“I am from Transylvania” said the young friendly man next to me. I must admit that I was a bit surprised, I had not counted on meeting somebody from that part of the planet on this windswept and steep slope right next to the enormous waterfall Dynjandi in the Westfjords.

As the rather terse Wikipedia entry states Dynjandi waterfall is also known as Fjallfoss (or “Mountain Waterfall”) and is a “set of waterfalls located in Westfjords (Vestfirðir), Iceland. The waterfalls have a cumulative height of 100 metres (330 ft).”

We had started climbing up the slope together without saying a word and hardly without looking at each other. We climbed in parallel to each other with out speaking at all. I suppose it was a bit of a testosterone infused competition, at least on my part, I was determined to go as high as my “competitor” even in spite of fear of heights.

The slope was steep and climbing was getting increasingly difficult. Finally, we both stopped our climb after we came to a particularly nasty stretch of loose and rocky section of the hill. After taking taking some pictures we finally started talking and decided quickly that going any further up was a bit silly. I got the sense that he felt as relieved as I did that this rather childish competition had ended with a draw.

I am sad to say that I can´t remember his name, except it wasn´t Vlad and that he worked in a office and was really happy about getting away from the office and travelling around Iceland. He confided to me that he simply “adored” Thingvellir and was head over heals in love with the roaring waterfall right next to us. The last thing I saw of him was him standing underneath the cascading water and having a really cold shower.

So come to the Westfjords, check out this awesome waterfall and you might strike up a brief friendship with an office worker from Transylvania with a passion for Iceland.

How to get there?

From the town of Hólmavík drive on road nr. 60. The waterfall is close to the Mjólkárvirkjun hydroelectric power plant.



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Written by Jón Heiðar Þorsteinsson