Today we all went our separate ways. I had booked a full-day tour to the southern parts of Iceland, Erica was leaving for a flight home around noon, and Melanie and Lexi were going to wander around town again. I was up before everyone else, packed a bit of lunch for myself so I didn't have to worry about buying anything while on the trip. Because of the initial room mix-up, the hostel had given me a free breakfast, which I cached in on that morning. I was feeling pretty icky when I woke up, to be honest, because I was starting to get sick, but I powered through the morning because I really wanted to go see some of the stops on the trip.

A small bus picked me up in front of KEX and drove me to the Harpa center, just like yesterday, where I had to wait for the big bus. Sitting outside in the fresh air helped me feel better and wake up a bit more. The driver (same one from yesterday) was a bit late, but it gave me time to look around inside of Harpa. I was lucky enough to grab a seat right at the front again so I could look out the front window as well.

We drove for quite a while before stopping at a little convenience store for a bathroom break where I grabbed a cold coffee and some chocolate. Having a bit of caffeine did wonders for my mood. Almost unfortunately, it was still a cloudy, slightly raining, day, so I could only see so far out of the window at the landscape because of the fog.

Our first stop of the day was at Saljalandsfoss, a big waterfall off the side of a cliff. There were several small waterfalls along the cliff next to it, but it's the big one we were interested in. This was one of the spots that I really wanted to go to. Because of how the cliff and the waterfall are, you can actually walk all the way around the waterfall, right in behind it. Luckily, it wasn't raining at that point, so it was just me, my camera and my sandals. I'd put on sandals that morning thinking that if we were going to beaches I would want to be able to stick my toes in the water.

For this trip, because of how much it had been raining and how muddy everything was, it would have probably been a better idea to wear proper shoes. I didn't care because there was no way I was going to miss any of it. So I scrambled up the hillside on the right because it was so muddy. It was really rocky as well - there was no defined path or steps. Even though it wasn't raining, I got pretty wet from the waterfall spray.

It was really neat to be able to walk right in behind the waterfall. There was actually a fair amount of room behind there that you could stand pretty close to the waterfall (being careful to not slip and fall over the edge because there aren't any safety things like ropes or steps - just mud). Caiu (a Brazilian guy on my bus tour) and I traded cameras to take pictures of each other in front of the waterfall. It's strange that even with so much water, you can see through the waterfall so easily from behind.

It was a bit of a (dangerous) climb to get back up the other side of the waterfall. It was just large, wet rocks. I'm really glad I had started from the right side and not the left because it would have been hard to get down the rocky bit if I was going the other way. Finally back on flat ground, Katja, a lady on the bus with me, said she wanted to go look at one of the waterfalls a little further along before we went back to the bus.

We took a quick look at the waterfall, but we had to be back at the bus pretty soon, so we started to jog back. And, because of my sandals and the muddy ground, I slipped and scrapped my hands. There wasn't much time to do anything, though, because we had to get back on the bus. I was more worried about my camera, but it was fine. I'd gotten it because of how tough it was supposed to be and it lived up to its reputation. I dusted myself off and just sat in the bus.

We dropped some of our group off at a glacier as we were driving to our next spot. They were doing a glacier climb instead. Once they were dropped off, I started to pick the gravel out of my hands. Both of them were pretty dirty and scrapped up, but I couldn't do much because I didn't have any running water, so I just picked the worst of the gravel out with my nails. But by then we had reached Vik, a small town at the southernmost point in Iceland.

We were given a bit of time to stretch our legs and walk down to the beach. It was a black sand (volcanic) beach which was pretty neat. Caiu and I walked down there together in the rain, chatting, but we could only go so far because the part of the beach with waves had been roped off. So we looked at the ocean for the beach, then set off back to the bus.

We were driving up to a hill at the top of the town that overlooked the whole town and the beach. The bus driver, Jon, showed us where his family lived, as he grew up in that town. Then we set off to another beach called Vik Beach. This is the beach that I most wanted to go to. The reason for that is to the side of the black-sand beach are basalt columns. Basalt columns are formed by lava basalt cooling into (usually) hexagonal, naturally formed columns. I was super excited to see them as I never had before.

We arrived at the beach and were told this was our lunch stop, so instead of heading out onto the beach like I really wanted to, I went into the little shop that was there. Thank goodness I'd brought my own lunch because everything was really expensive. It was just a squished bread and jelly sandwich and an apple, but that was really all I needed. Luckily, they had nice bathrooms there because I was also able to finally rise out my torn-up hands in the sink and put some bandaids (I'm super prepared!) on the worst of it.

Feeling really good about having a bit to eat and cleaning my hands up, I was one of the first ones out onto the beach. The beach was not really 'sand' but rather 'rocks'. It was a bit tough to walk on, not only because the rocks shifted so much under you it was hard to walk, but because all the rocks kept getting into my sandals, which hurt. But the beach was still really neat. Off to the left was a small cave and the large basalt columns I had been so excited to see. I climbed on them a little bit, but it's hard to take a picture of yourself on the columns and still show what they're like.

After fawning over the columns for a bit, I went around the corner to look at a shallow cave (Halsanefshellir Cavern) with the basalt rocks hanging from the ceiling. Also really neat to see them up close like that, and in a cave. After taking my fill, I walked down to the water to look at the rocky outcrops there were out in the ocean. The rocks are actually basalt sea stacks called Reynisdrangar. And of course, I wanted to put my feet in the ocean - the whole reason I'd worn sandals.

I walked close enough to the water to let the waves splash over my feet as they came rolling in. The water wasn't actually as cold as I expected it to be. I stood in the water for a bit, and then decided to go back in to look at the columns again. Except. When I stepped back, a big wave was rushing out and took one of my sandals. I chased after it because, well, I had no other footwear and had half a tour to still go. I grabbed the sandal, triumphant, but as I grabbed it, I dropped my umbrella that had been under my arm and the next wave took my other sandal.

My umbrella stayed pretty close, so it was easy to snatch up out of the water, even though it was now full of the black beach rocks, but my other sandals wasn't so lucky. I stood there on the beach for a moment, looking at my sandal bobbing on the next wave that was coming in. I tried to grab it as it came washing in, but it was still too far away. I tried to make a quick calculation on how far into the waves I was willing to go to get my sandal. It took a few waves and me getting wet from the waves all the way up to my waist, but I finally snatched my sandal as it came in on a wave.

Probably not the best thing for the chest infection I was getting, but man, I was glad to have both sandals back. I still wonder how many people saw me trying to get my sandal. By the time I was walking back up the beach and shaking out my umbrella of all the rocks, my feet were really hurting. Walking barefoot on the 'sand' was not nice. The rocks were large enough they hurt, and because they're volcanic, they're essentially like pumice, so they'd rubbed my feet pretty hard.

I tried to play off my dip in the waves by taking a couple more pictures. My sandals were squishy as I was walking back to the columns because we would need to get back on the bus soon. Caiu was nice enough to switch cameras with me again to take pictures of each other on the columns. And then it was back on the bus to go to the next stop, with me still really wet.

Our next stop was a giant cliff (or tall peninsula) called Dyrhólaey. The road up to the top of the cliff (that we had seen from the earlier beach) and even the bus had trouble. Saw a couple sheep on the drive up, which was a little scary because the road was only wide enough for one vehicle, and barely a bus, but it was the only road up or down the cliff, so we had to try and pass other cards. Once up there we hopped off the bus again. The wind had really picked up and so I was a bit cold because I was so wet.

It didn't matter because the view was absolutely beautiful. You could see the basalt beach with the sea stacks, and apparently, if there is less cloud, to the North you can see the glacier, to the South is just miles upon miles of Ocean. I'm almost certain that if you went straight south you might not hit anything until Antarctica. To the East was the most beautiful stretch of beach. The cliffs on the peninsula we were on seemed to rise out of nothing and the beach stretched on for forever. What a view.

This was apparently, the place to see puffins because hey nest on the cliff side. I really, really wanted to see puffins. And I saw... one. One lonely little puffin sitting on the cliff just below where I was standing. He was pretty far down, so it was almost impossible to get a picture. But at least I saw one!

After figuring that I wasn't going to see any more puffins (maybe they were all out fishing?) I walked further along up to the lighthouse. And there, to the West, is a giant black lava arch. Despite the cold wind, I stayed out looking at the gorgeous view until we had to go back to the bus to get to our next stop.