By Charlie Comstock & Alexa Gorlick
From Skaftafell National Park to Berunes
After awaking from the longest sleep we intend on getting on the trip, we immediately began to dissemble our twenty person tent, which was much easier than putting it together. We packed up the vans and were on the road by 9am.
Our first destination was Kviárjökull, a glacier that is home to some of the largest moraines in Europe! A moraine is a deposit of sediments that shows where a glacier once stood. Here we took part in a field lab, where we measured the size of lichen attached to the rocks, to discover approximately how old the moraines are.
After a few hours of driving we arrived at our next expedition, a glacial lagoon called, Jökulsárlón. Here we saw vivid blue waters, with blue icebergs floating in the distance. One of our schoolmates from LJMU, Liverpool was even daring enough to step in the frigid waters!
After this we then visited a beach called Hvalnes, where we took a quick break to stretch our legs and discovered round, smooth black rocks made up the shore of the beach.
Then we visited Djúpivogur, a small fishing village that has a population of about 350 people. The village consists of many young close-knit families that depend on the fishing and tourist industries to survive. We wanted to find out some firsthand information about the town, so we decided to talk to a couple of locals. Our first victim was not a local and happened to be a tourist from Sweden.
We enjoyed each other’s company as we walked back to the center of town. Upon saying our good-byes to each other she cheerfully let us know that we were “typical Americans and a little chatty.” After putting our money together at a local shop, we purchased pasta and sauce to make a family dinner in Berunes. We just arrived to the hostel, and we are so pleased with the accommodations. We can’t wait to spend the night in Berunes but it’s also dinner time here so we have to talk to you tomorrow!
