. It is 6:30 am on Thursday morning, but to us it is 12:30am. Yawn.
Though I sleep very well on airplanes, I made the serious mistake of thinking “Oh, I’ll read a little before I go to sleep,” and opened my Kindle to Dan Brown’s ‘Origin.’ Big mistake because 7 hours later and about a chapter and a half left in my novel, the plane landed. Oops. Well, I think I did doze for about an hour in there somewhere, and I think Jeff and Tom might have slept a little (very little) as well. We disembark through the back doors; being in about the center of the plane we could go out the back or the front, but the back is moving faster and that’s the way we head. Down the stairs, into the rain and onto the waiting bus which carries us to the terminal. Immigration is a breeze, in fact, there isn’t even any paperwork to be completed. As we walk through the airport to the baggage claim area, Jeff, Tom and I marvel at how nice the airport is – we, having been here just 18 months ago, (that blog is here.) don’t remember it being this nice at all.
We collect our luggage, and while Jeff visits the duty free liquor store, Tom goes to the ATM. We know that while liquor is sold only at “Vinbüdins, (government-run, fixed price liquor stores) prices at the airport will be cheaper because it is a duty (tax) free store.
Tom has returned, successfully from the ATM, oh wait!! Light breaks in his jet-lagged brain fog. He took 10,000 kroner out of the machine – um, let’s rephrase that – he took his receipt and ATM card out of the machine but not the money! He dashes back across the hall and returns empty-handed. Bummer, but he made someone’s day. (10,000 kroner=$100)
Jeff returns successfully having purchased some wine, which he indeed has in his hand. We each go to the ATM; Tom is now the experienced one and we wait patiently until the bills appear in the little door below.
Luggage, kroners and booze laden we head for Customs and having nothing to declare, except that Tom is a philanthropist, we walk right through. Aha! This is the ugly part of the airport that we remember so well! There is a small shop with some grab-n-go foods and beverages and a Dunkin’ Donuts sharing very limited seating. Jeff and Tom corral our suitcases while I head for a table. As Jeff goes to the door to look for the car rental pickup point, Tom goes to Dunkin Donuts for some much needed coffee. Tom returns to announce that there is no coffee – Dunkin’ Donuts won’t open for another hour and a half. I am horror-struck!! Jeff returns to say he can’t figure out where we catch the rental car shuttle. We must have coffee. I notice that the woman at the next table has a small cup of the caffeinated elixir and realize there must be a coffee machine or pot in the convenience store. I stand up and, in turning around, fall over my backpack and end up on my butt on the floor. Egads. Even the embarrassment of having people rushing to pick me up off the floor will not keep me from my quest. I have become a Viking woman! Get the hell out of my way and show me how to work this damn coffee machine! Success! A cup of coffee, about 4 ounces (or 1/2 cup) is 5,00 kroner or $5. Fine, I bought 3 for myself – Tom and Jeff are on their own.
Jeff goes over to the tourist information booth to get information about the shuttle pick up. I pour my coffee into my thermal coffee mug (We always travel with thermal travel mugs and recommend that you do as well.) I tilt it to make sure I’ve put the lid on tightly before sliding the mug into my backpack. Oh crap! The lid isn’t on at all and I pour very hot coffee over my hand and onto my blue jeans! (Guess I should have drank some first.) Jeff returns, looks at me and says “Did you do that?” HELL-O?? What? You think some random person came by and doused me with coffee? I got a little snippy with my reply as I mopped up my hand, jeans, the table and the floor. Well, we’re all tired. The good news is that Jeff now knows where to catch the van to our car; so we grab everything and head out. (The bad news is that I only have 2 pair of jeans with me andI just dumped coffee over the pair I’m going to wear for the next 5 days.)
Today’s the day! At 1pm this afternoon Jeff and I and our friend, Tom Delaney, accompanied by Pokey and Gumby will leave the 77 degree warmth of Colorado and head to Iceland for an “Epic Iceland Road Trip!”
We will fly out of Denver at 5pm and 7 1/2 hours later land in Kevlavik, the airport right outside of Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland. Though it will be 6:30am in Reykjavik, our bodies will think it is about 1 a.m. We hope to sleep at least some on the plane as when we land, we’re picking up our rental car and hitting the road – the famous Iceland “Ring Road” to be specific.
We’ve planned and laid out where we hope to be when and what we hope to do when we arrive. I hope you will join us on our road trip adventure!
Aha, now we are getting into the swing of things. It is 6:45 a.m. and we’re out of bed and drinking coffee!
Looking out the front windows we see that the view to Puntarenas is fogged in, but there is a rainbow forming. This isn’t any normal rainbow because it is almost flat and lays against the mountains below. A car pulls up outside the house; we don’t recognize the woman driving and she proceeds to try to turn around, completing her 40-point turn just as another woman comes walking up the hill. Walking up is our “down the hill” neighbor, Mae and she is meeting Shannon, who is driving the car. New to Costa Rica, Shannon is NOT about to drive down the hill to Mae’s house and back up – but then she has made this turnaround on a very narrow, steep hill. She looks like she could use a stiff drink.
Mae introduces herself and Shannon gets out of the car. The rainbow has become HUGE and is amazingly beautiful. The four of us go to our upstairs balcony; Jeff, Mae and I take photos. Andy comes walking down the driveway with his big camera. I’ve never seen a rainbow (or actually, it’s a rain-“flat”) like this before!
Mae’s photo of the “rain-flat”
Jeff and I show Shannon around our casita; she mentions that she might be interested in renting it long term. She and Mae are going to a local art show; a one-woman show and invite us to join them. Unlike yesterday though Jeff and I have plans, so Mae and Shannon head out and we go back inside.
Our plan for this morning is something that we planned to do on this trip and this morning is the only time it will work. We are going to watch church! Jeff and I are members of Foothills Unitarian Universalist church in Fort Collins and recently (since the 2016 election) membership in our church has skyrocketed; we’ve added an extra service and now the church live streams all three services. We enjoy our church and want to see if we can continue “attending” once we relocate to Costa Rica. So we settle into two easy chairs, fire up Jeff’s iPad, and, sure enough, we can attend church. Nice! But in the middle of one of my favorite songs, Andy appears at the door. Jeff briefly chats with him – he has come down to tell us that there is a Bible study group in town if we are interested. That is the last thing we would be interested in, but we thank him for the information. Jeff mentions that later today we are planning to visit a local sugar factory that a friend told us about but we’re a little confused. One set of directions for the factory direct us to the town of Piedadas Sur, but another guide says the factory is in Piedras del Norte. So, it is either in Piedadas North or South, does Andy know where it is? Andy says Piedras del Norte but it is only open on Wednesdays. Dang
Knowing now that the sugar factory isn’t open today, we decide that after church we’ll do a little exploring or as Jeff describes it “lets get lost someplace new,” and we’ll go to both Piedadas del Norte and Piedras Sur. At least we can find the sugar factory so if we do get around to visiting it we’ll have a clue.
Off we go. The drive is very nice and the scenery is gorgeous. The roads are not bad, not great, but not bad. It is easy in Costa Rica to know when you’ve reached the middle of town regardless of how small the town is, because the middle of town is where the big church will be. Both Piedadas del Norte and Piedadas Sur are very small and in neither town do we see anything that resembles a sugar factory. Hmm…maybe we have the wrong towns? It doesn’t matter because we’ve had a nice time driving around. Jeff and I switch driving duties, something we always do so one person isn’t missing the scenery and always trying to navigate the roads.
Heading back to Magallenes we stop at a local souvenir shop, El Jardin, to pick up some coffee. As we leave El Jardin Jeff suggests we drive all the way down the Magallenes road to the river. We’ve done this in the past and it is a STEEP drive but the scenery is great. Jeff drives and as we go down, down, down the road we realize we’ve made a mistake. Yes, the road is steep, but it is also in terrible shape with big drop-offs and the asphalt has been torn up in several place. This road was apparently seriously damaged in the last earthquake. YIKES! Good golly. The drive-able bit of the road is at most single lane. Jeff finds a spot to turn around and we begin the arduous drive back UP the hill. It is very slow going as we look for intact road and with the steepness sometimes we’re able only to see sky! Our little car is 4-wheel drive but is only 4-cylinders and we hope it will get us back up this hill.
Finally we are safely home! Whew, won’t be doing that again. Jeff needed to relax a little afterwards. Here he is in one of the swinging chairs on our porch.
We are planning a fun excursion for tomorrow and though we DO know where the place is located, we’re not sure of the best route; so I message Mae and ask if we can stop down at her house, which we do. Mae’s house is very cool; she designed it herself and it is perfect for her and her three dogs. We got the tour and loved how functional/industrial everything was…a woman after our hearts! We visited with Mae for quite a while. (For those of you who know me well, you can imagine how excited I was that she had an Instant Pot! hahaha!) Mae has helped us with our driving directions and it’s dark out now. I pull out my trusty flashlight and we trudge back up the hill. It’s time for dinner!
After dinner we sit and play Phase 10 until I noticed something moving on the floor.
Jeff bravely captured this tarantula with a water glass and piece of paper while I danced around the house going “Oh my god! Oh my god!” In Costa Rica, it is important to bang your shoes before you put them on in case little guys like this (or scorpions) crawl in; and you should always assume that whatever the animal is that it is poisonous…
We have a fun day planned for tomorrow. We hope you’ll join us…
Acting more like Ticos today we wake up at 6:15 and get out of bed. The sun is shining into the bedroom and it is hot. Outside there is a strong wind but inside it feels wonderful. We make breakfast…coffee, Jeff has eggs and I have cereal and we both have the cut-up fruit. I could live on watermelon!
Today is our “lost” day, seriously. We sat outside on our comfy swinging chairs and chatted, sat inside reading, I did a couple of Suduko puzzles. We did take a long walk up into Las Terrazas where we had rented a house a couple of years ago. It was interesting to see what new houses have gone into the subdivision, what new landscaping other folks have put in and generally just have a nice walk.
Pokey and Gumby hanging out at home.
For dinner I sauteed some onion and green pepper, sprinkled Italian seasoning and added a can of spaghetti sauce. Spaghetti and green salad and wine – very tasty. After cleaning up the dishes, we need to keep the kitchen spotless because there are lots of ants, we play two rounds of our Phase 10 card game. Suddenly it is late and we go to bed.
We did not get up with the sun…we are not on “tico time” yet where everyone gets up early. There are a couple of reasons people here do this: 1) the sun comes up around 6 a.m. and sets approximately 5:30 p.m. pretty much all year-round. Costa Rica doesn’t observe daylight savings time and life revolves around the natural order of things. But we are up now, 9-ish, and Jeff has made coffee. I step outside in my shorts and tee-shirt, coffee cup in hand (delicious Costa Rican coffee, by the way) and listen to the birds. It sounds like millions of birds. Oh, and look, there’s a hummingbird.
We have only one thing on our agenda today and that is to drive into San Ramon to the feria agricultura (farmer’s market.) Today, Friday, the market is open from noon-6 and tomorrow 8-noon. We definitely need to go today because we need food. When we travel, I always pack dehydrated peanut butter and this morning was delighted to discover I had grabbed my bag of chocolaty peanut butter – kind of a dehydrated nutella. For breakfast I had two pieces of peanut butter bread and Jeff had some of the cereal we bought at Walmart yesterday.
For lack of anything else to do we decide to take a walk and start up Calle Morales (our street) which is rough gravel and rock. As we walk by the Hacienda, owned by Nancy and Alex, who also own our casita, we stop to introduce ourselves to the couple who are renting another of the properties. We meet Harvey and Annette and continue on our way. The walk is steep and the steepest part is paved which is nice. I glance into the yard of a gringo house we pass and see the largest chicken I have ever seen in my life – I thought it was a dog! I’ll bet it lays eggs the size of dinosaur eggs.
When we reach the end of our street, we decide to walk further (up!) the Magallenes road toward the autopista (highway). As we pant our way up, an older couple is walking down. “Hola” we all exchange greetings. People here are very friendly and it is important to wave at passing cars or greet others as you pass them. The woman stops and asks “Do you speak English?”. Why yes, as a matter of fact we do. Turns out this couple, Emma and Francisco, are Nicaraguans who have lived in Toronto for the past 35 years and they are moving to Costa Rica. “We just bought a house,” she tells us, “would you like to see it?” Of course! Naturally, the house is back down the road but not too far. It is a teeny tiny Tico house – maybe two rooms.
Emmaand Francisco’s house
The kitchen has a tiny electric 2-burner hot plate; the minuscule living room is outfitted with 2 lawn chairs. They are just moving in. Their pride in their house could not be more evident and we exclaim over the view from their property and we sit and visit for a few minutes. We’re happy to meet some non-gringos and now that we know where they live we’ll look for them whenever we go by.
We continue our walk, back up the hill, to the autopista (highway) about 2 kilometers from our casita. Then we turn around and walk back. Back down Calle Morales (our street) instead of turning left to our ‘driveway’ we walk past a partially closed gate that marks the beginning of new construction area. There is a set of houses – more like casitas- that are being built and they are weird. First of all, they are wooden, there are huge termites here, and second, they are on stilts, which you’d think with Costa Rica’s numerous earthquakes cannot be a good design. Jeff figures they are being built as rentals. We walk around on the “not quite” roads before heading home. We need to get to the farmer’s market.
I’m excited that we drove from Magallenes to the feria agricultura in San Ramon without getting lost! We’re trainable. I know I’ve described other farmer’s markets in past blogs so suffice it to say that we got a LOT of wonderful fresh fruits, vegetable and cut flowers for not a lot of money! The most expensive thing we bought was some red snapper. It was one of the few fish we could identify and bought one whole one and asked the kid behind the counter to filet another one. He was completely flummoxed but we made ourselves clear and he did it. (Thanks to Google translate!) Though we’ve eaten plenty of them we’ve never cooked a whole red snapper, so this will be an experience.
Dinner. Recipe compliments of the internet
We spend extra time at the feria – walking around, looking at everything. It is truly amazing. Jeff brings the car down from where we parked on the street so we can put our groceries in the car – I’m not carrying that watermelon and pineapple up the hill!
At home, we start putting stuff away. I chop up 3/4 of the watermelon and all of the pineapple to keep in a large bowl in the refrigerator. Then I take one of the two giant heads of lettuce, a tomato, cucumber, and carrot and create a large green salad to also have handy in the refrigerator. We have mushrooms that we’ll add at serviing time. I have 2 cucumbers, a head of lettuce, more carrots, broccoli and green beans left. Lots of everything.
While in the kitchen I decide to go ahead and cook a large pot of gallo pinto (beans and rice) and using my handy homemade spice box season them with cumin and cayenne. A quick meal with our corn tortillas. YUM!
This afternoon we’ve been invited to our landlord’s hacienda for a sunset and drinks gathering. Did I mention that it has been VERY windy here? This has a good side and a bad side. The wind keeps the air clear of fog so we can easily see the peninsula at Puntarenas 30 miles down (we can see the cruise ships go in and out) but the wind also makes it chilly up here. We didn’t know that enero (January) is this area’s windy month and we’re happy to have learned that. Luckily, I have the blue jeans, wool socks and fleece sweater I wore on the plane down to Costa Rica and put them on before we go to the party.
We walk up to the Hacienda and meet several other folks who have arrived. I really want to describe the Hacienda to you, but 1) I’m not sure I really can and 2) I don’t think you’d believe me if I did. When you first enter the house, you walk over this little tile bridge in the foray, under which is a small lap pool. The main area is the size and has the look of a huge hotel lobby – the bathroom even has a sign that says “toilet.” Apparently Nancy and Andy do a LOT of entertaining!! The kitchen is huge, as is the eating area; the table seats 10-12. The best part is the back deck. It is gigantic and gorgeous views! We meet all the other folks, some of whom we’ve met on previous trips, have drinks, ceviche, guacamole, homemade tortilla chips and a good time. The sunset, though, is a non-event as the wind has stopped and the fog has rolled in.
The Hacienda. Our casita is the smaller building to the left.
It is fun to hang out with everyone. Andy’s brother, Henry, is a sailor and sails his 42 foot catamaran back and forth from here to Canada; he and his little dog, Shiner, are visiting now. There is interesting conversation and too soon it is time to head home. Always thinking ahead, I have a flashlight in my pocket and we walk down the hill.
As we go to bed the wind is blowing hard again. So hard, in fact, that leaves and tree branches swing in front of the motion sensor security lights and the lights flash on at unpredictable times. In the night both Jeff and I get up because the wind is banging the shower door (remember, it has no roof) and we stuff a rug under it to keep it quiet.
This feels like it was a very lazy day, but turns out we did do more than I thought!
I am sound asleep when Jeff turns on the hotel room light. I look at the clock – 9:45 a.m., mumble something rude, pull the covers over my head and try to go back to sleep. I can hear him moving hurriedly around, he’s getting dressed. What the heck? “WHAT are you doing?” “The free breakfast is over at 10; I’m going down to get us some food.” How sweet, I can’t be annoyed by that plan! He goes dashing out of the room, and helpful mate that I am, I stumble to the shower. It is a very pretty morning.
“View” from our room. Notice the Denny’s
Just as I am finishing my shower I hear someone rattling at the door. Jeff can’t get the door open….so I step out onto the bathmat and shuffled my wet, naked body to the door to let him in.
He has eggs, sausage, yogurt, a banana and coffee for himself and for me, coffee, gallo pinto (beans and rice), some corn, a banana, and an English muffin with mango preserves. Nice way to begin the day. Oh, and the coffee was delicious.
My breakfast
After dressing and enjoying our breakfasts, I walk down to the reception desk to ask for a late checkout. We had planned to be at our casita, “Casita Vivace,” in Magallenes outside of San Ramon before noon. Not gonna happen, so Jeff texts the owners and tells them to expect us in the early afternoon instead. We decide it would be smarter to pick up our rental car and come back to the hotel for luggage than to drag our bags with us. Our plan worked really well; we took the hotel shuttle back to the airport, then took the Alamo shuttle to the rental cars and pretty soon were on our way back to the hotel. I had asked for a 1 p.m. checkout and because traffic is heavy we are cutting it close, but we arrive with 15 minutes to spare. Good timing…except our key has been deactivated. Luckily a housekeeper working nearby let us in and we were off.
First stop? Why, Walmart, of course. We want to pick up a few things that we probably won’t be able to get at the farmer’s market in San Ramon tomorrow: milk, whole wheat bread, juice, beer. Despite knowing exactly where Walmart is, we can’t find it. Hmmm. Thirty minutes of lost driving later, we decide to go back to the hotel and start over. On our way back, we drive right past Walmart! What the heck? But it is on the other side of this divided highway. We drive almost all the way back to the Holiday Inn before we can make a U-turn.
Luckily we have a grocery list because our brains are busy doing translations and currency conversions (560 colones=$1). Seems like we are in Walmart forever. I have a devil of a time finding small bags of rice and beans but eventually we get out of there and are ready to drive to Magallenes. It is roughly a 45 minute drive…unless you get lost…leaving the Walmart parking lot…
Okay, now we are on the right road, all is well with the world. As we drive we notice several areas where military looking guys and police are standing around. They seem to be randomly waving people off the road. Wonder what that’s about? About halfway to San Ramon we get to the 9th or 10th such group and WE get waved over. What in the world?? The cop is very nice. He asks for Jeff’s passport and license (he was driving); asks where we’re from, where we’re going, says “Pura Vida” (Good life or happy life) and sends us on our way. Well, we learned something very important that we knew but always ignored, that is: we need to carry our passports when driving.
We don’t arrive at the casita until almost 4 pm! So much for an early start. Andy and Nancy are the owners of Hacienda Vivace, also the casita we are renting, along with a couple of other properties. The casita is great! Very modern, sleeps 6, (but has only one bathroom). There are wonderful views out of every window and we can see the Pacific Ocean 30 miles away.
After Andy shows us around and leaves, we scout around more on our own. There is a HUGE shower. “Why,” I ask Jeff, “is the shower floor all wet?” “Look up.” Ohhhh, it’s an outdoor shower, and it has been raining! Cool!
Outdoor shower
Everything you see in this photo that isn’t glass block is open to the outside. Be aware that an outdoor shower may mean you have unexpected guests drop in on you – like this not-so-little guy.
Shower guest
We are pretty tired and luckily have planned ahead for dinner. I packed some “boil in the bag” brown rice and we have two vacuum sealed servings (like you’d get at a camping store) of salmon in Thai lemon-grass sauce. I boil dinner (!) – easy, quick and yummy!
About this time we realize there’s no TV!! We don’t watch TV very often but now the fact that we don’t have one is an issue. LOL. Happily the Internet connection is excellent so we fire up Jeff’s Ipad and watch yesterday’s Rachel Maddow show.
Now it’s late and time for bed… we hope you will come on the rest of our trip with us…
Very beautiful!
There are two distinct exhibits: the first discusses why and how the Viking Age settlers came to Iceland, and the second is “Egils Saga” (Skallagrimssonar).
(looks like we’re sailing into the sunset.) It rocked as the sounds of waves and seabirds played on the audio. It was a well done exhibit.
In short, Egill was a poet-warrior who got in all kinds of trouble in Norway and in Iceland. He wrote his first poem at age 3 and at age 7, after losing a game, “buried an axe down to the brain in the head of his opponent.”
We are planning a fun excursion for tomorrow and though we DO know where the place is located, we’re not sure of the best route; so I message Mae and ask if we can stop down at her house, which we do. Mae’s house is very cool; she designed it herself and it is perfect for her and her three dogs. We got the tour and loved how functional/industrial everything was…a woman after our hearts! We visited with Mae for quite a while. (For those of you who know me well, you can imagine how excited I was that she had an Instant Pot! hahaha!) Mae has helped us with our driving directions and it’s dark out now. I pull out my trusty flashlight and we trudge back up the hill. It’s time for dinner!
with a water glass and piece of paper while I danced around the house going “Oh my god! Oh my god!” In Costa Rica, it is important to bang your shoes before you put them on in case little guys like this (or scorpions) crawl in; and you should always assume that whatever the animal is that it is poisonous…
