Reykjavík Grapevine - 08.11.2019, Blaðsíða 36
Distance from
Reykjavík:
13 km
How to get there:
Route 49 east
Tour provided by:
safari.is
The frozen terrain of Iceland is a hot-
spot for science fiction movies. From
the cinematic Svínafellsjökull glacier
featuring in ‘Interstellar’ to the eerie
Dettifoss dominating the opening of
‘Prometheus,’ the country is chock full
of peculiarities that don’t resemble
anything Earthly.
Especially as a foreigner, it’s easy to
imagine yourself as an astronaut when
walking through the countryside—to
feel like an explorer visiting from an-
other planet. To let myself revel in that
sci-fi spaceman experience, I booked a
buggy tour with Safari for a day of rid-
ing through the land. I mean, driving
a buggy is probably as close to the Mars
rover as I’ll ever get.
Arrival
At 9:30 on a crisp Monday morning,
I arrived at a greenhouse six kilome-
tres outside of Mossfellsbær—Safari’s
headquarters. The place is decked out
with ping-pong, a foosball table, and,
thankfully, coffee. As far as Mondays
go, this one was off to a good start.
Our guide Patrick greeted us, usher-
ing us past the ping-pong table, to brief
us on what we’d be doing that day: driv-
ing some buggies through the desolate
Icelandic wilderness.
Immediately, it was time to get
dressed for the adventure and Patrick
handed each of us the gear we’d be don-
ning, or as it was in my imagination,
my spacesuit: a pair of water-resistant
coveralls, gloves, a tight-fitting bala-
clava and a helmet.
Over 100 of these suits hung in the
space between the coffee machine
and foosball table. They’re insulated,
made for cold weather, so when win-
ter comes, the buggy adventures don’t
quit; they just adapt. In fact, Patrick
insists that driving in the winter is the
most fun.
The semi-final frontier
After signing some boring paperwork
promising that I wouldn’t act like an
idiot out on the track, we suited up
and climbed into our buggies. Within
minutes, we were covering vast and
varied terrain—the norm for Iceland.
Over ragged rocks, under geothermal
pipelines, around muddy bends, and
through shallow river fjords, we drove
on, reaching speeds up to 60 km/ph,
all against the backdrop of blue skies,
yellowing grass, and a low hanging sun
that disappeared behind the clouds
from time to time.
It was then time for a quick stop,
and we chose a scenic one: the crest of
a hill overlooking a gorge. Far in the
distance, the Hellishei!i geothermal
power plant pumped steam up in a col-
umn to the sky. Patrick explained that
the plant produces power for the whole
region.
The architecture of the plant is
spider-like, with series of pipelines
travelling from one dome-like struc-
ture to another. Large, industrial-style
buildings tower over these domes, with
spire-like drills looming over them
on the cliffs above.
It looks like a space
station, or a colony
on Mars—the perfect
landmark for the oth-
erworldly landscape
it’s surrounded by.
We forge on in our
bug g ies, ig nor i n g
the wind nipping the
parts of our faces that
weren’t covered. Be-
fore long, we reached
the power plant that
had previously seemed so far away
from us. We drove around it, and up
a ridge to a solitary dome, where we
stopped again to rest. My fingers and
toes were frozen, despite the gloves
and thick socks I was wearing. That
said, the cold didn’t diminish the smile
on my face.
No man’s sky
The sun bathed the valley below in a
warm glow with blue skies occasion-
ally peeking out from behind the heavy
clouds. Beneath the gaze of craggy, ig-
neous cliffs, several rivers flowed be-
neath, surrounded by looming moun-
tains. It was beautiful, and I felt small,
humbled.
After soaking in the view, and jump-
ing up and down to get the blood flow-
ing through our hands and feet again,
we set out again to
drive through the riv-
ers below us. It took
one massive splash
in my face for me to
remember that there
was a face shield on
my helmet. I was im-
mediately thankful
my spacesuit was wa-
ter-resistant. No word
on how it’d fare in the
upper-atmospheres,
though.
With fingers and toes now numb,
we made the fun and bumpy drive back
to the greenhouse. Iceland may seem
like a different planet at times—most
of the time, actually—unlike anywhere
else on Earth. Yet, here it is, a testa-
ment to the eccentric geological oddi-
ties our beautiful planet offers.
As we took off the suits and left the
Safari HQ, I felt myself coming down
to Earth. But, I’m still going to pretend
to be an astronaut whenever possible
and I encourage everyone else to do the
same. It makes the cold a little easier
to deal with.
36The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 20— 2019
Spaceman
On A Bu!!y
In space, no one can hear you complain about how cold it is
Words: Sam O' Donnell Photos : Art Bicnick
Travel
Outfitted and ready to roll Do not try this with your Yaris A reflective moment in the mud
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“It looks like a
space station,
or a colony on
Mars—the per-
fect landmark for
the otherworldly
landscape it’s sur-
rounded by.”