Iceland: The Blue Lagoon

 Here was what was supposed to happen:

Wake at a reasonable hour, breakfast at the hotel, meander a bit and then catch a shuttle to the Blue Lagoon for the afternoon. 

Here is what actually happened: 

Woke after sleeping darn near 10 hours - too late to get breakfast at the hotel - found breakfast at a cafe nearby instead then rushed back in time to catch the shuttle to the Blue Lagoon. 

Outside the "lagoon" was an extraterrestrial looking landscape. Volcanic rocks, all jaggedy, black and porous were piled up leaving holes and crevices. Covered in moss and a handful of other precious low-growing plants, they were really quite stunning. Little black pathways wound through the area, allowing us to walk around ponds. 

Inside the Lagoon building, the fun began. I was fully unequipped to deal with the complex protocols in place to visit the Blue Lagoon, even after a full nights sleep, apparently. 

I'll preface this by saying that I think if our package had included robes and slippers, it might have gone better for me. 

1. Check in and be given a bracelet that is assigned to just you.

2. Go to ladies changing room, put on bathing suit. 

3. Use said bracelet to pick a locker then code it to your bracelet... pressing the bracelet against locking pad (everyone uses the same locking pad and it seems to know which door you just closed on your stuff.)

4. Turn your back on the locker to find it springs open and then take lessons from scantily clad sisters as to how to properly use one's bracelet to lock a locker... and how to stop it from falling off your arm too.

5. Enter the shower area and follow directions to take a shower without a bathing suit on. Then put the bathing suit back on!

6. Go out to the pool area and walk PAST the guy giving out towels because you are not entitled to one until you are done in the pool and on the way back to the shower room. (Hence my longing for a robe, which most other people seemed to have.)

7. It's 32 F outside, so there is no "meeting your friend" before entering the hot pool. You just get your wet body in there and hope to run into them while navigating the steaming pool.

8. The entrance ticket comes with a free drink and a silica mud mask. We opted for the drink first and despite the alcoholic and soda-type options, went for the green smoothie. It didn't disappoint.

9. The mask. Thankfully, as a couple we were able to apply this to each other. Its a smooth paste that dehydrates into sticky lumps pretty quickly. And it's super salty to the taste which in effect renders a person temporarily blind if it inadvertently gets into eyes too. (Ask me how I know?!)

We wallowed for a couple of hours and called it good. I was one very relaxed prune around the time I headed back to the locker - finally able to get a towel - retrieved my phone and braved the temps once again to sneak a couple of pics before showering. 

Exiting the Lagoon Complex is not as easy as it sounds.... Or maybe it is, for other people. But for me it was just as challenging as all the other techie-whiz-bang bracelet-related activities I had experienced that day. As I tried to just walk out, I realized that the door was locked. Until one scans one's bracelet at a machine further back and confirms no additional purchases have been charged to it and not paid, one's bracelet will not open the exit door. But wait, there's more; Once the additional charges have been taken care of, the bracelet is accepted into a little port that opens at the door, it is captured (for recycling to the next guest, I imagine) and only then, the door opens and you can exit. 

Despite my hiccups, this was a pretty nice way to spend an afternoon and perhaps the only sunny afternoon we would experience this week in Iceland. 

We were booked to revisit the Northern Lights again tonight but as the sun set, the clouds moved in and they cancelled our trip due to "unfavorable conditions". So Mark and I headed into Reykjavik, found a top-notch restaurant and ate what I would call the best Fish n Chips of my life before wandering back to the hotel to play cards, drink wine and end the night with an old Tom Cruise movie. 

What?! That is what vacation is really about. Relaxing, spending quality time together and feeling guilty about nothing.