Something Blue

One of the hardest parts of writing this blog is actually coming up with good titles. Of course I want them to reflect the content a little, but I also don't want them to be too literal. And I like them to have a double meaning. I was staring at my previous blogs and this popped in my head, a bit cheesy but it'll have to do, so here we go!


So yeah, the ideal scenario would be if I could write about my visit to the Blue Lagoon. But unfortunately I can't, so I guess I'm cheating a little with my title. Of course the Blue Lagoon is a must see when in Iceland, the top tourist attraction and all of that, but what the beautiful photos in travel guides don't show you, is that it is super busy, super expensive (I am after all travelling on a budget) and the water is not even naturally blue, they put chemicals in it! Of course it's still a great spot to visit while in Iceland, it's just not for me. Instead we went to the Secret Lagoon, which is actually not so secret as there were quite a few people there, but still quite cool. The 'pool' is made of rocks and heated by the hotsprings surrounding it. The steam rising from the water and the old changing rooms which are now a ruin give the place a very rustic feeling. It was very nice to let our muscles relax and soak until our skin was all wrinkly.

In case you were wondering, I'm not just galavanting around Iceland. I work at a stables here for two months. My friend Ilona, who I met in South Africa three years ago, is here for five months and suggested it to me. Besides her, there are two other girls: Mary from Germany and Kathi from Austria. We spend our days doing stable work, training horses and taking guests out on tours. Same thing as before but a very different environment. The first week I really had to get used to the temperature, I was freezing with six layers of clothes on! But I'm a bit used to it now and it has warmed up quite a bit as well. The area here is beautiful though. Lots of hills and beautiful mountains and volcanoes in the distance. Every night we do a short workout so I'm already getting started on the Derby training a little ;)

Here in Iceland they only have Icelandic horses, which sounds very obvious but I think it's quite interesting: as soon as a horse leaves Iceland, it's not allowed to come back. This is to prevent them from bringing in diseases as the horses here don't get vaccinated. As you may know, the Icelandic horses also have two extra gaits (speeds at which they can go), the tolt and flying pace. I did it once before on my friend's horse, but it's actually a lot harder than it looks. We get weekly lessons though,  so now I feel a little less like I have no clue what I'm doing and like I'm making the horse worse. It's a lot of fun thoug and I think every riding style can teach you something useful. Riding Icelandic horses is teaching me to really have a deep seat.


As a tour guide, I've also learned a lot of fun facts about Iceland. This is my top five:
1. A majority of Icelanders believe in elves (there was an actual research done on this)
2. There is a volcanic eruption every 4 years on average
3. Beer remained illegal untill 1989
4. Mosquitoes don't exist in Iceland
5. First names not previously used in Iceland must be approved by the Icelandic Naming Committee