I stood in the shower, befuddled.

I had turned the knob to hot water. Nothing happened.

It may have been me. We just came back from an early morning trip (before sunrise) to Hverir, the geothermal location. And for the ones that know me, I don’t function well early morning.

I switched off the hot water and turned it on again. Still nothing.

Double checked the hardware. Yes, it is a knob for the shower that I turned.

Three-Amigos-Sunrise-Hverir-Namaskard-Geothermal-Iceland-Copyright-Jean-Huang-Photography

It was mid-September. In Iceland terms, it was getting cold. Some areas were going to be covered with snow/ice and roads be closed in a few weeks. So, in Southern California terms, it’s putting-on-all-our-winter-gears kind of cold.

The water line’s clogged up?

I turned on the cold water. Cool liquid came flowing out as expected.

Even more confused, I went back and forth between hot and cold for what felt like a long time. The last thing I wanted to do was to wake up my dedicated driver who was trying to catch up on some sleep.

Being a self-proclaimed problem solver, I then tried to decide if I could tell any difference between the actions for either in the sound or smell or anything else that I couldn’t think of.

When every possible stone has been turned, I had to give up on solving this problem by myself.

I couldn’t believe my eyes, or ears, when hot water came right out with an easy twist on the knob from my Assistante, eyes half shut.

Feeling awkward, I was searching for a logical explanation in my head …

Hverir-Namaskard-Geothermal-Iceland-Copyright-Jean-Huang-Photography

I remembered the mountain at Hverir.

It had rained the evening before. The accumulated water at the foot of the mountain gave me a new way to create. I decided to get down from the ledge of the road before heading back to the hotel. I approached the edge of the water ever-so-gingerly. You never know what could be hurt or waken up at each step, especially at such an un-adulterated location.

The lower elevation gives me a better angle for reflections. I started moving side ways to compose creatively.

Suddenly, I felt a strong presence around. I knew I was the only one down there. My Assistante was high up on the other side of the road. I turned around. I couldn’t see them.

Feeling uncomfortable, I quickly retreated my foot steps and ascended to the surface of the road. Soon, we were back at the hotel and I completely forgot about this incident, until I was in the shower.