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Published: August 20th 2008
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On the beach in VikThe little fella redeemed himself! It was the windiest weather I have ever seen or felt all night in Vik, thus keeping my tent thoroughly vented, and not one drop of condensation was able to buy property in my tent. So I woke up Sunday morning (completely dry) and caught a bus to the next village of Skogar. I met up again with Ethan (the med student from Taiwan) and he was also going to Skogar. We arrived in the village, found our accomodation of a gym floor and headed out to check out the wateralls in the area. After a good hike it was back to the gym for a night's sleep.
That night Ethan told me he was going to Vestmannaeyjar, an island off the coast of Iceland. Not having a schedule of my own, I decided to go along with him. A 2 hour bus ride, and 3 hour ferry later we were on the island. It's population is about 4000, and it is well known because the island is only about 8km by 3km, and most of that is volcano or crater. We checked into our guesthouse for 2 nights and went hiking. We climbed 2
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Waterfall in Skogar volcanoes, the most recent of which erupted unannounced in 1973. The volcano continued erupting for 5 months, and when done had added almost 2 square kilometers of land to the island.
Now here's the crazy part. This volcano completely stopped erupting 35 years ago. However, at the top of the volcano the ground is still warm. Dig down an inch in the gravel and ash on the top and it is too hot to touch for more than a couple seconds. It is really hard to comprehend, but awesome to experience.
Yesterday we hiked the entire loop of the island, which consists of sheep fields, high cliffs, and the comical little birds called Puffins. They have to flap their wings 400 times a minute to stay in the air, and when landing they usually knock each other over. They are much more accustomed to living in the ocean. The hike took about 5 hours during which time numerous fences were crossed and we were walking through sheep fields with the curious stares of the sheep always following us. We had been told by the guesthouse owner that no fence on the island is off limits and that if
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Silly sheeps... it was in our way to climb it.
After a long day of hiking yesterday it was a rather early night to bed, as I was up at 7 to catch the ferry back to the mainland. Ethan decided to stay another night on the island, but we have the same flight to Oslo out of Iceland on Friday so I will see him again. He has thoroughly convinced me that Taiwan is a destination I need to add to my must see list.
Now I am back in Reykjavik, at the same campsite that I first encountered my mini tropical storms. I have given the tent another chance, and will likely use it for the next 2 nights.
Friday at noon I fly to Svalbard, Norway in the High High Arctic. The last weather I saw for there it was a high of 2 degrees with the chance of snow.....I fully plan to keep the flip flops on.
As for Iceland, I think everyone who is anyone that plans on travelling needs to make this a possibility for a destination. For such a small island the landscape changes so often that it is never boring.
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Top of Volcano...Yes I am wearing a Flames hat. I wanted a new hat for the trip from the airport in Edmonton. And my luck they only had Flames in my size...So for this trip...Go Flames Go... English is also spoken everywhere, and it is easy to travel around. So start thinking Iceland....
Now to go enjoy the sun, because in 2 days I may be in full out winter.....
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Westmann Islands
Fantastic place, isnt it? I was there a couple of weeks ago, it was a brilliant feeling to be at the top of the volcano, and it was so strange to feel the ground hot!