Geothermal Pools

(Alexandra) On July 1st (our first day), we went out on a walk to the geo-thermal pools. It was raining and I was freezing! As we were walking I asked my parents: “Is this going to be warm? Because I DON’T want to have spent all day walking in the rain to get to a freezing cold outdoor pool in which I wont go in!” When we got there, it was warm in the lobby, so I quickly got into a better mood.

I walked out into the pool area. There I saw 10 pools with a lot people in them. I dipped my toe into one and quickly had to pull it out, it was that hot! My mom and dad told me that the pools are mostly used by Icelanders to relax and be stress free by spending certain allotted times in each particular pool.

The one pool that I jumped into was connected to 3 different pools. One that had float toys for younger children (plus my family) and mini waterslide. The next one had a basketball hoop that you could play basketball in from the water. The third, a huge, long, blue waterslide I went down it SO many times, but first we had to climb these long, steep, slippery steps, but the rides were totally worth it! I went by myself for a few and I also went with my dad. That time we went really fast! The trick to the slide is to stay on your heels and shoulder blades to be more aerodynamic and go faster. The next ride Andrew and my dad went right after me. They were going super fast and I was just chilling and enjoying the ride. About halfway down the slide, they nailed me in my lower back in the dark part of the slide. It was really fun but it definitely hurt A LOT.

Then we played Head & Catch in the water and I was the champion!

There is also a long, refreshing lap pool. Next to it there were five mini hot tubs and a steam room. There were 4 kind of lame ones and the hottest one was 44∞C (that’s about 111∞F)! When I stepped in my feet started to burn and the blood started rushing there. I lasted a total of 23 seconds in that water!

The thing that I find most amazing of that whole experience is the fact that there was no electric heating involved in the pool but that it was only heated by the Earth!