Akureyri, Dalvík & Mývatn

Ashton and i left on friday morning and took public transit north outside of the city limits of Reykjavik. it was grey and raining, and we started hitch-hiking from there. in about 20 minutes a black mercedes stopped (!) and gave us a ride. a middle-aged icelandic woman and two small, but quiet, dogs going all the way to Akureyri. we talked most of the 5 hour drive with little dogs in our laps, and got mostly crap weather all the way there.

once we arrived in Akureyri the woman (whos name i can't remember) invited us to meet her daughter who lives pretty much in downtown. we met Rakel, and they invited us in for coffee. Ashton and i quickly discovered that the daughter Rakel may even be nicer than her mom, and they soon invited us to stay the night at Rakel's place, as they have a spare room. Ashton and i were flabbergasted by our luck at finding the Nicest People in Iceland, and after a bit of stammering, accepted their offer to stay the night. we all did some barbaquing later on their cadillac of a BBQ and hung out with the dogs in the back yard. i have never had better luck hitch-hiking. i think Ashton's beginner's luck is to blame (1st time hitch-hiking).

so, next day ashton and i left and caught a bus north to Dalvík, about a 30m north into the rural. we got dropped off at the N1 (gas station) where Hjörtur was waiting to pick us up (drummer from the old band). so after meeting and greeting we hung out at his little blue house with kids and girlfriend and pets. awesome. we spent two days there just puttering about, and we got some sweet music playing done. felt so good.

next we caught a bus back to Akureyri and rented a car to go to Mývatn. Mývatn is a lake that is situated where the tectonic plates meet (i think?) and there is much volcanic activity there. there are also tons of wetlands and thus tons of birds there too. there are many strange and interesting things to see there, like island calderas, warm pools tucked in rocky caves, and lava fields. the tourist brochure said it was "the iceland you always imagined". Ashton agreed. we spent the night here and toured around to all the little places.

the next morning we got up super early, and went to swim in the cooler of the under ground grottos. there was frost on the roof of the next house to where we stayed, and the water was not very warm. but it was amazing.

then we booked it back to Akureyri to return the car, and then we hit the road back to Reykjavik. we had pretty good luck, and got back in good time, dropped off right at our front door. sweet hitch-hiking victory.

pictures here!