Traveling Tonya: Spa, Caves, and Northern Lights

I'm sitting in the water at the beach! Decided to go for a traditional Icelandic experience. Went to the Nauthólsvík beach. First I immersed myself in the ocean water, which is a brisk 35°-40°. Then I ran to the "hot pot", which is filled with 100°.

This going back and forth between the cold and how water is said to improve the immune system, blood circulation, and asthma. All I know is I coughed much less today and has a lot more energy. I hope to get back before I leave.

The hot pot was not as hot as I expected. I figured it would burn, especially after the cold of the ocean, but it was merely warm to me. I'm not sure if it was because the cold had lowered the temperature, or if I was dreaming.

It is funny to see people in their swimsuits wearing hats, gloves, and neoprene shoes.

It's later in the day, and i went cave exploring afternoon u went cave exploring. The cave, which is really a lava tube, was formed over 1000 years ago from a nearby volcano.

I was fascinated by the moss covered spikey lava rock that covered the address outside the cave. There's a couple pictures of it in my room that I had noticed and wondered where it came from.

The tubes were formed when the outer crust of the lava chilled due to outside temperatures. The lava on the inside kept flowing, making the tubes.

I had been in lava tubes in Australia and to very old collapsed caves in the Galapagos. So I was not sure I wanted to see them again. Sego, my Kathy twin from yesterday, talked me into it, and I'm glad she did. In Australia, the tubes we went in were huge and black in color. We did not go into the smaller ones like these. (On a side note, the other guide was a twin of Heidi K. Not just a similar personality and sense of humor, but build and voice).

There were times I was able to stand in the cave, times I stooped a ways, and times I crawled without putting my knees on the wet ground. I made it all the way to the back of the cave, which was not much much more than 2 feet tall.

They gave us helmets to wear, which was a good thing. Not because of falling objects -after 1000 years, that's rare. The problem is how often you hit your head on the ceiling. I heard one of the ladies asking her husband how many times he would have knocked himself out if he didn't have a helmet. I knew exactly what she meant. Although the helmet would not help my jacket. I was convinced i would tear it on the ceiling.

The lava was black outside the tube, but lots of red and a little yellow (sulfur) on the inside. the pictures don't do it justice.

As we got near the back, the guides turned off the lights for several minutes and one told Icelandic folklore about trolls, the 13 Icelandic Santas, a cat who eats bad children, etc (interesting tidbit, bad children don't get coal for Christmas, they get potatoes).

Although it was pitch dark with the lights out, so dark you couldn't are your hand in front is your face, it felt like you were seeing little bits of light. I'll have to ask my optometrist, but I wonder is it was the blood vessels in the eye. Or maybe I'm just seeing things.

We had to retrace or steps to leave. Near the end, there was an alternate route out of the cave for those who were interested. However, when they said I would have to crawl out using a pushup position sideways, I knew it was not for me

Spent the evening hunting for Northern lights. On the way away from the lights off the town, we passed by Yoko Ono's "peace light" memorial to John. It's a big light in the sky.

Saw the Northern Lights, but it was not what I expected. The leader kept saying they were pale green and pink, but I mostly just saw white. It sort of looked like back lit clouds. Then I saw the clouds moving a bit and a pop of orange on the edges. That was it. Later, the guide confirmed with a site that tracks magnetic waves, that there was one spike in the evening, the one we saw.