August 11, 2005
Had a bizarre moment today. On the way to a relaxing sit in the hot river, I stopped in the campground bathrooms to change into my swimming suit. Someone in there was whistling, and I recognized the tune, but couldn’t quite place it… they were spot-on with the melody. As I was walking out, still listening to the talented whistler, I remembered. It was the theme music from The Muppet Show, which I watched as a very young child.
But in Landmannalauger, Iceland, in 2005?
August 12, 2005
During the bus ride back from Landmannalauger, we were singing songs and spilling water and generally screwing around, and at one point Tom said, “When I signed up for this trip, I never imagined I’d be sitting in the back of a bus between two other blokes singing ‘Barbie Girl’.”
And that’s one of my favorite things about traveling… your plane ticket says where you’re going, but you never really know where you’ll end up.
August 13, 2005
The second group is already gone- I can’t believe how quickly the time has passed. We stayed in the hostel last night, and early this morning Val, Zoe, and Chas drove the group to the airport. I said my goodbyes curbside and then went back to sleep. When Val and Zoe came back into the room a few hours later, I awoke to Val whispering excitedly: “This is AMAZING! I hung this stuff up last night, and it’s already almost dry! Buildings are FANTASTIC!!” I was a little groggy, but I enthusiastically agreed- buildings ARE fantastic. Really, they are. And as I laid my head back down onto the hostel pillow, I smiled happily to myself and added “Pillows are fantastic, too!”
What a splendid place to be- where buildings and pillows are reasons for sheer joy.
August 19, 2005
Back in Mývatn to work on the boardwalks a bit longer. Chas stopped in to drop off Steph and do a quick site visit with us, and he treated us to coffee and hot cocoa at the Zanzibar, a little cafe across the street from the campsite. We relished the feel of sitting at an actual table, of drinking out of real cups, and enjoying a hot drink with no grass floating in it and no unidentifiable grit at the bottom. My hot cocoa even had whipped cream on top. I could have ascended to nirvana right there. (But I didn’t, because we still had work to do.)