Grindavík - Bláa Lónið

When we arrived to the Reykjavik airport our rental car was supposed to be delivered from the Keflavik airport, due to our mistake. It wasn't. After a bit of calling they had it straightened out and then we had to wait another hour for it to come. In the mean time we saw a rainbow outside, which foretold of the wonderful time we would have in Iceland.

The contrast could not have been more distinct- in the beginning of the day we were in Greenland and at the end of the day we were floating around a private blue lagoon in the lap of luxury... even with the sulphur smell from the nearby lagoon.

It was so neat to be surrounded by the lava field. The texture and moss growing on the stones brought me back to Environmental Science class.

Once we got to our hotel we quickly got changed so we could relax in the lagoon. The woman at the desk gave me very clear instructions that I was to heavily condition my hair using their conditioner before getting in, and to wash my hair 2-3 times after, followed again by conditioning.

Evidently the silica will seriously dry and frizz hair. I was so happy to heed her advice because my hair felt silky the next day and I laughed when I saw a woman that didn't follow the directions. Trust me, you don't want to be her. The entire bottom of the lagoon is covered in silica - in some places it was up to my shin.

There were some strange aspects for a prude American like myself, but it really didn't take long before I embraced it. Understandably the hot springs through out the country are natural and therefore not chlorinated. Therefore, you must shower sans swimsuit before entering. They even had placards specifying which areas to concentrate on cleaning. At closing time I was chatting with a girl from California while we both showered.

I'm not saying you will soon find me lounging around naked on the banks of the Isar, or in the Englischer Garten, but it wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as I would have expected.

Our lagoon was simply beautiful. The next day we visited the larger lagoon, which wasn't nearly as impressive, that could be due to the large numbers of people since it's one of Iceland's biggest tourist destinations.

Lounging in the lagoon during sunset was magical. I would have loved to have seen the illusive aurora borealis, but once again that didn't happen.