Backtracking Towards REK

I woke up early the next morning because I knew we still had laundry to do. Not doing it was not an option. Khivan (selfishly, but probably accidentally) put only her clothes in the wash the previous night. So I literally had nothing to wear that wasn’t sweaty, dirty, and gross. Fortunately, the previous night’s clothes dried, so the 60 minutes in the dryer was apparently enough. I started another load in the washer and fidgeted with the settings to make it a 30 minute cycle. I stuffed all the remaining clothes in there, even though it definitely should have been two loads or possibly more.

We took our time with breakfast and re-packed, as had become our daily ritual. As soon as the 30 minute wash cycle was up, I stuffed the clothes in the dryer and turned it to the max 60 minute timer. We killed some more time, and, unfortunately, 60 minutes wasn’t enough this time. I guess the dryer just issn’t very effective when it’s that full. I tried another 30 minute cycle. I tried taking some clothes out and turning it on a bit longer. Eventually we got fed up, and I put on some slightly wet pants, and the rest of the damp stuff we just packed up and left.

We’d gone as far east in Iceland as our plans were made, so we were venturing westward towards REK again. Our first stop was Vatnajokull National Park, so that we could actually hike to Svartifoss this time. This time it wasn’t nearly as windy. The hike started out steep, but it eased up and was a quick 1.8 km to the falls. On the way we saw some falls that I don’t know the name of, and a little while later we came across the esteemed Svartifoss. The falls itself weren’t as large or impressive as others we’ve seen on this trip. But the rock formations behind the falls were amazing- linear, jagged and looking kinda like brown piano keys (they were basalt rock, very volcanic). Also, the fact that there were few tourists around and some great flat rocks to sit on made it a very calm and comforting spot. I liked this better than Skogafoss, despite the latter’s fame.

We made the quick jaunt back down the hill, and decided to grab a snack at a food cart on site that was apparently quite popular. We ordered the fish and chips. Two small pieces of fish and a handful of fries = $21 USD?! That was one expensive snack. At least it tasted pretty good, and I got a chance to try the fish and chips in a country that is known for it.

We took our food for take-away (AKA to-go) and turned towards our evening’s destination: Hella (the ll makes a lt sound – I know, WTF?!). Before that, we had a few stops planned for the day, the first of which was the black sand beach of Vik. We took some photos on the hill in and around the town church before heading to the beach. The sand was actually fine grain sand, as opposed to small rocks. There were few people on this beach, and, again, there were some more cool basalt rock formations. There were lots of seagulls flying overhead and playing in the ocean while the rain sprinkled down. We enjoyed a nice walk in the cool weather on, reportedly, one of the top 10 beaches in the world. I wouldn’t put it up there, but apparently someone would, probably because of it’s uniqueness.

Our next stop was somewhat unplanned. Khivan didn’t know the exact name or location of the next place she wanted to stop, which is highly unusual. She just knew there were supposed to be rock caves. We ended up following a crowd and a sign pointing to a Point of Interest (they actually have a generic symbol indicating a POI). It led us to the desired location. The caves were pretty cool, but less so because of the cave itself and more because of, again, the unique rock formations. We saw the same type of “pillar-like” rocks chiseled into the mountainside here as we saw at Svartifoss in the morning, despite being 100 km away. I had also never seen rock chiseled like torn tree bark. I had a really hard time believing it was actually rock until I felt how hard and sharp it was. Also, this beach’s “sand” was made up of countless flat round rocks, the kind that people deliberately put in and around their ponds back home. It was hard to believe this could be natural given that I usually see these kinds of rocks in manmade settings. This was certainly my favorite stop of the day.

As an aside, I want to point out something I noticed in Iceland before I forget. There are a lot of hitchhikers! Apparently it’s a thing here. I never saw a hitchhiker get picked up, but I imagine they must, and word must get around that it’s a good way to travel in Iceland, I suppose. I can’t help but wonder how long they usually have to wait before getting a ride though. I also felt bad for them, especially when it was super rainy and/or windy out. Khivan was not in favor of picking up anyone though, so we always passed them by as we averted our guilty eyes.

We had one more stop on our way to our AirBnB for the night. It was at a falls that, again, I don’t recall the name of, but the name of the falls means “waterfall on the side” in English. I thought about stopping at this place on our way eastward, but Khivan said that she had it planned for our return, so now here we were. The falls itself were pretty cool because it was a pretty long fall, and it was literally just off the road. The downside was that we couldn’t get very close to the falls because it was on private property. How cool would it be to have such falls in your own backyard?!

We finally made it to the tiny town of Hella. I made sure not to blink so as not to pass it. We stayed in a house where the owners lived in the second story. I’m curious what their place was like because the house looked pretty ordinary and small from the outside. The second story looked more like an attic than a full floor. On the inside though it looked like it had been totally remodeled. Nice kitchen, nice living room, with the best TV we had seen to this point. Our room was a bit small, but certainly comfortable.

It was very stormy outside, and there isn’t much to do in Hella anyway, so we stayed inside. We popped a couple take-home pizzas in the oven and watched The Departed. I can’t remember why I wanted Khivan to see that movie. I knew she wouldn’t like it. I didn’t remember the movie much, so it was a nice refresher for me. I loved the ending…again!!