Day 2 - Monday July 25

So, blog readers, I can already tell you a big difference between this year’s expedition and ones from previous years – my sheer lack of time to sit down and dedicate myself to writing daily blog entries. I’m not sure whether it’s that the schedule is

so different, or longer, or if I’m just not as dedicated as I was to writing blog entries. Perhaps it’s a combination of a lot of factors. But to make a long story short, I apologize for getting these out so late.

Where to pick up? Ah yes, Reykjavik. Day 2 of our ti

me in Iceland saw us heading out by bus to explore Iceland. Our first stop was to Thingvellir National Park which includes Iceland’s largest natural lake – Lake Þingvallavtn. The scenery was, naturally, beautiful and the lake was

a sight to be seen. But the highlight was Almannagjá

canyon.

At first glance, the canyon appears to be two large cliffs looming over a valley. But it’s much more than that. Essentially, this canyon represents the fault point between Earth’s two largest continental plates, the North American plate and the Eurasian plate. The two plates meet in the Atlantic Ocean – and peek out above sea level across Iceleand. And it’s literally ripping this country apart.

Not quickly, mind you. The process will take million of years. But it does make Iceland one of the most tectonically active regions in the world, as evidenced by recent volcanic activity.

Next stop, a “coin fissure” near the canyon. No, not an area where coins spit out

at unsuspecting visitors. Instead, it was a deep crevice filled with clear glacial water. The idea is to take a coin in your left hand, turn your back to the fissure, throw the coin over your right shoulder, ask a question, and then turn around. If you can spot your coin before it hits the bottom, any question you asked will be yes. Anyone who knows me, knows I am NOT superstitious in the least little bit.

But I did give it a try. I followed the instructio

ns exactly with a nice fat Canadian loonie in my hand. I turned around as my coin bounced nicely off the edge of a rock side of the fissure and landed with an unceremonious thunk on the ground a couple of feet from the edge of the canyon.

Well, great. This is why I don’t play basketball.

Final stop in the National Park was the Öxarárfoss Waterfall, also know as the Golden Waterfall. It was a magnificent sight and a pleasure to see, but as I trodded down the well-worn and safe path to the edge, along with dozens of other students and tour groups, I was struck by one thing. While I’m happy to have visited these places, it was all still a little bit too “touristy” for me. It may sound selfish and greedy, but I wanted to visit places that few people had been to and walked upon.

Essentially, I wanted back to the Arctic.

Off to the buses again, as we headed towards our lunch stop near a series of geysers or geysirs in Icelandic. These are essentially fissures in the ground where Iceland’s famous geothermically heated hot springs gush out in a spectacular display of Earth’s natural process. One of them is very active, with a regular gush of steaming water every five minutes or so.

Naturally, that’s where the students seem to congregate, as they did countdowns towards the next eruption in the hopes of getting soaked by hot, geothermal water. Eventually, I wandered over to take some video with my iPhone and planted mys

elf in a great location with a good view of eagerly-anticipating students. As I looked down, I noticed the ground was damp, but figured the students knew where the best spot to get wet was.

Wrong.

With a great juicy burp, the geyser spewed forth a frothy spurt of water… about four feet high. With a collective sigh, the group dropped their guard and turned away in disappointment. It was at that moment that the geyser erupted in a more massive burst, many times higher than the first, premature one… and as gravity did it’s work, the spray headed straight for me. I’ll leave the rest to your imagination but I will say – I was soaked, but the iPhone was not. And the video is quite amusing…

OK, so that was the morning. The afternoon was supposed to be a trip to an Icelandic geothermal power station, but as typical of an SOI day, that got changed. However, I think this diversion was acceptable. Because that afternoon, we were off to see the President. No, not the president of the power station. THE president. The head honcho of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímmson, the fifth President of the Republic of Iceland.

As we made our way to his estate called Bessastađir, excitement rose at the honor of getting to meet Iceland’s head of state. The President has somewhat similar power to the Governor General in Canada, essentially signs off on laws and has the power of veto. One big difference is that he or she is elected. The current President was about to end his fourth term.

It was a nice reception as we got to tour his entire estate just outside of Reykjavik. He also graciously took the time to meet everyone personally and shake their hand. The President is highly involved with the Arctic Council, a group of countries with stakes in the Arctic region. In his talk to us, he gave us some insight from his perspective on the political and societal issues of the council and the region.

Then, he took time for some questions from our group and delighted us all with some humor and informal conversation. All in all, it was a significant honour for Students On Ice, and this group, to get the chance to interact with him.

To wrap up the very busy day, we headed back to our hotels for some presentations, some music (courtesy of Ian Tamblyn) and even some early journaling from a few of the students, which I encourage you to read on the SOI website.

Next up, tomorrow, we check out of our first hotel and head out on buses to the north coast of Iceland.

Photos by Lee Narraway