Hella Weird Landscapes, Yo.

It’s our second night in Iceland, and we’re cozily bunked up in a tiny cabin beside a river that had a gorgeous sunset over it about an hour ago. It’s a big improvement from last night’s lodgings, sharing a room with 22 other sonorously snoring travelers. We were a little trepidatious about our first night spent in hostel, but turns out there’s nothing scary or weird about it…you just don’t sleep very well. Or at least we didn’t. I’m sure we’ll get used to it in no time though, once we master the art of earplugs and eye masks.

This morning we left the capital behind and drove southwest towards Hella. It didn’t take long for the landscape to become truly alien and unlike anything we’d ever seen before. Jagged black peaks belched sulfurous steam, and a carpet of lime green moss covered the rocks as far as the eye could see.

Black mountain

The volcanic landscape outside the city

Justin meditating

Justin finding some time for meditation in a perfectly Justin-sized hole

We spent the morning hiking up to the “hot river” in Hveragerði, which runs as warm as bathwater thanks to hot springs. The hike was definitely worth it, although the huge boiling pits of mud were almost more interesting than the river itself, which was full of pasty white bodies basking in the water.

Bubbling Water

One of the bubbling mud pits below Hveragerdi. Small child for scale.

Hveragerdi Hot river

Hveragerði hot river

The afternoon was spent driving down the southern coast towards Vik. We stopped to explore the massive waterfall at Seljalandsfoss, which thunders over the edge of a precipice and into thin air. It was really cool (literally- we got soaked) to be able to walk behind it, it sounds like a freight train driving right over the cliff!

Galloping horses