jesspeanut

We wake early, with the sunrise, and unfortunately, my injury has morphed into something seeming more eggplant-like than foot-like overnight. I can only move by doing a series of leaps from one piece of sturdy furniture to another, and by lunchtime I have invented several new walking techniques. There is the club foot swagger, for when I am trying to move quickly, and the pogo-stick shuffle for when my foot is in extra pain and cannot handle any pressure at all. And so Sunday passes, with me lying low in the casita, and Brian going out into the world to explore a bit (but mostly just to pick up some ibuprofen). But the sun is shining and the breeze cool, and the water is perfect for dangling your feet into, and so in spite of my ... read more

Driving into Reykjavik, via a multi-mile underwater toll tunnel, we are filled with that strange blend of both sadness and success that inevitably arises toward the end of any sort of grand adventure. We have looped our way around and the entire country via the trusty Route 1 Ring Road, and although we've hardly seen it all, we have certainly seen enough to be plenty convinced that the world can't get much better than Iceland. Yet, even as we begin driving into the more heavily populated areas of Iceland (i.e. when roads become less gravel and dirt and more asphalt, and sheep stop outnumbering people in the census report, and gas stations sightings begin occurring at 1/4 gas tank intervals instead of at 1/2 tank), we wonder what is keeping throngs of tourists from hopping aboard ... read more

After our last two stops on the Golden Circle-- first at the gurgly, bubbling cauldron of Geysir spitting steaming water angrily into the sky, and lastly at the breathtakingly beautiful waterfalls of Gulfoss--all foaming and spraying like some enormous mythical creature--we rode our gal Suzy towards the quiet riverside town of Selfoss. At Selfoss we set up our camp for the first time--and actually set up IN the city itself, just down the road from a Landsbankinn ( the bank infamously responsible for Iceland's 2008 economic crash). Here we battled the ever-persistant daylight and finally caught some--albeit a few--Z's. Our third day in Iceland began fueled by the same spark of adrenaline that spurned our trek around the Golden Circle. We woke early, collected bearings, acquired free cups of coffee at N1 (Iceland's answer to ... read more

We arrived in Iceland this morning, incredibly grateful to be met with a gust of the impossibly clean and fresh arctic air and to finally have the chance to stretch the kinks out of our necks and cramps out of our legs after hours of foiled attempts at stealing a few seconds of sleep while we crossed the Atlantic in the world's most uncomfortable seat assignments. Given the series of unexpected events that had unfolded in the 10 or so hours prior to us landing in Iceland, it was hard to believe that we had managed to arrive at all. A flight cancellation due to inclement weather had spun our well laid plans into a jumbled mess of hoping we'd have time to get to where we needed to be. What ensued was a series ... read more

We all but had to be forcibly removed from our hotel room at the waterfall gardens, we were so in love with it and its surroundings, but it was time to go back to nine dollar a night hostels and other adventures. So off we went to Monteverde, which is always pronounced by the locals with great gusto (and by Molly and Laura who have a penchant for the dramatic), with an emphasis on the middle two syllabals. How you might imagine an enthusiastic Italian pronouncing fettUCINe! Monteverde translates to green mountain, which I must say, although simple as can be, is a rather appropiate title for the area of Costa Rica tucked away admist endless cloud-laden hills of leafy green. You can´t take a 4by6 photo of Monteverde and do it justice, at least not ... read more