Iceland Flashback.
(from a journal entry on 9/18/04)On the Reykjavik Excursions bus off to the Blue Lagoon. It's naked time! We got up around 6ish and laid in bed until 7:30am. Had the usual breakfast and packed lunch. Then, packed our bags, checked out and off we went!
Wow- the Blue Lagoon was definitely worth it! It seemed really scary at first as we were driving up to it. There's a power plant right next to it, so you see these huge industrial steel pillars (water storage and processing tanks I think). There was a large plume of steam and we thought, "Oh my god- there are PEOPLE in that?!" It looked suffocating.
The outside of the Blue Lagoon was stark minimalist. We gingerly walked toward...somewhere and once in a while, we were passed by people who looked completely zoned out. Zombified. Like they went through some kind of catharsis or something.
Then, I noticed the superfrizz. Oh wait, no, they actually are TRYING to form dreadlocks. Scary. Then, we realized that everyone exiting had superfrizz because the salt bath does a number on you. I say to Tina (referring to the dreadlocked couple), "I hope our hair doesn't look like THAT when we leave!"
This random blond lady pipes up, "Yes, it will..." and I was embarrassed. I hope she didn't think that I was referring to her!
The sun wanted to peek out, but it didn't. So we go in and it's completely antiseptic in a brainwashing-Zoolander type way. We give the girl at the front desk our ticket stub. Admission was 1200 ISK, and 300 ISK for a towel. Past the front desk, we went into a locker room. We had to take off our shoes, and we couldn't wear flip flops either. We had to shower immediately and thoroughly before going in- and I mean a soap, shampoo and conditioner shower, not a rinse-off!
It was freezing in the locker room! There were women just standing there. Boobs and thing flopping everywhere. I immediately started feeling better about myself. There was an open shower area, but also individual stalls. Took a long shower in the hot water, put on my suit and headed out into the freezing cold. The high was maybe 50, but it was damp. Felt even colder. Add in the wind and you've got yourself WINTER, practically!
We made our way to the water and it looks phenomenal, like some surreal Dali interpretation of heaven. Don't people feel the freezing ice cold air? The steam gently billowed from the surface of the water creating a sort-of human hot pot.
I stepped gingerly into the milky blue water and at first it felt pleasant, like, a little warmer than a bath, but cooler than a hot tub. Then, my ankles were on FIRE! I guess they were so cold that the contrast was even greater.
The wind picked up, so we dropped down to neck level in the water and waded all around. We were near a pump because the water was I-flushed-the-toilet-while-you-were-in-the-shower hot. That kind of sucked. There was a fake waterfall, and areas with benches molded into the sides. Most people just sat around.
It felt really good to soak after horseback riding. There were pots of silica mud which apparently is used for mud masks. Not a great idea because it's hard to wash off your face in the extremely HOT and SALTY water. We took tons of photos.
The timing was perfect, and we had 5 minutes to spare once we boarded the bus. It took 10 minutes from that point to get to the airport and another 15 to check in, go through security and make it to the gate. The flight was 75% empty. We got fed a light lunch that we were more than thankful for. Tomato bread with cheese melted in the center. Cheese and bread. Cheese and bread. Is that all Europeans eat??
We finally arrived in London and knew immediately that we weren't in Kansas anymore. The grid of lights stood out on our approach. Iceland was barren.
posted by v @ 11:31 PM
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