In late 2017 my friend Daniela broke up with her boyfriend (they had wedding plans :/ ) and when she told me, I just answered “WEI VÁMONOS A ISLANDIA” (Wei, Let’s go to Iceland!). In early January 2018 we bought the tickets to flight at September. I knew the next for me was getting to know the nordic countries, because I wanted to take advantage of my youth and physical condition to make trips where I had to hike through mountains or extreme weather. Also I had 8 months for working to save more money to our trip, I had a commitment with myself.
I always choose countries near to another, I’m the kind of person who prefers to get to know 2 countries and some cities rather than 10 countries, so…I chose Norway.
Why those countries? Some friends asked me, I was interested in nordic design, the runes, the cold weather, the glaciers, the music, I wanted to see the ice with my own eyes, those highways and a completely different nature, and to get to know why they are called “first world countries”.
Other reasons:
- Because in this life experience is the only opportunity that I’ll be Leyda Luz in this world
- To remember our youth in the most amazing places where we always dreamed of
- Getting to know skills that we didn’t know we had
- To see the products packaging at supermarkets
- To find out a special garment which will make me remember that trip (I mean, I never buy magnets)
- Because year by year we are better humans, all the experiences in our trip are applied in daily life
- To solve troubles that we didn’t know existed
Through the months waiting, I started to study more about Iceland and Norway, about geography, history, music, gods. Month by month we booked lodging, rental car, trains, buses, all about it. Sometimes I though “what if this is so expensive that I can’t pay it?” “What if I freeze to death?” ”What if I get lost in the woods forever?” ”What if I get kidnapped by an Icelandic goblin?”. My only option was keep trusting myself and keep working.
We planed this trip only in south Iceland, from Reikiavik to Jökulsárlón Glacier and then to flight from Reikiavik to Oslo. I’d like to come back to go to Northern Iceland…someday.
September 6th
After a week hanging out in NYC, I arrived to JFK, Daniela was waiting for me, the flight was delayed by rain, we flew 5 hours. I’ll never forget the first time that I saw the Icelandic landscape, the gray waves and the first breeze, the most gelid in my entire life.
We took the car and then we drove to Reikiavik, the landscape was green and gray. Our first time at the supermarket was incredible, we were just kids! When we finally got to Hallgrimskirkya we were so excited! What a special and different architecture! We went up the tower the view was amazing and the air so cold. We felt so tired because we hadn’t slept because of jet lag and we’d landed at 7 am.
We walked a while and then we got to our airbnb, we slept 2 hours and got back to take a nocturne stroll. We fell in love with the Icelandic little city, the houses are beautiful, the people are so kind and I think the evil doesn’t exist there. That night we saw an Icelandic band outside a bar. Next day we walked in the coast, we visited Harpa (the concert hall). Same day we went to Blue Lagoon, it was a MUST in Iceland, the blue in the water was amazing, we enjoyed a lot.
Day 2. Our friend Omar joins us to the trip, we walked in Reikiavik to show him the city. That day we planned to go to “”Golden Circle”: Gulfoss (waterfall), Geysir and Keriđ (a sunken volcano).
Two hours on highway. It was impossible not to fall in love with waterfalls, the sheep and horses, sometimes the highway looks infinite. We got to Gulfoss, I’d never seen a waterfall like this. I enjoyed the sound of water, we saw the first rainbow there. I love to see the water movement in loop, I felt the breeze and took some pictures to remember forever.
We got to Geysir, the smell is so disgusting but the colors in land was beautiful. The Geysir exploded maybe five times while we were there. My favorite place was the volcano Keriđ, we got there before night, nature was good with us, this plan was completely amazing! I felt in another land.
In Iceland, I felt that time goes by so slowly and it made me think about how maybe Icelandic people have less distractions, they have more time to stay with their families and to cultivate their talents. I think nature make them such quiet people.
Day 3. We got to Seldjalandsfoss, a kind of cave-waterfall where you can walk behind the water! a completely magical place. I took my time to draw this waterfall. Then we went to Skogafoss waterfall and we take a stroll in Selfoss, our airbnb was on that place, a little house in the middle of nowhere.
Day 4. We planned to get to Jökulsárlón Glacier, the furthest point in our trip. We drove a little bit more than 3 hours. The highway was full of mountains, caves, abandoned farms, and some waterfalls…in some moments we drove in the middle of nothing and then we started to see the first mountains covered by the ice…it was so excited!
Only a few times had I seen something so majestic, a masterpiece by nature and I was thinking about how that big ice on that lagoon, despite how beautiful it is, someday it will cease to exist to go to the ocean. I took my time to observe, being conscientious about me being there, about everything being worth it in my entire life to get to that place to see the beauty in our planet. This is the nearest point that I was in North Pole.
Day 5. Our last place to visit was Vik (the Black Beach). I’d never seen before wild waves with that intensity. I got hypnotized just seeing. The black “sand” is a lot of pebbles. Here, I took my time to draw the landscape, to see the weird shapes in the walls of the caves closer. Sometimes you’re able to think that magical creatures live there…and the Teletubbies too.
This wonderful land said goodbye with a completely beautiful rainbow over a clean and wide landscape. Daniela and I got so excited, just as children, to discovered it! We stopped to take pictures and also to have lunch in the front of this amazing view.
Our last day we came back to Reikiavik before flying to Oslo. Iceland made me feel a vibe full of goodness, peace, a very close feeling to when I meditate. If you have the possibilities, please go to Iceland. I’ve decided to come back to see the Northern lights.
— LL (My trip to Iceland was in September 2018)
