east fjords

i left on a trip on saturday with my Finnish friends Maija and Kirsi to the east fjords. Maija rented the car and we drove all saturday (from 930 to 1930 with breaks) and arrived in Vallanes (a farm SSW of Egilsstaðir). the landscape on the east coast is crazy. you feel so tiny on the edge of those mountains, huge atlantic waves crashing against the coast below you. anyways, Vallanes is where Maija's friend Laura was WOOFing (Working on organic farms), so we dropped in and stayed the night at the farm.
after the people staying at the farm made us supper and we all had some beers, we went and hung out in a church thats on the property and played the harmonium that was in there. one of the guys, giome (spelling?), had a clarinet so there was good music to be had. we played music for a long time.

next morning we left (now with Laura and Ivan in the car from the farm) and went to Seyðisfjörður; a little town on the east coast tucked into a fjord. we just drove through it to look at it and then turned back south and drove for most of the day. we stopped in Vik on the southern shore and stayed in a guest house for the night.

next day we continued west, and stopped near Skógar to swim in the legendary 'slimy pool' (legendary if you were in our car. Maija kept talking about this slimy pool on the edge of a mountain that was fed by a "warm" river. and its slimy because it is no longer maintained, slowly falling into a state of dis-repair with much algae and 'slime' in the bottom). so we stopped the car and walked along some trails next to a river for 15 minutes. on the way we passed the pool that had been built to replace the slimy pool, which apparently no-one wanted to use, so it stands closed. but we get to the slimy pool, and swim for awhile. it was pretty awesome.
then we continued to Selfoss, where Ivan was doing some more WOOFing at another farm. then we drove back to Reykjavik. awesome trip. thanks Maija and Kirsi.

photos!