Lost in Icelandia

"Ahhhhhhh!!!!"

The day started off with a bang. Er, a burn. As Nick and I sat in our brand new rent-a-car, we were fiddling around with our GPS trying to get it charged. Astutely, Nick pulled out the cigarette lighter to free up the charger, but the unexpected happened. Smoke shot out of the lighter like an Icelandic geyser and Nick's hand was caught dead in the middle of the ongoing chaos. As a layer of my brother's finger fried off, I was forced to take control of this desperate situation. I told Nick to run inside the Avis center and ask the people at the front desk what to do. After the echoes of my brother's cussing wore off, I was safe inside the car once again trying to figure out how to drive in this Nordic country.

Once I came to the realization that all I had to do was put the car in drive and step on the gas, I was relieved. Avis gave Nick a band-aid and we were ready to roll. Our new destinations were to a doctor and a pharmacy. To my dissatisfaction, my brother's well-being became our top priority. The good news: We were about to experience the joys of socialized medicine!

I dropped Nick off at a local doctor's office and within ten minutes the situation was resolved. The doctor interrupted her visit with another patient to check out Nick's finger and passed along her two cents. No insurance cards. No paperwork. On to a pharmacy we were and Nick troopered through the rest of the day.

The two of us were now free to explore the foreign lands of this magnificent country. We had all of our limbs in order and a full tank of gas and by God we were going to make the most of it. Before we left Reykjavik for the open road, we pulled off to a local hamburger shop that sits along the Atlantic. The joint was arranged with 1950s American regalia, but the only word in English I caught was "hamburgers." Icelandic burgers were a bit unspectacular but all we needed was a full stomach. (Tomorrow we will finally taste the island's famous fresh fish for all you foodies out there.)

What we didn't expect this evening was a three hour adventure to the center of Iceland to turn into six hours of poor navigation. Every website or blog dedicated to traveling here mentioned the Gullfoss waterfall as a must see. It is considered one of the most beautiful natural sites in the world. It was a no-brainer to head out there. Only problem was how do you get there when your GPS craps out? Oh, you purchase a map? What do you do when you have no clue where the hell you are? Nick and I ran into a few of these head scratchers. The one upside to getting lost in Iceland is that you are more than happy to pull off to the side of the road. When you step out of the car, you are surrounded by enormous mountains with mist floating across their peaks. Words can't describe its beauty. There is rarely a car in sight so you can't help but feel transported to a different century. I never thought being lost could be so worth it.

After paging through our map and sorting through some direction screenshots we saved, we got our bearings. Teamwork at its finest. We swerved and zig-zagged along tiny roads through the rocky countryside and across massive acres of farmland. The Viking agent at Avis warned us of wandering sheep that clog up the path and the steep penalty of hitting them. Somehow we preserved and weren't forced to buy off a local farmer with the few krona we had left in our pockets. It was 10 o'clock by now and my main concern was getting to Gullfoss with the little sunlight we had remaining. I flew down the windy trail at over 100 kilometers (okay, thats not that fast) and to my surprise, we made it with plenty of time to spare.

Gullfoss is a sight for sore eyes. The waterfall could match up with some of the best in the world. And you are able to get right up on top of it. The sheer magnitude and power of Gullfoss gave me the chills. As you stand next to it, water is spraying at you in every direction and the wind makes it tough to hold still. Even while being drenched it's hard not to love each second of this place. The waterfall is enclosed by towering canyons that don't even seem real. Best of all, there wasn't a single tourist in sight! For the thirty minutes we spent at Gullfoss, it belonged to just the two of us. Thank you very much Iceland!

The road home was much easier than the original journey. The sun didn't set until around midnight (fooled me) so we had a lit path home. That helped seeing as there are no street lamps in rural Iceland! In the end, we made the most out of day that got started with a burn. We missed the Blue Lagoon, but hopefully tomorrow we make up for it.

Sam signing off!