Operation "Bamboozle" Part 5

Martian Landscape - "Martian Landscape, i'll learn to lie in your arms. Where all the freedom is mine and it comes."

We woke & had breakfast in the Cabin before our transport arrived to take us to the Blue Lagoon. This place was the main reason i had come to Iceland after hearing about it from Tim & Sean & seeing loads of pictures i couldn't wait to get there.

The Blue Lagoon is a massive geothermal outdoor pool right in the middle of nowhere in a kind of prehistoric-volcanic landscape. I was half expecting Doug McClure to meet us at the entrance but he couldn't make it because he died about 10 years ago. Seawater from 2000 metres below the surface of the earth is pumped up into the pool & kept at a hot temperature, the water is flushed & replaced every 40 hours We checked in, got changed & made our way outside. As we left the building it was freezing cold so we got straight into the white-blue milky water. It was very warm in there & instantly relaxing, i could feel some sandy type substance on the bottom, i reached down & pulled some of it up to the surface. I couldn't believe it, the sand was black with silver specks in it, there was no way that looking in the pool from the surface you could have guessed the sand was black. White-blue water, black sand, it's impossible.

We walked on through the pool & luckily it seemed a quiet day at the lagoon as there weren't many people around. Vlad the Impaler had criticised the lagoon saying was too touristy but plainly he was wrong & full of horseshit. This is what happens when you hang around with trowels, spades & hoes for too long.

Anyway the floor of the lagoon turned into mud so i put my hand down to see what that was like & pulled up some white-blue paste which as it turns out could also be found in wooden pots around the edge of the lagoon. It was an exfoliating substance which i am told can take 10 years off your appearance, i doubt that very much, but it was still nice to rub on my skin. As we went on the floor turned to rock in some parts & we found a nice spot to sit & relax. We got talking to a couple from Portland, US & mentioned we'd met a couple of guys from San Diego (Tim & Sean) who had been our drinking buddies for the last few days. This couple had met Tim & Sean a couple of days earlier in the Lagoon saying "they were trying to hook up with college girls" yep, sounds like Tim & Sean. Let it be known from this day forward that Tim & Sean are the "Blue Lagoon Legends".

As we relaxed there i took a look around the surrounding landscape, as i said earlier we in smack bang in the middle of an area of volcanic rock with nothing else for miles around. I surveyed the landscape & thought that at any moment Doug McClure might come running over one the mounds of rock with an old rifle in his hand closely followed by a T-Rex. This didn't happen, Mr McClure has been dead for around a decade & the dinosaurs a little bit longer than that, never mind, back to reality. I could not grasp how we were in the middle of such an area yet still living in the year 2010, it's impossible!

Whilst chatting to our Portland friends i noticed that my body under the water was hot but when i put my arm above my head it was freezing cold & my hair had frost on it! Imagine that, i was warm up to my shoulders but above my head was freezing cold. It's impossible. We then made our way toward a man made waterfall in a corner of the lagoon. I stood underneath it & spread my arms wide, the water was pulsating all over me, it was so powerful it felt as though i was being massaged by about 4 people all over my arms & shoulders. Absolutely brilliant, i had not a care in the world at this point.

After what seemed like an age in the pool TK suggested we get out & go for a sauna/steam room, so we did. We left the lagoon & went in the aforementioned steam room, which was like some sort of octagonal hut with wooden benches inside. I half-imagined that Doug McClure would come walking in at any moment covered in animal fur, with an old rifle in his hand & Caroline Munro on his arm saying we had to leave because the nearby volcano was "Gonna blow". Anyway that didn't happen Doug's been dead for some time & the volcanos in Iceland respectfully didn't erupt, although one did about a week after we got home.

After this we went for an ice lolly & glass of water before having another hour or so in the lagoon. As i returned there i floated on the surface for a good 10 minutes, during this time i relaxed totally, with my face poking out of the water & eyes closed drifted off into the closest thing to an "out of body experience" i have ever had. My limbs & body were so relaxed i felt as though i was spinning in space, i couldn't hear anything & felt nothing at all other than this sensation, absolutely brilliant. I didn't want to leave & neither did TK, we both loved it there. Anyway time got on, we eventually left & got changed ready for a meal in the lagoon's restaurant. I had a fantastic fish soup, followed by shrimp & langoustine pasta, gorgeous. TK had a Caesar salad & he said it was more salad than Caesar, i have no knowledge of such things & said to TK "What is this SALAD that you speak of". Shortly after we left the lagoon & i felt brilliant, the lagoon is a truly mesmerising place, a relaxing experience & everything i thought it would be. I would urge anyone, anywhere to go there, it is absolutely AWESOME.

We got our bus back to the Cabin before going for a night out at Bjarni Fel. We arrived there & watched a football match, whilst drinking beer & cocktails before "The Blue Lagoon Legends" joined us for more beers, shorts, etc. Oddny & Jenny also made an appearance to wish us well. We left Bjarni Fel at about 1.30 am & walked home with Tim & Sean. We said goodbye to our new friends (top lads, big shout to the San Diego massive) & went back to the Cabin.

Obviously we went home the next day & both TK & I loved our time in Iceland. It is one of the best places i've ever been & i hope to go back one day. I love Iceland, it is brilliant but with it's landscape, local customs, black sand, food, drinks & scientific impossibilities i'd say i was "Bamboozled" by this wonderful country.

Operation "Bamboozle" was a resounding success. Thanks to TK, Jenny, Oddny, Kristin, Tim & Sean for making my holiday fucking brilliant.

Love to you all.