Iceland
Dispatches from the road in the land of fire and ice....
After two epic weeks of carrying my home around on my back - the Bean and I have arrived back into Reykjavik for two nights of sleeping in a bed and hot showers until we are off again to the North East coast of this amazing rock called Iceland.
The only thing that has been better than the complete and utter vastness of this place, is the beauty found within it. I have had the pleasure to see a few places on this little rock we call home - but the sheer diversity of landscapes here is simply hard to describe.... perhaps (and this may be a shock to some of you) I have even taken a photo or two along the way to hopefully share with you later :)
From the disheveled manes of the tough little Icelandic horse, the neverending daylight that hangs overhead, to the towering cliffs of volcanic debris that form this island - it is truly one of a kind.
The Bean and I have spent the past two weeks out wandering from one point to another with our tent and hiking boots logging some serious hours. The simple act of being so free and self sufficient is in its own right a liberating and empowering experience that I feel so blessed to participate in.
Together we have recorded a couple of hundred kilometers on foot to this point with at least another 60 coming over the next few days. Paying witness to so many different scenery changes, the camera sometimes can hardly respond in time before the light has changed the perspective yet again on the vista one seeks to capture through the lens. And the colors..... so very dreamy that each new valley seems to be from a different world.
The past four days were spent with fellow travellers as we led up to and then crossed an arm of the largest glacier in Europe - Vatnajokull. This piece of ice covers numerous volcanoes and over eight percent of the entire country of Iceland. All relative scale drops away when one is in the presence of such of work of nature.
Tie into this the sense of humor found in a people who have lived on the edge of the earth since their families found their way here in the 9th century. The struggles to maintain the basics of life in such a harsh backdrop, highlighted by a constant threat of nature to "blow up" the very ground beneath one's feet and further expand the very island they live on.
The author Alda Sigmundsdottir has penned a novelette "The Little Book of the Icelanders" in which she brings up the concept of "Thetta Reddast" - which means simply that things will all work out one way or another. I have seen first hand that principle is the basis of the Icelandic people - who at a population total of 320,000 come in at the fifth lowest population density on this planet (Canada is number nine). This principle applies to almost everything they deal with..... EXCEPT bathing...... which is a whole story unto itself!
But enough chat - I hope all is well and at peace in your world. One reconnects with the priorities in life on a journey like this. Given some of the rather dramatic changes in my life over the past year and half - it has been very timely to make this pilgrimage. I look forward to many conversations and sharing with each of you in the future.
Read MoreAfter two epic weeks of carrying my home around on my back - the Bean and I have arrived back into Reykjavik for two nights of sleeping in a bed and hot showers until we are off again to the North East coast of this amazing rock called Iceland.
The only thing that has been better than the complete and utter vastness of this place, is the beauty found within it. I have had the pleasure to see a few places on this little rock we call home - but the sheer diversity of landscapes here is simply hard to describe.... perhaps (and this may be a shock to some of you) I have even taken a photo or two along the way to hopefully share with you later :)
From the disheveled manes of the tough little Icelandic horse, the neverending daylight that hangs overhead, to the towering cliffs of volcanic debris that form this island - it is truly one of a kind.
The Bean and I have spent the past two weeks out wandering from one point to another with our tent and hiking boots logging some serious hours. The simple act of being so free and self sufficient is in its own right a liberating and empowering experience that I feel so blessed to participate in.
Together we have recorded a couple of hundred kilometers on foot to this point with at least another 60 coming over the next few days. Paying witness to so many different scenery changes, the camera sometimes can hardly respond in time before the light has changed the perspective yet again on the vista one seeks to capture through the lens. And the colors..... so very dreamy that each new valley seems to be from a different world.
The past four days were spent with fellow travellers as we led up to and then crossed an arm of the largest glacier in Europe - Vatnajokull. This piece of ice covers numerous volcanoes and over eight percent of the entire country of Iceland. All relative scale drops away when one is in the presence of such of work of nature.
Tie into this the sense of humor found in a people who have lived on the edge of the earth since their families found their way here in the 9th century. The struggles to maintain the basics of life in such a harsh backdrop, highlighted by a constant threat of nature to "blow up" the very ground beneath one's feet and further expand the very island they live on.
The author Alda Sigmundsdottir has penned a novelette "The Little Book of the Icelanders" in which she brings up the concept of "Thetta Reddast" - which means simply that things will all work out one way or another. I have seen first hand that principle is the basis of the Icelandic people - who at a population total of 320,000 come in at the fifth lowest population density on this planet (Canada is number nine). This principle applies to almost everything they deal with..... EXCEPT bathing...... which is a whole story unto itself!
But enough chat - I hope all is well and at peace in your world. One reconnects with the priorities in life on a journey like this. Given some of the rather dramatic changes in my life over the past year and half - it has been very timely to make this pilgrimage. I look forward to many conversations and sharing with each of you in the future.
