Iceland 2.10: Puffins Part II

     I left for the puffins at about 8:30 the next morning.  They were only a five minute drive away.  Unlike the first puffin location I visited, this one were on much lower hills near the edge of a bay.  There was small set of stairways to access the location, but the rest was restricted to the puffins.  It was a cloudy morning with some light drizzling, but I was still happy with what I was able to see.

    I left around 10:00 and tried the grocery store in town, but it was closed until 2:00.  I noticed that the cafe opened at 1:00, so I waited until then.  Right next to the camp site is a small rock outcrop named Alfaborg.  The cafe, named Alfacafe, is known for its unlimited servings of fish soup, something I would never eat.  Instead, I ordered coffee and rhubarb cake, which I do not believe that I have tried before.  It was decent enough.

    

    There was a couple from Atlanta that entered the cafe, inquiring about whether the soup was gluten free.  Across from them sat a couple from Switzerland, where the man spoke about visiting the US many times.  We shouted back and forth from across the rest of the empty room, sharing our traveling experiences.

    I stopped next at the grocery store, which was essentially a single room of bare ingredients.  It was the brightest and sunniest day so far in Iceland, and with nothing better to do, went back to the birds.  I was very fortunate in timing it seemed, as a bunch of the puffins were carrying back either fish they had caught or a jellyfishlike substance.  I have added captions under these specific pictures for viewers to looks closer at them.

Jellyfishlike in its mouth.

Caught a fish.

What do I do with this gross jellyfishlike substance?

    For dinner, since the grocery store was so bare, and I was out of supplies, I decided to stop by the Frystiklefinn restaurant.  I had decided just to get french onion soup and styr cake, which I hadn't found so far this trip.  I could not find a sign anywhere for the restaurant, but Google insisted that it was there.  I found a bunch of doors marked private or staff.  I opened what looked like a front door and was greeted by a long white hallway with no descriptions or signs.  On the walls were hung pictures from around Iceland.  I decided to give the unmarked door at the end of the hallway a go, and fortunately, it was the restaurant.

    I was seated and given a menu.  The waitress first was going over the alcohol menu and I informed her that that wasn't necessary, as I don't drink alcohol.  Then she informed me that they could also make any drink there without alcohol.  Then she was struggling to remember the fish of the day, and again, I told her that that wasn't necessary, as I don't eat fish either.  When I tried to order the french onion soup, she pointed out that it wasn't actually soup, instead just a bread and a dip.  I must have misread it.  I ordered it anyhow.  She then pointed out that anything marked with an asterisk in the menu was made from local ingredients.  Neither the dip nor the styr were marked, but the main course that I had some interest in, was.  So, I decided to give that a shot.  It was a falafel and tzatziki sauce in a wrap.  Luckily, I knew what this sauce was from a meal I once had in Universal Studios.  Upon the first bite into the french onion dip, I realized I had underestimated how hot it was.  I had burned the entire right side of my mouth.  I spent the rest of the meal swishing around cold water in my mouth while eating.  The food itself was very good though.

    At 7:00, I headed back to the birds for some nicely lit pictures using the sunset that never actually fully sets.  Unfortunately, I did not consider that my main view of the birds was coming from a hill that is on the opposite side of the setting sun.  Within ten minutes it was extremely dark on our side of the hill.  I decided to give up and head back to camp.

    While walking back to the parking lot, an older photographer struck up a conversation with me, asking me where I was from.  He was apparently from Virginia and was leaving in four days.  I mentioned what it was like to get Stephanie the covid test before her return flight.  He apparently was unaware of such requirements.  I went into detail as to what he needed to do, as they would never have allowed him onto the plane without a test.  Striking up a conversation with me was a fortunate choice for him!

Iceland 2.9: The incredible rock formations of Hljodaklettar and the abysmal disappointment of Myvatn

         I left camp to go to the Raudholar and Hjodaklettar joint hike.  I pulled up to the road that led to parking and it was completely blocked by signs and a huge construction related truck.  I continued along the path that I was on and it led to a plateau with a parking lot.  There was a single path leading away, but it had no signs indicating to where its destination was.  It looked like it might just turn towards the place where I wanted to be.  I took a leap of faith and headed onward.

    After walking parallel to my desired location for about fifteen minutes, it diverted to the right, heading straight toward the far end of the hike that I wanted to join.   So, I essentially started at the end, which is a beautiful set of red sanded mountains.  You used to be able to hike the last few feet to the top, but due to erosion, they blocked it off with signage.  

    I turned toward the rest of the hike and it diverged.  Either way would circle around to the other eventually and so I chose left, as someone recommended this route online.  The views were magnificent.  Unfortunately for me, it led to a hilltop that looked a bit too scary for me and although there was likely a clear path down, I could not make it across.  I tried twice, the second time with my camera packed away.  I wasn't willing to crawl on my knees.  So, I made my way back and chose the other path.

It led down to many, many beautiful and massive rock formations.  It took a good hour and a half to go around it all, taking my time to soak it all in.

    Eventually I reached the part that clearly would have led back to that summit that I refused to pass, so I crossed over to my initial path when they were next to each other and walked back the way I came.

    My next stop was Myvatn, a lake area known for its birds.  Within five minutes of town, I passed a geothermal location known for bubbling pools emitting sulfuric gas.  I generally hate the smell of these locations, and so passed it by.  I decided at the next opportunity, however, to turn around and give it a quick look.  The stench was overwhelming and so I only stayed for a few minutes.

    The next day was a complete bore.  I went to another place known for rock formations, called Dimmuborgir.  Compared to the last hike, it was like being put on the Dumbo Disney ride after going on Space Mountain.  It was an utter bore along a mostly paved path.  There was apparently a Game of Thrones scene filmed in a "cave" here, but it was really just a small hole in a rock.

    I woke up the next morning to gloom and rain.  I tried to access the lake for birding, but the lake was blocked off mostly by private property.  I found one trail, but it only touched the lake from hilltops above and sparingly.  I stopped at a local farm's ice cream shop named Skutais.  It was located behind some buildings.  As I drove in, two dogs rushed my vehicle.  I had to wait for them to walk away so I wouldn't run them over.  It was a barely marked small building.  There miraculously was a worker inside.

    I checked the weather and it looked like my next location would have a day of sunshine, which would be handy since it the primary focus of the town is for photographing puffins.  I decided to forgo my second night here and drive there.  I had use for coffee, and a cafe showed up as being along the main road in between towns.  There was no other building to be seen within miles.  The parking lot clearly labelled the place as open.  There was a single car there, presumably the worker.

    I ordered a waffle, which was small, but came with jam, along with coffee.  Shortly after I arrived, other customers started coming in.  As I left, I asked what two of the items in front were.  One was a donut and the other was something that I couldn't make out due to her accent.  I took one of each to go.  At night when I tried them, I discovered that the ball shape one was almost like a muffin with berries.

    On the way to Borgarfjordur Eystri, which had the puffins, I stopped to see the basalt columns at the Studlagil Canyon.  It required me to drive on a gravel road alongside the canyon.  A few kilometers before the Google Maps directions told me to turn, I saw a sign.  Not wanting to repeat following the incorrect directions a few days before, I followed the signs.  Down at the parking lot, I found a bridge with information panels in Icelandic but no information regarding the canyon.  I asked some people returning to the parking lot and they informed me that I should cross the bridge and turn right and hike there.  I went back to my vehicle and did some more research.  There were two options.  Continue down the road and then climb down 300 steps to a platform to view the canyon or to go on a beautiful hike starting here, that would take me through farmland and let you climb down to be close to the river.  I chose the latter.

It was around an hour before I saw signs of the columns.  The sheep and meadows that I had passed through on the way there was beautiful.  The path turned into posts in the ground to follow.  I followed them until I reached a rickety bridge, but I was well passed the basalt columns and no sign of how to get down into the canyon.  I turned back and discovered that I missed a diverging post in the ground and proceeded to climb down.

    At the bottom, which wasn't far down at all, I realized that I had misplaced one of my gloves.  While retracing my route back, luckily I found it on the ground almost immediately.  This waterfall was one that I had passed early into the hike, so I tried to incorporate sheep into the picture.  Sheep always adds to a picture.

    When I returned to my car, I drove to the next town.  I was brought there by means of a dirt road.  I noticed many birds from the car and eventually struck upon a herd of reindeer, known to roam around eastern Iceland.  

    I was taken over a mountain pass with extraordinary views both behind me and then in front of me before arriving at the small town.