After some mass text messages to friends the day before taking off to Iceland asking to borrow a tent, I realised that none of my friends is outdoor type, because the answer is uniform. “No, no tent!!!” and “What do you need that for?”
Camping is not something I fantasize only, I have done so in my life and several times. Although that does not correspond to the usual urban cosmopolitan Ana image, camping is truly something I enjoy.
Despite the only encouraging response of one person who offered to make me a tent with his body, I decided that it would have been too heavy to carry, I packed my sleeping bag first and with much determination, I walked into Go Sport to look for a tent.
After more than one hour of consultation, I picked up this light weight, dark blue tent for two people, and an important detail, it was water proof for 3 days. We were going for the midnight sun, yet rain is not uncommon this time of the year. Did you notice the “light weight” part? For me camping is not to set up the tent next to the car, but carrying all the stuff in a back pack, hiking for at least 2-3 kilometres, climbing over a few hills, crossing a few creeks and finding the perfect spot in a valley… so “light weight” is after all important.
Yet the idea of sleeping in the nature, breathing the same air as wild animals and chasing after hurdles of sheep were not exactly shared by my travel partner. Day 3, the sun was warm and bright all day long, I started my marketing champagne over “camping out under the sun”(there is not evening anyways). “It will just be like taking a nap in the afternoon” … “we don’t even need camp fire, it is bright out look!”
Out of sympathy or maybe even “love”, she eventually said “Yes”, and I was ready to show her the best part of life she had missed all these years. We had this nice spot where we could see the glacier on one side and the ocean on the other side, 22H00, the sun is still high up. We had our fancy picnic of smoked salmon, smoked lamb, cucumbers, tomatoes, wheat bread and a bottle of chilled rosé. (On the land of Ice, everything is chilled at all times, the temperature is usually between 0 – 8 degrees centigrade.)
At 23H00, I curled up in my new tent, well covered by a sheet, sleeping bag and a thick warm hat. I sent a bunch of text messages to my city friends just to show off, and then I put on one of those eye masks from Air France just to trick my biological self, so that my body would recognise that it was evening, and put me to sleep.
I was fast asleep smelling the fresh grass underneath me and thinking maybe I could get up at 3 o’clock in the morning and taking some pictures under some amazing sunlight… somehow, I did not fail to wake up at 3 o’clock in the morning, but I only heard strong wind blowing outside and rain drops hitting the side of the tent.
Ananas: I don’t think this tent is water proof, not even for three hours,
certainly not three days!
Ana: Hmmm…. We are still dry right?
Ananas: I am not, my hair, face, all, all is wet.
Ana: Are you cold? I think I am okay, should we wait till the rain stops?
Ananas: ok, I am cold…
Ana: Drink some wine! where is the wine bottle?
Ananas: I am cold.
Ana: I need to go to the bathroom, I think…but maybe I can wait…so cold!
You are right it is cold.
As I unzip the sleeping bag, I realized both of my feet and the bottom half of the sleeping bag was basically soaked in water…
There is the first water proof test of my new tent, and I guess this is what I call “when nature shows its power”! At least I was able to show THAT to my friend – Things not to miss in life, when nature shows its power…
