Iceland

My trip to Iceland did not start off on a good note. I sat next to a guy on the plane whom I guess was having a Tourette syndrome. Tourette is when people have these uncontrollable ticks. His tick was pulling his hair, arranging his books in proper order on the tray table, and violently shaking his hands. He kept doing that for 7 hours straight, except when he dozed off for a few hours. OCD – Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, is when doing something doesn’t give any pleasure, but not doing it gives immense pain. I felt bad for people living with those conditions, they just can’t control it, they have to do it. It’s a severe psychological trauma. But it did make me a little uncomfortable as I was sitting next to him and he kept shaking his hands violently. Then, when I got off the plane, this blonde air hostess showed intense hatred and frown looking at my skin color. She was all smiles whenever a Caucasian passed, “Thank you, come again”, then an intense frown at me, then continued, “Thank you, come again”. Earlier when I called for a coffee, the air hostess didn’t even look at me, I had to yell several times to get her attention, I didn’t really think anything of it, maybe she didn’t hear me. Until that frown when I realized she was deliberately ignoring me. It’s a wonder why someone would feel, “I’m better than you because my skin color is lighter”. That’s so silly. It sometimes happens in the US as well, I used to tell my friends how some air hostesses in the US greet, “White, bright, white, bright, brown, frown, white, bright”. I can imagine how it must have hurt Gandhi when he was thrown off the first-class compartment in a train when the British thought it was reserved exclusively for white people. I can imagine how Martin Luther King must have felt hurt. How much would it hurt those homeless people we see on the roads whom no one ever looks at. They roam with this board in traffic lights, “I’m hungry” and we don’t even acknowledge them like they don’t exist. How much would it hurt refugees who migrate to other countries in search of a better life? Like refugees from Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria… I saw a documentary where these refugee kids from Syria are constantly looked at with disdain in schools in Germany because of where they are from. And how much would it hurt those Mexican families who are being separated in the borders? Now that the world is more “civilized”, they just don’t push someone off the train as they did to Gandhi, but show intense hatred and disapproval, “For me, you don’t exist in this world, because you have a darker skin tone, you are poorer than me, you are from a Muslim country, you are a refugee”.

When suddenly I saw a girl putting her thumb up looking for a hitchhike with a huge backpack. I have never picked hitchhikers on road before. But the first thing that caught my eyes was her huge bags. I felt bad and with those fierce wind gusts in Iceland, she was slightly wobbly, I didn’t want her to struggle walking. I stopped the car and asked her to get in. And there it started, we chatted nonstop for 5 hours straight. She talked about spirituality, yoga, materialism, minimalism, she designed her own tattoos, she wore a nose ring, she’s a Dutch girl from Amsterdam, hitchhiking in Iceland. The very women whom I admire, who are independent, adventurous, tattoos, nose rings, color died hair, “I don’t care what you think but I’m what I’m” attitude, I saw all of them in her. She is looking forward to getting a license and ride motorcycles. She was 20, but I had to give her a 35-year-old’s advice about motorcycles. She said she wanted to hitchhike with someone with a motorcycle. I said unless he has a helmet and gear, never ever get on a motorcycle. We hiked through waterfalls, climbed rocks, she was a good soul. I honestly can’t strike a conversation with everyone in the world. Either I get bored with them, or they get bored with me because my topics are mostly about meditation, spirituality, soul searching. But I was surprised I could talk to her nonstop for 5 hours. I shared with her all my travel adventures and she shared hers with me. At 20, she’s a very mature soul. I’m surprised she has traveled to so many countries, she wanted to take a break for a year and travel before continuing her studies in interior design in Amsterdam. She said she has been eating protein bars and bananas for the past few days, I took her to a restaurant, and we ate for 50 Euros. I just wanted to make sure she ate well until her next hitchhike. She kept repeating this over, “You are the kindest I ever met on hitchhiking”. I don’t know, I just saw myself in her, a free spirit. I dropped her off, was a little worried about her especially with an unpredictable Icelandic weather, her hair and jackets flying off in the severe wind gust, but I know in my heart she’s a bird, she will fly, she will be safe. Once again reminded me that we only attract the kind of energies we are a match to. I probably will never attract someone talking about sports cars or fashion models.

My heart felt light and I entered a small coffee shop for a coffee. I was the only customer there. Actually, I was the only customer in many places in Iceland. There were rarely any people anywhere, don’t know how their businesses run. And some remote places I went to in the Westfjords of Iceland, people actually stared. Maybe non-white people are rare there. I enter these remote mountain-top restaurants and everyone’s face just automatically turn and they stare at me. I kind of felt uncomfortable the first few times, then got used to the staring and just smiled back at them. Iceland kind of felt like a developed Greenland. I went to a coffee shop and met a kind and loving Icelandic girl there, she was the owner of the coffee shop. I saw pictures of Madonna, Elvis Presley, and Harley Davidson all around and asked her, “I see all American here?”. And she said she designed the shop with an American theme. She was talking about her shop, she had a vintage music player, she showed them to me and explained about it. I had some trash and asked her where to throw, she said, “Give it to me”, literally picked all the trash in her hand and trashed it herself. I don’t know why she did that.

Love in the heart.

Suddenly my heart was so full looking at the Icelandic beauty, the mountains, rivers, streams, wild horses, gorgeous farms, waterfall every nook and corner of the country, took my first day’s shower straight from the mist of a magnificent waterfall, only heard of those “waterfall-type shower head” but I was right there bathing straight out of it, gorgeous snow, fierce winds, cozy ports, seagulls, beaches, pebbles, beauty was strewn around every inch of the country, like living right amidst the Lord of the Rings movie. Every single road was surrounded 360 degrees by mountains, covered by florescent green mosses, huge waterfalls flowing every few miles, slight drizzle now and then, horses and sheep grazing everywhere, it was like Hawaii, Alaska, Big Sur, Lake Tahoe, and Australia put together… and some more. With 24 hours of daylight, I started my drive every day at 2-3 in the morning, having the country just for myself, first thing in the morning is to find a waterfall and feel the mist, sometimes when it rained, I wore my rain jacket and rain pants, sat there and got soaked in rain, park near the ocean and take morning naps to the sound of waves, park near streams and have my sandwich lunch, go around petting horses from the road, rubbed them gently on their forehead and neck, they liked it and let me pet them.

Something struck me. Beauty has no meaning without love in the heart. Iceland’s beauty was invisible for a few hours because I carried hurt. Life picked these 2 beautiful souls, the hitchhiker and the coffee-shop-girl, among the 7 billion humans, put them on my way to teach me the power of love. Suddenly the veil vanished revealing the immense beauty. If Gandhi or Martin Luther King had stuck gotten hurt, their power of love wouldn’t have created history. Whether someone frowns at my skin color or show me a middle finger, I won’t lose love in my heart.

Without love in my heart, there is no beauty, there is no joy, there is no life.

Whether in the middle of the desert in Dubai or basking in the mist from waterfalls in Iceland, whether hugging a loving blind dog Toby in the Nevada deserts or hitchhiking a Dutch girl on the mountains in Iceland, as with every travel, I’m returning with a heart more expanded than before, a mind more open than before and a soul more fulfilled than before.

I am a pilgrim and the road so long…

Thank you, Iceland.