March 27 - Blue Lagoon

 Imagine the day starting with snowfall.  The wind is biting, but you know you are going to a warm place.  You take a bag of what you will need but don't worry about a jacket or hat.  Your journey is 40 minutes by bus.  The snow and rain continues for the entire journey.  You expect to be let off by the front door.  You soon realise there is no such luck.  The snow is coming down fast and the cold wind is stinging.  You have a 3 minute walk to the entrance but you can not run as the path is slippery with ice.  You just keep saying to yourself "you will be warm soon."

You finally reach your destination.  Your hair and jumper are covered in white, wet flakes.  You open the door to the blessed heat and start to dry out.  You show your ticket and return you get an electronic bracelet and a towel.

You are thankful that the men and women are separated as there is no such thing as privacy.  Each private change room caters for about 20 lockers.  You pull out your bathers and wait for your turn.  Once upon a time you would walked naked around a Korean bath house in Pusan but then you had a body that looked ok.

Once in you bathers you head to the showers.  You have to wash all over with soap.  Too bad if you didn't want to get your hair wet as the shower came from directly over head.

Wet all over you step outside.  It is 1 degree Celsius but no longer snowing.  The sun is out. Going as fast as you can without slipping, you head for the hot steaming water of the blue lagoon and bliss.  The water is full of minerals that are wonderful for your skin.  The silica is what makes it milky.

Despite the cold biting wind the water is so warm you could stay there all day.  You just have to dunk your head every couple of minutes and you are fine.  The water temperature is well into the 30s Celsius.  You can find hot spots and luke-warm spots.  After an hour you start to look like a prune so it is time to get out.

This time you can not be bashful.  You must be dry before you head back to your locker.  The change room is also being used so you give in and hope that if anyone stares at you too long, they will turn to stone or have nightmares as punishment.

The white wall is actually high pressure warm water. It is a full on hydro massage.

On the left hand side is a tiny square building in the water.  You can buy drinks here with your bracelet and pay later as you leave.  Across the bridge on the right is where people who pay extra can hang their robes (you get a robe if you pay extra).  Those of us with towels only had to leave them inside.

The deepest point came up to my neck.

The lagoon is in a lava field.  There is lava everywhere you look.

Aunty Bev, I know you are reading this so let me tell you that you would love that spa.  It will teach you to float, you will have no choice.  If you take both feet off the ground you end up flat on your back floating, or on your front.  The water does it for you.

The bus dropped me off at a different area to yesterday so I was finally able to get a photograph of this sign.  Think I might go there for dinner tonight.  LOL

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Tonight I meet up with the tour I am on.  From now on it will be full on. Just hope I can handle it.  I am going to have a shower now because despite my skin feeling nice after the springs, my hair is disgusting and in need of a good conditioning.