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Getting into hot water in Iceland

One of the most famous tourist "things to do in Iceland," is to visit The Blue Lagoon. It is a geothermal pool that is set into lava rock and it has become the ultimate in spa tourism.

One of the most famous tourist "things to do in Iceland," is to visit The Blue Lagoon. It is a geothermal pool that is set into lava rock and it has become the ultimate in spa tourism. It was too expensive for my husband and I to go and swim because I am the cheapest person in the world. Instead, we picked another geothermal pool, The Secret Lagoon, and while we were in Reykjavik, we went to a normal pool instead. Icelandic hotels do not have their own pools because there are public swimming pools everywhere. For a very reasonable price, we ventured over to a public pool that was close to our hotel.

Prior to us leaving for our vacation, we has heard rumours of a specific bathing ritual that must be followed before entering a geothermal pool, public or otherwise. As we entered the lobby of the pool, we were confronted with very specific cartoon graphics on how exactly you are to bathe before you are to use the pool. In Iceland, the swimming pool is for swimming not for bathing and you have to wash before you go in the pool.

All people, big, small, old and young must disrobe completely while in the change room (still divided along traditional gender lines) and put their clothes and belongings in the lockers provided (you do not need to bring extra cash for the lockers so that was nice). You are now naked holding your bathing suit in one hand and wrapping the towel that you stole from your hotel around your body with your other hand. Everywhere you look, there are naked women (obviously, it would be the reverse in the men's change room. I was only in the women's change room. You less-than-confidently march into the communal shower room and feel humiliated because naked is not normalized in your own country. There is a shelf for your bathing suit. No one is looking at you because no one cares.

Upon the realization that no one is looking at you, you relax somewhat and dump your towel on the towel shelf (no where near the showers) and think of England as you march back to the communal shower area. Shower gel is provided and there are graphics describing exactly the areas of your body that must be clean before you go into the pool and before you put on your bathing suit (it all has to be done naked). You must wash your hair, your armpits, your nether regions (front and back) and your feet. Once washed you can put your bathing suit on and go merrily into the pool which is heated from the earth.

The pools are enormous and organized by temperature and they are all outdoors. That means that Icelanders go swimming in the middle of winter and wouldn't that be nice. It seemed like it was mostly locals using the pools with only a few tourists scattered throughout the pools. You could tell the tourists because we were the people looking uncomfortable and making things weird in the change rooms. Anyway, the pool was lovely and the following day was our last day in the country and we had planned the Golden Circle tour which was a rapid-fire "see all the things to see in Iceland" tour that is only a few hundred kilometers round trip. One of our stops was at "The Secret Lagoon," touted as "Iceland's Oldest Swimming Pool." It is currently rebranding itself as a tourist destination for people who don't want to pay the exorbitant Blue Lagoon prices. It's "secret" because it's in a little, tiny town and everyone drives past the exit for the Lagoon because signage is more of a suggestion than a rule. We got lost.

After much cursing and shuffling of the map, we found our way back to the Lagoon and the parking lot was full and it was not really secret at all. Also, the Lagoon was quite small but cute and it was lined by lava rock. After much debate, we decided to go in because we were already there and once inside, we swam for a bit. It was strange though because the bottom was black sand and closer to the hot spring edges, there were rocks covered in algae (i.e. slimy). Because of the sandy bottom and the clearly, not-chlorinated water, it kind of felt like we were swimming in a hot lake, which I guess, we were. Picture Bear Lake shrunk down to the size of a backyard pool and heat the water to between 80 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit and invite sixty neighbours to come over and that is what it was like; nice but crowded. Not much of a secret.

The change room and showering procedure was much less stringent at the Secret Lagoon and honestly, it grossed me out when people were just putting on their bathing suits and running right into the Lagoon. It was only me and few other people who like to follow the rules that were using the proper shower procedure and the rest of the tourists gawked and made the naked people uncomfortable.

If people in Canada and in other western nations with massive body image issues normalized bathing and being naked around each other, we would all have less hang-ups about our bodies. I've given birth to two babies and am clearly not a swimsuit model but that doesn't matter because I like to go swimming and everyone else at the pool did too. When you are raised in a culture where you see everyone at their most vulnerable, that is normal and nothing to be weird about. Icelandic pools have far less chemicals in them because people actually wash their bits before swimming. In an age where we are all concerned about limiting the use of chemicals in everyday life, wouldn't it be better if our pools didn't burn our eyes and skin? I vote for a change in our pool culture to be more Icelandic - it's cleaner, freer and better. Considering that our fifth season (wildfire season), appears to be here to stay, I imagine that public swimming pools will become more important as our lakes will be surrounded by fire. Let's keep the pools swimmable by doing a better job of washing up beforehand.