This isn’t an imaginary conversation. Or maybe it is, but the original one most probably sounded very similar. It took place in one of the most beautiful spots on this planet, on top of a cliff boarding Eyjafjördur, a fjord in north-western Iceland. Such a northern spot, in November, only sees the sunlight about five hours a day, and not at all at the end of December, but it only makes you more eager to see all the wonders of this strange country.
There is a proverb in Iceland that says “If you’re lost in the Icelandic forest, stand up”. Small bushes and trees less than two meters high, torn, broken, beaten by the cold and the wind of the unfriendly climate of this island, form most of what is called forest. The vegetation that manages to survive has to fight every single instant against elements that seem to have sworn its destruction. Another proverb says that “In Iceland, if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes and you’re sure it’ll get worst”. This is tried, tested and true, as within a span of twenty minutes, I experienced dry cloudy weather, which changed to rain, then hail, then strong winds, then rain again, then snow, then back to rain and, thankfully, back to dry clouds. Twenty minutes. A life in Iceland.
This makes for a rough country where the mineral reigns as king, and where water in all its forms offers majestic encounters at the turn of every road. Gullfoss, Dettifoss, Godafoss, all those waterfalls propose incredible shapes, sizes, heights that amaze eye and ear by the thunder of water hitting down and the rainbows created by millions of tiny sparkles of water. When one sees these majesties, one can only want to dance under them. But water isn’t always cold in Iceland, the land of ice. Bubbling and boiling, it comes out of the ground, sometimes in the form of powerful geysers, bringing along enough energy to provide the whole population with hot water and heating for their houses. The environment, one of its most important riches, is well preserved thanks to the geothermal energy, one of the cleanest in the world, which is used by all these inhabitants.
And those inhabitants are proud of their land, cold and dark as it may be, but so bright under the midnight sun that graces them during the summer. Maybe it is from that endless light that Icelanders take their artistic fibre. Youths, everywhere on the island, practice one form of art or the other. The sagas, written almost a millennium ago, form one of the oldest group of written works in the world, and they inspire, still today, new generations to tell the tale of this land of extremes and opposites. Music also plays a part, with well known artists such as Björk or Sigur Ross, and others less renowned, but just as talented, like Müm. Maybe music is the way to make the light last longer, to keep it in the skies when the long winter comes. But one thing’s for sure, Icelanders know how to welcome visitors, and they love to help newcomers discover their life.
The Vikings, in the end, weren’t quite right when they named the place “Iceland”.
Stumble!
