30 degrees and I'm on a waterslide

see more photos »

Iceland is cold. By the end of my week there it had 'warmed up' to about 36 or 37 degrees, and we were ecstatic about it. Even when I was there in July one time it never got above 60, but it's light until 2 a.m. at that time of year and never really gets dark.

Reykjavik is a very cool town with very cool people. It's also expensive. Iceland was like Mauritius in the sense that I flew in and out in business class, and then stayed at the cheapest place on the island (in this case the Salvation Army). A beer at the cheapest bar in town costs $4, and at most bars it costs $5-10. I arrived on a Sunday and left on a Saturday and the nightlife from Sunday through Thursday was fun, but mellow. Then Friday night rolled around and it was RAGING! Everything stayed open til 4 and everyone was drunk. And the woman are beautiful and very friendly, but unfortunately I had this fat girl named Inga chasing me all night.

They also have this weird Schnaaps drink there called 'Black Death' that I was warned not to try. It doesn't taste bad, but man do you feel it in the morning. Icelandic cuisine consists of smoked lamb, smoked salmon (the best I've ever had) and various other seafood. There's one dish that apparently consists of a shark that is buried in the ground for two months, then they dig up the rotten fish and eat it. Some people even tried to convince me that they PISS on the shark before burying it, as if eating the rotten shark wasn't disgusting enough. I passed on that one.

Iceland gets all of its heat and energy from geothermal power, so it's a very clean country. They also have geothermal pools, both indoor and outdoor, all over Reykjavik. I went to this one outdoor pool that even had a waterslide. We went over there at 7 at night and it was 30 degrees outside, and everyone is running around in bathing suits. They even had a couple of jacuzzis to boot.

On Friday I rented this bad-ass Mitsubish SUV with some other people from the guesthouse and we headed out to the countryside. First stop was Thingvellir, which is a beautiful national park and also where the world's oldest parliament was established (in 930 AD). From there we headed to Geysir, which as you may have guessed is a geyser. After that it was off to Gullfoss, the 'Golden Waterfall' which I had seen on my previous trip to Iceland, but was far more spectacular in March as it was covered in ice. It was truly one of the most magnificent things that I've ever seen.

The SUV was also a diesel and gets the best mileage of any SUV in the world. We used less than half a tank of gas and must have driven at least 250-300 miles. It was also a fun vehicle to have in Iceland, as there was no shortage of opportunities to test out the 4-wheel drive capabilities.

Before heading out that night we paid a visit to the Blue Lagoon. It's an outdoor spa that was formed when the geothermal power plant dumped a bunch of condensation water onto this lava field, and it had this weird chemical reaction that made the rock impermeable and a large pool formed. Turns out this pool had magical skin-healing powers, so it's now a popular end-of-the-day getaway.

And Bjork is definitely all the rage in Iceland. We were watching the Oscar highlights and everyone went silent when she showed up with her little swan dress.