Monday, 20-May-2024
In contrast to the cold weather of Greenland and the cooler weather of Iceland… Lava is hot.
True story.
Bet you didn’t know that about molten rock – that it’s hot.
Also, that I can be sarcastic sometimes, maybe.
Anyways, similarly to Blue Lagoon and Hvammsvik, in the Reykjavik airport nearly two weeks ago, I saw an advertisement. It seemed interesting, and I filed it away for later in the back of my brain, where it sat until I was walking to find some food after being disappointed in the Reykjavik art museum. The memory came to the forefront when I saw another ad, mentioning that there we lava shows multiple times a day, 7 days a week… and you know what? Today happened to be a day! Of a week!
I checked out their website, found out that there was a show happening in about 45min, and that it was a 30min walk, and… I walked. I got a hot dog on the way, though, so don’t worry. Lunch wasn’t forgotten.
(Quick Trivia fact – Nordic countries like hotdogs. Iceland has their own Icelandic hotdog, that’s sort of like a chicago-style dog in that it snaps when you bite it… but it’s with raw onions, fried onions, mustard, and… some kind of peanut-butter mustard?)
I walked, I arrived, grabbed a latte, and waited the few minutes remaining until the show started.
The Lava Show is two-of-a-kind, the only events on Earth (supposedly) where one can see real lava. One is in Reykjavik, and the other is in Vik (the town I passed through, if you recall), but both are in Iceland and both are run by the same group.
They gave us a quick video about Iceland Geology, a safety brief, and then dropped the lights… and poured lava down a metal trough. It… was really bright, and I could easily feel the heat from my seat pretty far back.
Yeah, Lava’s hot. Turns out.
Honestly – it was really fun! The presenter was previously a geology teacher, and did a great job explaining the ins and outs of lava, magma, what type this was, how it differed from others, and what types of lava are normally seen around Iceland. He told a few stories about the lava fields, scooped and poked the lava with metal poles, and helped us understand just how intense Lava (and the core of the earth) can be.
One example that stuck with me – One area in Iceland is still warm, and too hot to touch just a foot or so below the surface, due to a lava flow still cooling. But. The flow was from the 1970s!!! So 50+ years ago, and it’s STILL that hot!
I didn’t get melted by stray droplets of molten rock, either, so that was a nice bonus too.
Always stay thankful for the little things, even in light (and heat) of bigger more fun things.
