Locations: Eldborg Crater, Arnarstapi
This story is actually a couple of weeks old (you wouldn't have known the difference if I hadn't told you), but the roommates and I were bouncing around west Iceland for the weekend and we took the recommendation of our guide book and decided to hike Eldborg crater. Like most of the craters in Iceland, it's caused by volcanic activity, not meteors.
After we found the right sign in the middle of nowhere, we pulled off to the side of the road and began our 45 minute hike to its base. The only thing we passed on the way were farms with cows. Here's what it looked like when we were getting close to the base. Notice we found some friends along the way...
The hike was pretty good except for the top where it was very steep. Fortunately they had stakes with chains to help make the climb more manageable; otherwise it would have been borderline rock climbing in my book. Here's the view from the top - well worth the effort!
And of course here's the pic with me in it to prove I actually did it. Notice how steep the drop off into the crater is.
Later on that trip we stopped to sleep in a small town on the west coast named Arnarstapi. Our intention was to catch the last tour for the nearby glacier (conducted entirely on snowmobiles) and then stay in a cabin for the night. We quickly discovered we weren't the only ones with this great idea, and the lady at the front desk was kind enough to laugh at us when we informed her of our intentions but admitted we did not have a reservation. Bummer!
We figured we'd still make the best of it by wandering around the small town while trying not to panic about the fact that it was now midnight and we didn't have a place to sleep. We starting walking towards the nearby cliffs, and we were following the road fine until I pointed out that we could cut our distance shorter if we would just cross these open fields in front of us. I even proclaimed "the shortest distance between two points is a straight line!" and charged right in to lead by example.
This turned out to be a relatively poor decision. What I have now learned is that since Iceland has relatively few trees, birds are forced to nest in other places...like open fields. They gave us plenty of warning that they were not happy, but we were talking and not really paying attention. This is the last known photograph taken before things turned bad. Notice and the birds and me leading the idiot train on the left.
What ensued was nothing short of something straight from Hitchcock's "The Birds." These things were pissed off and aggressive. It started with me getting hit on the shoulder by one's wings as it darted past me. Then another girl got clawed on her head. Then the other guy did. At this point all logic went out the window as we ran in almost completely separate directions to escape the madness. One girl actually took this photo while screaming for help (of course by that time I was standing safely off to the side telling her to head this way).
We also quickly discovered the birds weren't just using claws and beaks, but also their digestive system. Two out of the four of us got bullseye shit shots, one of which was in a girl's hair. Ironically I didn't get hit.
This view was our reward.
Understandably the girls did not want to return the same path we came. A strongly worded dare forced me to don one of the girls coats (already covered in bird poo), to run back through the same field alone. I agreed to the stunt on the condition that it be filmed. My eagerness quickly deflated when I put on the coat as it did not have a hood to cover my head. Plus it looked a little ridiculous.
Unfortunately no such video was ever recorded because I was talked down last minute. It's probably for the best.
We continued driving to the next town (and then the next one, etc) until we found something open. I show this picture not only for its beauty but because of the light. This is how "dark" it ever gets here...it takes some getting used to.
When I showed up to work Monday, I described how the weekend went (including the bird attack). The locals asked me to describe what the birds looked like, and then blurted out laughing. Apparently those are locally known to be really aggressive birds...
Additional pics can be found
here and
here.
Yes that's right - it's a penis. The locals actually call it "the penis mall." I discovered this fact pretty early on, but the icing on the cake came when I found a pic of something much weirder. Apparently it was also designed to change colors based on temperature; how they pulled this part off I have no idea.
It's hard to argue that Icelandic people don't have a sense of humor!
