Lost in Iceland, September 2020

Hi there folks,

you probably read my story about my trip to Iceland. If not I will make sure to mention the story further down the post and throw in the links. To make a long story short I am in Iceland as we speak. The best idea I have had in a long time was going there despite the COVID-19 issues and regulations worldwide! Today I decided to go on a trip well known. The “golden circle”… Seeing the geysers and the famous golden waterfall “Gullfoss”. 

On the way down there I saw two rainbows. The first one was absolutely fantastic and I thought it could not get any better when the second one appeared and was double..

When I was a kid I was told that rainbows are a portal for our gods to travel to and from earth. With that in mind I already knew my trip was a success. But you will not believe how many people I saw at the Geysir site. The largest geyser is called Strokkur and there were 3 persons there. Down at the parking lot I saw another person with a small camper cooking noodles on the floor. I wondered where the other 70 persons have gone that I saw here last year… Geysir is almost empty… Why would no one realize that this is the best time to see the sites? Now is the time people, why would you wait until things are back to normal and the place is stuffed?

The place has changed so tremendously since I was a kid. There was literally nothing there back then. Today there is a large Restaurant, a Hotel, another Hotel, A souvenir store with yet another Restaurant. In front of that place guess what another Restaurant that serves but soups. The place was empty, no one eating soups. The souvenir store was empty no one buying nothing. In the Restaurant 6 Icelanders eating and that is that.

Is it selfish to like the site to be empty I wonder. What about all the employees, the owners or stakeholders. What about the government that faces the largest decrease since the beginning of time. I leave the answer to you.

I managed to make a selfie without people on it unless me of course. Sorry for the irony but it was quite easy and fun because there was hardly anyone there. I wondered for a moment if we humans even like other humans, or why is it that we want to be alone at these sites. Why is it that we dislike other persons on our pictures. Then I remembered the last time when I was at the geysers there was a bus full of tourists standing next to me. One of them was so excited that he was moving constantly going:”ohhhhh ohhh!” and when strokkur erupted into the air he started jumping going:” wow wow, ho ho ho, wow wow!” Some people were trying to make a video and seemed annoyed by the man. For me this was just a hilarious comedy. Honestly this guy was probably the only sane person on the site trying to catch the moment with his eyes and the rest just happened like a happy moment eruption. Living the moment and catching the memory with your eyes. Memorizing it for eternity! The others stood there almost with the cramp in the hand trying to catch Strokkur. Because  there is no button to make it erupt some people stood there for several minutes with the phone or some machine in the hand going: “when will it erupt”. Murphys law, don’t get me started, hit them again because not only would the darn geyser not erupt but when it did people were looking the wrong way or the phone shut off, battery empty or some hilarious mishap. But all that is gone because I am alone, lost in Iceland, lost in translation. 

This picture was taken by me in October 2006. This was the last time I saw the site just as empty but had to drive through a snow storm to get there. Crazy if you ask me. What has this COVID-19 done with the world? On my way back to the car I remembered what people in Iceland have been telling me about covid. None of these people really believe in it anymore. Still, no one is willing to say anything because in some cases this virus is awful. Perhaps the only healthy approach is this: “The virus seems to attack people differently and because of that we need to be careful”.

Let’s look at the famous waterfall Gullfoss just a few minutes away from Geysir. Gullfoss was the exact same if not worse, I met one person. Later I saw a couple walking towards the waterfall. What an astonishing view! Look at all this power of nature! Absolutely wonderful and not a person standing in the way to see this. Not a building blocking the way, welcome to the least populated country in Europe!

Here is the picture of the parking lot where usually buses would park. The upper deck was empty, the hotel is closed!

Geysir restaurant, wow what a great thing to be able to eat there even though no one was at the site but a few locals. Icelandic lamb is believed to be the best in the world. Pörusteik is a crunchy pork dish and vegetables find their way on the plate to make it look more colourful. A perfect keto meal to give me strength for my next adventure. 

Thank you for reading the story and as promised here are the latest COVID stories: