0:00 In Iceland, you can stand between two continents.0:04 Last week, Admin, we talked about the giant Gashadokuro skeletons of Japan.0:11 Iceland has its own giants… but they’re made of stone and sleep under blankets of moss.0:19 I went there once to see them for myself.0:22 The air felt different the moment I stepped outside.0:27 It was crisp, and clean, and it tasted of cold rock and distant snow.0:33 I was hiking near a place called Thingvellir, where the land is literally splitting apart.0:42 The ground hissed.0:43 Little puffs of steam escaped from cracks in the earth, like the whole island was breathing.0:52 It felt like walking on a brand new planet.0:56 I walked for what felt like hours.0:59 The path wound through fields of old, black lava rock.1:04 The rocks were covered in a thick, green moss, so soft it looked like a velvet blanket.1:12 I was getting hungry, dreaming of finding a warm bowl of kjötsúpa—a hearty lamb soup—when the weather did what it does in Iceland.1:23 It changed.1:24 In a heartbeat.1:26 A thick, grey fog rolled in from the hills.1:30 It swallowed the path.1:32 It swallowed the mountains.1:34 Soon, I couldn't see more than a few feet in front of me.1:39 The air grew cold and smelled of sulfur, like a giant matchstick had just been struck.1:47 My own footsteps sounded loud on the gravel.1:51 Too loud.1:52 Every rock started to look like a crouching figure.1:57 Some looked like faces, with long noses and deep-set eyes.2:02 Trolls, the stories say, caught by the morning sun and turned to stone forever.2:09 The hissing steam from the ground sounded like… whispering.2:15 I felt a prickle on my neck.2:17 The definite feeling of being watched.2:21 I told myself it was just the wind.2:24 But I was properly, truly lost.2:27 I kept walking, calling out a soft "hello?" that the fog just ate up.2:33 And then… I saw it.2:35 A single, small light, glowing softly in the grey.2:39 It wasn't a house.2:41 It was a rock.2:42 A huge boulder, but with a tiny, perfectly carved wooden door set into its side.2:49 And beside the door, a little patch of garden with strange, beautiful flowers blooming in the cold.2:58 Oh.2:59 I knew, right then.3:00 I had stumbled upon the home of the Huldufólk.3:05 The hidden people.3:06 They live in the rocks, in the hills, invisible to most.3:11 I didn't knock.3:13 You should NEVER disturb them.3:15 But I stood there for a moment, just looking.3:20 And as I watched, the fog began to thin, just a little.3:25 Enough to see a faint line in the moss.3:28 The path.3:29 It was right THERE.3:31 I knew it was a gift.3:33 A quiet bit of help.3:34 Before I left, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small, shiny coin.3:41 I placed it carefully on the tiny doorstep, a thank you.3:46 Then I turned and followed the trail.3:50 I didn't look back until I was on the main road again.3:55 When I did, I couldn't see the boulder.3:58 Or the door.3:59 Or the garden.4:01 It was just another mossy hill, same as all the others.4:06 But I knew what I saw.4:08 Some adventures, Admin, aren't about what you can prove.4:13 They're about what you choose to believe.4:16 And sometimes, if you look closely at the steam rising from the Icelandic earth, it almost looks like it's waving goodbye.
