Why not?

We flew out of Iceland today, after 3 days and 1 night. I don't count the second night because we didn't actually sleep. At all. More on that in a moment.

Reykjavik is a modern, clean, and safe city that is colored by large works of street art and bright roofs. People don't really wake up until about noon, and the hot water smells like sulfur because its heated by iceland's hot springs. Our host, a stout Icelandic actor/dancer, was thoughtful and inquisitive, like most other locals. They always wanted to know things like, "what is your greatest strength?" or "what is your favorite movie from the 80s?" Gunnar (our host) most adored the question/statement/exclamation "Why not?", hence the title of this post. Icelandic people proclaim themselves to be a straightforward nation. In fact, they don't even have a word for "please." The closest translation means "do it" in English. Enough fun facts.

Liz and I wandered around Reykjavik most of the day yesterday, and then got a small tour by car after a trip to the liquor store, WHICH by the way is EXTREMELY expensive because the government taxes alcohol like nobody's business there. That night, we went with Gunnar and two of his friends to a thermal pool about 2 hours outside Reykjavik. Why not?

We didn't leave the city until about 12:30 that night. Gunnar expected we would return around 6 or 7 am, a normal time to return home after a night out, apparently. 30 minutes into the drive, the car got a flat tire on the highway. Cool thing in Iceland is people will pick you up in the middle of nowhere and give you ride into town, which is what Gunner did to find a jack to change the tire. The four of us remained the car until about 1:45, waiting for the car to get fixed so we could turn around. Except that we didn't, because when Gunner had fixed the tire his spirits weren't dampened in the least, and we continued to drive to the springs. Upon arrival, we had a fifteen minute walk to the outdoor pool. Of course its pitch black, and starting to rain fairly heavily. We hiked up a mountain and back down. We crossed multiple rivers. We didn't find it. We were soaked and muddy and cold. Deciding to give it one last shot before admitting defeat, we walked the land between two rivers. Lessons here: 1) never give up and 2) walk the middle path. Because it worked. I'm guessing we got to the pool at around 5am.

It was glorious: a naturally steaming outdoor pool resting in an Icelandic valley. I'm not sure what moved someone to build such a thing back in the 1920s, but I'm sending him my thanks.

We got back home at 8:30am, then proceeded to shower and pack for our next destination. We've arrived safely. And now we are freaking going to bed.

Love,
Alexis