(although the cap. monkey, the pizote and resplendent quetzal are not my photos I did see all three)
Ithaka, it's the journey that counts
My thanks go to all those new friends I made in the Durika DURIKA Community who made my time with them so special and enlightening.
Only a few weeks before I left for Costa Rica, Miss Richardson read the Ithaka poem at my last Summer Gathering at Abbotsholme School
This poem so beautifully sums up the message I have been able to experience during my time in Costa Rica.
ITHACA by C.P.Cavafy click to hear a you tube reading by Sean Connery and Vangelis
Ithaka
When you set out for Ithaka
ask that your way be long,
full of adventure, full of instruction.
The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,
angry Poseidon - do not fear them:
such as these you will never find
as long as your thought is lofty, as long as a rare
emotion touch your spirit and your body.
The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,
angry Poseidon - you will not meet them
unless you carry them in your soul,
unless your soul raise them up before you.
Ask that your way be long.
At many a Summer dawn to enter
with what gratitude, what joy -
ports seen for the first time;
to stop at Phoenician trading centres,
and to buy good merchandise,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and sensuous perfumes of every kind,
sensuous perfumes as lavishly as you can;
to visit many Egyptian cities,
to gather stores of knowledge from the learned.
Have Ithaka always in your mind.
Your arrival there is what you are destined for.
But don't in the least hurry the journey.
Better it last for years,
so that when you reach the island you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to give you wealth.
Ithaka gave you a splendid journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She hasn't anything else to give you.
And if you find her poor, Ithaka hasn't deceived you.
So wise you have become, of such experience,
that already you'll have understood what these Ithakas mean.
Constantine P Cavafy
Only a few weeks before I left for Costa Rica, Miss Richardson read the Ithaka poem at my last Summer Gathering at Abbotsholme SchoolThis poem so beautifully sums up the message I have been able to experience during my time in Costa Rica.
ITHACA by C.P.Cavafy click to hear a you tube reading by Sean Connery and Vangelis
Ithaka
When you set out for Ithaka
ask that your way be long,
full of adventure, full of instruction.
The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,
angry Poseidon - do not fear them:
such as these you will never find
as long as your thought is lofty, as long as a rare
emotion touch your spirit and your body.
The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,
angry Poseidon - you will not meet them
unless you carry them in your soul,
unless your soul raise them up before you.
Ask that your way be long.
At many a Summer dawn to enter
with what gratitude, what joy -
ports seen for the first time;
to stop at Phoenician trading centres,
and to buy good merchandise,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and sensuous perfumes of every kind,
sensuous perfumes as lavishly as you can;
to visit many Egyptian cities,
to gather stores of knowledge from the learned.
Have Ithaka always in your mind.
Your arrival there is what you are destined for.
But don't in the least hurry the journey.
Better it last for years,
so that when you reach the island you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to give you wealth.
Ithaka gave you a splendid journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She hasn't anything else to give you.
And if you find her poor, Ithaka hasn't deceived you.
So wise you have become, of such experience,
that already you'll have understood what these Ithakas mean.
Constantine P Cavafy
03/12/2009
Well it is now only an hour until we land in Madrid.
But something just happened that I don’t think has ever happened to be before. Just a couple of minutes ago I was woken by the breakfast trolley and… well that was it. The fact that I was woken up meant that I had been sleeping!!! Yeah, and not just for those 10 minute periods I normally get. I had been asleep for over 4 hours!!!
Then again it may have had something to do with the fact that I had effectively acquired a ‘premium economy’ seat. I had been fortunate enough to have 2 free seats next to me so I could almost lie totally straight. Well, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration. I have, unfortunately, grown a little over the years and can no longer fit flat on three seat, in fact I’m still much to big to lie flat on four seat, but I was very grateful for the extra room.
Oh yeah, to add to the idea that people didn’t trust you if you wear the Abbotsholme Star. Maybe I was looking shifty or maybe it was the T-shirt, but either way they felt it necessary to search my bag for drugs or any illegal smuggling of jaguars out of the country before I got onto the plane. But I was clean so managed to get to my seat in one piece.
But something just happened that I don’t think has ever happened to be before. Just a couple of minutes ago I was woken by the breakfast trolley and… well that was it. The fact that I was woken up meant that I had been sleeping!!! Yeah, and not just for those 10 minute periods I normally get. I had been asleep for over 4 hours!!!
Then again it may have had something to do with the fact that I had effectively acquired a ‘premium economy’ seat. I had been fortunate enough to have 2 free seats next to me so I could almost lie totally straight. Well, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration. I have, unfortunately, grown a little over the years and can no longer fit flat on three seat, in fact I’m still much to big to lie flat on four seat, but I was very grateful for the extra room.
Oh yeah, to add to the idea that people didn’t trust you if you wear the Abbotsholme Star. Maybe I was looking shifty or maybe it was the T-shirt, but either way they felt it necessary to search my bag for drugs or any illegal smuggling of jaguars out of the country before I got onto the plane. But I was clean so managed to get to my seat in one piece.
02/12/09
This is slightly surreal. I am currently in the airport after 5 hours of travelling in a taxi.
The airport is air-conditioned, thankfully, but outside it feels very tropical. Taking deodorant was a wise move I think (I only wish others were thinking along the same lines, ha).
But the surreal thing is that here I am in the evening sun, recovering from the sweltering heat outside, and I have a man busking, playing Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer and there are Christmas trees in each corner of the airport!
Seeing people driving down the road with trees, plainly going to serve as Christmas trees, strapped to their roofs was bizarre. I don’t think they have quite go the idea because the trees weren’t always those you would associate with Christmas. Then again you can’t fault them for trying to get into the spirit.
I had to laugh out loud though, when I saw their Christmas cards with snow on them. I think less than 10% of the country have ever actually seen snow, let alone had it snowing at Christmas. Then again us having snow on our cards is a bit of a joke as well because I think we have as good a chance of getting snow on Christmas as they do.
Anyway, I’m going to enjoy a bit of chocolate and try and find some worthless things I can buy as souvenirs.
Just another note; I don’t think Cecil Reddie had planned for any of his students to travel to very religious foreign countries.
Unfortunately for any of his students wearing any clothes with the school star on, it looks very much like a Pagan symbol.
I’m used to getting funny looks, but not funny looks because they think I’m some kind of Devil worshipper. I know enough Spanish to explain to the lady in the restaurant, where my taxi was supposed to pick me up, that it wasn’t there and ask her where the company’s cars normally picked up their passengers. I also knew enough to understand her when she said she had no clue and that she had never heard of the company. But I don’t have enough Spanish to explain that the symbol associated with the Devil is the other way round and that our founder was a devout Christian.
Originally, when I realised why people were frowning at me, I thought I would take my fleece off, only to find I had my South African Tour rugby T-shirt on which sported an even bigger star. Oops.
Oh well, I’ll just try not to draw too much attention to myself and act innocent (ha like that’s ever going to happen).
The airport is air-conditioned, thankfully, but outside it feels very tropical. Taking deodorant was a wise move I think (I only wish others were thinking along the same lines, ha).
But the surreal thing is that here I am in the evening sun, recovering from the sweltering heat outside, and I have a man busking, playing Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer and there are Christmas trees in each corner of the airport!
Seeing people driving down the road with trees, plainly going to serve as Christmas trees, strapped to their roofs was bizarre. I don’t think they have quite go the idea because the trees weren’t always those you would associate with Christmas. Then again you can’t fault them for trying to get into the spirit.
I had to laugh out loud though, when I saw their Christmas cards with snow on them. I think less than 10% of the country have ever actually seen snow, let alone had it snowing at Christmas. Then again us having snow on our cards is a bit of a joke as well because I think we have as good a chance of getting snow on Christmas as they do.
Anyway, I’m going to enjoy a bit of chocolate and try and find some worthless things I can buy as souvenirs.
Just another note; I don’t think Cecil Reddie had planned for any of his students to travel to very religious foreign countries.
Unfortunately for any of his students wearing any clothes with the school star on, it looks very much like a Pagan symbol.
I’m used to getting funny looks, but not funny looks because they think I’m some kind of Devil worshipper. I know enough Spanish to explain to the lady in the restaurant, where my taxi was supposed to pick me up, that it wasn’t there and ask her where the company’s cars normally picked up their passengers. I also knew enough to understand her when she said she had no clue and that she had never heard of the company. But I don’t have enough Spanish to explain that the symbol associated with the Devil is the other way round and that our founder was a devout Christian.
Originally, when I realised why people were frowning at me, I thought I would take my fleece off, only to find I had my South African Tour rugby T-shirt on which sported an even bigger star. Oops.
Oh well, I’ll just try not to draw too much attention to myself and act innocent (ha like that’s ever going to happen).
1/12/09
Today is my last full day here in Durika with me leaving at 8am tomorrow. Its very quiet here (apart from the fact that somebody is using a pressure hose), because at 5 this morning the ‘Chicas’ left to go home, and Devon took the car down to renew his visa. So, I’m not quite used to there not being at least one of those 3 around.
So for the first time in 3 months, apart from waking up at 5 to say goodbye, I got to have a really good lie-in until 6.30!!! Hard to believe isn’t it? But its turning out to be a very good day. It was decided that I needed a whole day to pack and prepare to leave (I really only needed about an hour) but being able to just go for a walk and just enjoy my last day here is exactly what I needed.
And my walk has been very successful. I have learned, the hard way, that you need to have your camera with you every minute of the day, and sometimes even the night (we have had visits in the night of bats and other unidentified organisms). I was originally going to go to the Avondona to pass the time and see if I could take some pictures. Anyway, I was wearing a black t-shirt and soon decided that it would take a lot less effort and produce a lot less sweat to simply lie down on a rock in the sun than go for an up hill walk. So that’s what I did. 20 minutes in I decided to move to another rock that wasn’t in the sun quite as much. It was only about 15 meters from the other one but you definitely got a different view, because as soon as I sat down I noticed something that was not always there. All I could see was a fat, fluffy, black backside will a long tale protruding from behind some leaves not 15 meters away. The pizotte
heard the Velcro on my camera bag as I pulled my camera out but he hung around long enough to allow me to get some pictures. Typically, the only photo that I got where the focus was precisely on him, he was half hidden as he ran away. Even so, I thought it was good because it gave people at home an idea of what a pizotte was. And then I spotted another one! They do tend to go in groups and I was keeping an eye out for any others but even so I felt very lucky to spot one let alone 2.
So I just sat there for a while looking out for more animals to see before deciding to start wondering back.
Now, something I’ve been wanting to do since my last visit here 2 years ago was to get a photo, in focus, of a toucan.
I have seen them a number of times, one time it was only 2 meters from me and another time they were outside my cabin, and typically they were the two times I didn’t have my camera to hand. It came to a point that when I went to get the Durika photos and general photos of me off Eugo, I asked if I could take some of his photos of animals I had seen but not got pictures of. The toucan was one of those photos.
So when I heard their distinctive call, I thought I would try and see if I could creep up on them. I soon realized that they were actually quite close to the path and that I may just be able to get close enough to see them before they fly off. They are pretty big birds, with black, red, yellow, orange and sometimes green plumage so you would think that they are easy to spot. But I only saw them when I was maybe 8- 10 meters away. There were two of them and I couldn’t believe my luck, pizottes and toucans. I almost jumped when I heard their harsh call just a couple of meters away to my right. And sure enough there stood the impressive creature not 5 meters from me in the tree. I have probably half filled my memory card with pictures of these three birds and its going to be a pig to sort out, but I was so happy that I had finally got those pictures.
But that wasn’t the end of my animal encounters. Remember in one of my earlier accounts, I wrote about the army ants that had invaded Eugo’s cabin? Well he had said that they would come to visit our cabin before I left. I had no clue that Eugo was being so specific. I was just about to go into my cabin when I saw the highways of ants.
These little creatures are viscous little things and kill anything that moves. So who needs bug or pest spray, when all you really need are thousands of army ants. You could see all sorts of animals taking refuge, spiders, other ants, cockroaches and even scorpions. Its weird seeing an animal you normally associate with being at the top of the food chain, or at least near the top, running for its life across the floor. I was a little concerned to find out how many scorpions we actually had in our cabin,
I must have seen at least 8 (but only 1 of which I saw escape). But it was very strange because I wanted to get a picture of all the ants all over my bed (I had all my stuff on the bed ready to be packed but because of their visit, packing was postponed), and I kept hearing a gentle patter on the ground. Looking up I saw the roof covered in ants and some were jumping off. I had a good look at them and realised that they were a different type of ant that were willing to risk jumping off the roof to get away. But they weren’t the only ones. I saw one scorpion jump off the drain pipe to the ground only to be met by more ants.
So yeah, it has been a very eventful morning when it comes to animals and photography.
Well I better go, Eugo invited me over at his house for lunch so I don’t want to be late. (I was going to shower and look a bit more presentable, but I wasn’t too keen on showering with army ants crawling over the door, so I just hope I don’t smell too bad).
So for the first time in 3 months, apart from waking up at 5 to say goodbye, I got to have a really good lie-in until 6.30!!! Hard to believe isn’t it? But its turning out to be a very good day. It was decided that I needed a whole day to pack and prepare to leave (I really only needed about an hour) but being able to just go for a walk and just enjoy my last day here is exactly what I needed.
And my walk has been very successful. I have learned, the hard way, that you need to have your camera with you every minute of the day, and sometimes even the night (we have had visits in the night of bats and other unidentified organisms). I was originally going to go to the Avondona to pass the time and see if I could take some pictures. Anyway, I was wearing a black t-shirt and soon decided that it would take a lot less effort and produce a lot less sweat to simply lie down on a rock in the sun than go for an up hill walk. So that’s what I did. 20 minutes in I decided to move to another rock that wasn’t in the sun quite as much. It was only about 15 meters from the other one but you definitely got a different view, because as soon as I sat down I noticed something that was not always there. All I could see was a fat, fluffy, black backside will a long tale protruding from behind some leaves not 15 meters away. The pizotte
heard the Velcro on my camera bag as I pulled my camera out but he hung around long enough to allow me to get some pictures. Typically, the only photo that I got where the focus was precisely on him, he was half hidden as he ran away. Even so, I thought it was good because it gave people at home an idea of what a pizotte was. And then I spotted another one! They do tend to go in groups and I was keeping an eye out for any others but even so I felt very lucky to spot one let alone 2.So I just sat there for a while looking out for more animals to see before deciding to start wondering back.
Now, something I’ve been wanting to do since my last visit here 2 years ago was to get a photo, in focus, of a toucan.
I have seen them a number of times, one time it was only 2 meters from me and another time they were outside my cabin, and typically they were the two times I didn’t have my camera to hand. It came to a point that when I went to get the Durika photos and general photos of me off Eugo, I asked if I could take some of his photos of animals I had seen but not got pictures of. The toucan was one of those photos.So when I heard their distinctive call, I thought I would try and see if I could creep up on them. I soon realized that they were actually quite close to the path and that I may just be able to get close enough to see them before they fly off. They are pretty big birds, with black, red, yellow, orange and sometimes green plumage so you would think that they are easy to spot. But I only saw them when I was maybe 8- 10 meters away. There were two of them and I couldn’t believe my luck, pizottes and toucans. I almost jumped when I heard their harsh call just a couple of meters away to my right. And sure enough there stood the impressive creature not 5 meters from me in the tree. I have probably half filled my memory card with pictures of these three birds and its going to be a pig to sort out, but I was so happy that I had finally got those pictures.
But that wasn’t the end of my animal encounters. Remember in one of my earlier accounts, I wrote about the army ants that had invaded Eugo’s cabin? Well he had said that they would come to visit our cabin before I left. I had no clue that Eugo was being so specific. I was just about to go into my cabin when I saw the highways of ants.
These little creatures are viscous little things and kill anything that moves. So who needs bug or pest spray, when all you really need are thousands of army ants. You could see all sorts of animals taking refuge, spiders, other ants, cockroaches and even scorpions. Its weird seeing an animal you normally associate with being at the top of the food chain, or at least near the top, running for its life across the floor. I was a little concerned to find out how many scorpions we actually had in our cabin,
I must have seen at least 8 (but only 1 of which I saw escape). But it was very strange because I wanted to get a picture of all the ants all over my bed (I had all my stuff on the bed ready to be packed but because of their visit, packing was postponed), and I kept hearing a gentle patter on the ground. Looking up I saw the roof covered in ants and some were jumping off. I had a good look at them and realised that they were a different type of ant that were willing to risk jumping off the roof to get away. But they weren’t the only ones. I saw one scorpion jump off the drain pipe to the ground only to be met by more ants.So yeah, it has been a very eventful morning when it comes to animals and photography.
Well I better go, Eugo invited me over at his house for lunch so I don’t want to be late. (I was going to shower and look a bit more presentable, but I wasn’t too keen on showering with army ants crawling over the door, so I just hope I don’t smell too bad).
30/11/09
It feels very strange at the moment. Everything feels as though its all winding down, lose ends are being tied and preparations for a new phase are taking place.
The fact that the ‘Chicas’ have just had their last full day here hasn’t helped much. They are in the same cabin as us so seeing them packing really brings it home that I’m going very soon. The volunteers have started to get on really well recently, eating together, playing games together and even playing cards in the evening after dinner, on our porch by candle light. I’m going to miss their bubbly energy, and even their phone calls at 2 in the morning to their boyfriends can’t stop me from being happy that they were part of this experience.
As I said, things feel as though they are coming to an end. I haven’t been given very difficult work these last few days and to do goatherding for the last time today (it seems that Friday wasn’t the last time) felt a little bizarre. However, it has meant that I have managed to achieve the goal I set myself on my first solo shepherding session, not to lose a goat. I won’t deny there have been some close calls and if the goats themselves hadn’t known the routes pretty well, I may have failed. But, each time I went out, I brought the same amount of goats back. So I feel pretty chuffed.
The other goal I set myself has to do with running.
It must have been around 3 weeks into my stay here, when Eugo asked Devon and I if we wanted to go for a run. It was to the Avondona and back. I’m not quite sure how long it is distance wise but it is very hilly. Most do it in anything between 11 and 14 minutes.
Anyway, Eugo had explained that he had done one of the mountain races around her and that he had beaten these young men because although he wasn’t particularly fast he wouldn’t stop and would stay at the same pace. With this in mind I had decided to run along side him all the way and gage which was a good speed to run at. On the way back I realised I could go a little faster than this pace, ran ahead and finished in around 11.22 or something. I was pretty impressed with that time until my competitive side of my brain got the better of me and asked, ‘what is the fastest time?’
Turns out Nata had done it almost 2 minutes faster in 9 minutes 33. Darn! But my brain didn’t stop there. It then announced to the group, ‘that’s going to be my target, to beat that time before I leave’. Curse that part of the brain.
Well, I managed to increase my time to below 11 minutes consistently and even down to 10.22 but I still had to find a way of losing a minute. So my goal slowly slid to the back of my mind. Instead, I began to run simply to get fit enough to play rugby when I get back.
And then of course we had the expedition. We were advised to rest a little before the trip so as not to get injured and after we got back I didn’t train in the morning or run for over a week. So effectively I didn’t do any running training for around 3 weeks. Then again I did climb a mountain to nearly 4000 meters.
But the other week I found myself with nothing to do so decided to go for a run (Oh yeah I forgot to mention, I have been running with the rugby ball so that the training is a little bit more specific but also a little harder).
So when I checked my stopwatch, after 3 weeks of no training, and found I had finally managed to get it to milliseconds below 10 minutes I was stunned. And my drive to beat Nata’s record was sparked again.
My next run found me 11 seconds behind his time with 9.44, and that was with the ball. So yesterday I told myself that I was going to go for it today, without the ball.
I was convinced that I was struggling and therefore slower, because I was much more tired half way through and got a stitch as well. But I persevered and finished off my run with my traditional sprint finish. When I finished I couldn’t actually look at my time for a few minutes because I was bent double clutching my stitch. But the wait was worth it. 9 mins and 24 seconds!!! Almost 10 seconds faster than the old record and 20 seconds faster than my last run.
I then managed a manly ‘Rocky Balboa’ cheer (although the arms in the air would have been a little over the top, and a lot more painful). It had taken over 2 months to achieve it, but I had done it!
So I’m tieing up lose ends, eg, collecting my last few recipes, achieving personal goals and seeing people leave. So the end seems in sight, for even a short sighted person. I’m excited about going home but am going to miss the people and the place a great deal.
But I still have a whole day to enjoy it, so I’ll take hundreds of random photos of random stuff for memory’s sake.
Well, better go
Ciao
The fact that the ‘Chicas’ have just had their last full day here hasn’t helped much. They are in the same cabin as us so seeing them packing really brings it home that I’m going very soon. The volunteers have started to get on really well recently, eating together, playing games together and even playing cards in the evening after dinner, on our porch by candle light. I’m going to miss their bubbly energy, and even their phone calls at 2 in the morning to their boyfriends can’t stop me from being happy that they were part of this experience.
As I said, things feel as though they are coming to an end. I haven’t been given very difficult work these last few days and to do goatherding for the last time today (it seems that Friday wasn’t the last time) felt a little bizarre. However, it has meant that I have managed to achieve the goal I set myself on my first solo shepherding session, not to lose a goat. I won’t deny there have been some close calls and if the goats themselves hadn’t known the routes pretty well, I may have failed. But, each time I went out, I brought the same amount of goats back. So I feel pretty chuffed.The other goal I set myself has to do with running.
It must have been around 3 weeks into my stay here, when Eugo asked Devon and I if we wanted to go for a run. It was to the Avondona and back. I’m not quite sure how long it is distance wise but it is very hilly. Most do it in anything between 11 and 14 minutes.
Anyway, Eugo had explained that he had done one of the mountain races around her and that he had beaten these young men because although he wasn’t particularly fast he wouldn’t stop and would stay at the same pace. With this in mind I had decided to run along side him all the way and gage which was a good speed to run at. On the way back I realised I could go a little faster than this pace, ran ahead and finished in around 11.22 or something. I was pretty impressed with that time until my competitive side of my brain got the better of me and asked, ‘what is the fastest time?’
Turns out Nata had done it almost 2 minutes faster in 9 minutes 33. Darn! But my brain didn’t stop there. It then announced to the group, ‘that’s going to be my target, to beat that time before I leave’. Curse that part of the brain.
Well, I managed to increase my time to below 11 minutes consistently and even down to 10.22 but I still had to find a way of losing a minute. So my goal slowly slid to the back of my mind. Instead, I began to run simply to get fit enough to play rugby when I get back.
And then of course we had the expedition. We were advised to rest a little before the trip so as not to get injured and after we got back I didn’t train in the morning or run for over a week. So effectively I didn’t do any running training for around 3 weeks. Then again I did climb a mountain to nearly 4000 meters.
But the other week I found myself with nothing to do so decided to go for a run (Oh yeah I forgot to mention, I have been running with the rugby ball so that the training is a little bit more specific but also a little harder).
So when I checked my stopwatch, after 3 weeks of no training, and found I had finally managed to get it to milliseconds below 10 minutes I was stunned. And my drive to beat Nata’s record was sparked again.
My next run found me 11 seconds behind his time with 9.44, and that was with the ball. So yesterday I told myself that I was going to go for it today, without the ball.
I was convinced that I was struggling and therefore slower, because I was much more tired half way through and got a stitch as well. But I persevered and finished off my run with my traditional sprint finish. When I finished I couldn’t actually look at my time for a few minutes because I was bent double clutching my stitch. But the wait was worth it. 9 mins and 24 seconds!!! Almost 10 seconds faster than the old record and 20 seconds faster than my last run.
I then managed a manly ‘Rocky Balboa’ cheer (although the arms in the air would have been a little over the top, and a lot more painful). It had taken over 2 months to achieve it, but I had done it!
So I’m tieing up lose ends, eg, collecting my last few recipes, achieving personal goals and seeing people leave. So the end seems in sight, for even a short sighted person. I’m excited about going home but am going to miss the people and the place a great deal.
But I still have a whole day to enjoy it, so I’ll take hundreds of random photos of random stuff for memory’s sake.
Well, better go
Ciao
When warrior ants attack !!!
I was packing to go home and found my cabin covered with ants. I thought I'd leave them to it for a while....
25/ 11/09
I haven’t mentioned much about what I have been up to in my free time in the afternoons.
Well, if we are lucky and it is not raining I sometimes like to go for walks with my camera, of just wonder round the community just enjoying what there is.
Recently, I have been spending time collecting recipes from people so that I can cook all these wonderful meals when I get back.
But, something that we have started to do more often on the Saturdays when we have most of the day off is play football.
Now, there are a couple of difficulties with playing football, or any other team sports involving circular objects for that matter, on top of mountains.
The 1st problem is space. Thankfully the community has cleared a plateau at the top of the community for exercises and other activities along with volleyball, so that took the form of a football field. It was a little smaller than normal and distinctly lacking grass, but with a couple of rocks marking out the goals a competitive game of footie could take place and that’s all that mattered. The game normally fields 3 players on each side but every now and then we manage to goad some extra players into playing for larger teams.
However, I think the biggest difference between Durika, mountain football and the traditional football, is very noticeable after a goal is scored. Here, instead of just running round the pitch like a glorified headless chicken, celebrating, you have to try and find a way to incorporate chasing the ball down the hill down the hill into your celebration. The other day Devin was made to chase the ball all the way down to where our cabin was! (That is a long way by the way) Fortunately, it got stuck by a rock because otherwise it would have rolled down the road or even down the valley!
But it does mean that the games are more even than traditional football, because the team that scores on a regular basis tends to find themselves running down and up the hill on regular basis, so after a couple of goals everybody is at the same level. Haha.
As you can guess its so much fun. I must admit that that is probably the thing that I miss the most about home (on the flat), being able to play team sports. But it is hilarious when the rules are ignored and end up resembling a game more similar to rugby than football (it tends to be the girls that get the most aggressive, hahah).
So there you have some of the things I get up to in my free time. However, it seems that all the exercise that I do during the day doesn’t sap me of all my energy. To be honest, I tend to feel as though I am totally spent before I go to bed. But, according to all the other members of my cabin (5 of them that is), I have been doing some extra exercise in the nights as well.
Last night I was having a full on conversation in Dutch to an invisible audience and the other night I was supposedly found punching my mattress. Devin said that a few minutes later, as if I was just making sure it was totally dealt with, I could be heard scratching at it. I sure showed that mattress. Haha
Needless to say, night times are quite eventful.
20/11/09
I’m alive!!! Whoop whoop!!! And I have all my limbs and extremities still firmly attached to my body so thumbs up there.
We arrived back yesterday at around lunch time and came up the community that evening. I didn’t think I was tired but as soon as I saw that the mattress was more than once centimetre thick, I was dying to sleep on it. Needless to say I slept so well that I would have made a baby look like a bad sleeper. And guess what, I GOT A LIE IN!!! Yeah I know I was fortunate enough to be able to lie in my bed until the ludicrous our of 6.20 (am that is). To give you some kind of prospective, that’s like an Abbotsholme boarder being able to sleep until 10am without a teacher yelling at you to get up.
Day 1:
Well, it all started on the Sunday. We got up at the usual time of 4.30am from our hotel (yeah, I know, it had satellite TV and everything. I’m not sure staying up late watching movies before a 5 day expedition is the best thing to do but then again I haven’t done it for almost 3 months so what do you expect).
We then got in the taxi (the back of a pick up truck) and began our journey.
The band of seven consisted of Eugenio, two of his friends, Nelson and Eberhart, Nata, Ram, Devin and me.
The bridge at the river had been too badly damaged for vehicles to cross so you get taken to the bridge, carry all your stuff across on foot and then load up in the taxi waiting for us on the other side. So practical, in England people would spend months fretting and complaining about the broken bridge and then wait for a new one to be built, instead of just doing the sensible thing.
Anyway, we were dropped off at the start (another bridge, this time made of cable wire and some planks) and started our adventure on foot.
.JPG)
It was beautiful! The sun was out but not too hot and by the time we had breakfast, we had amazing views of the two valleys on either side of the spur we were climbing.
It was fairly hard going as it was solely an up hill day and seemed to keep on going, but the place was so breath taking that you only noticed how tired you were when you sat down to snack of fudge or a hand full of nuts.
We were fortunate to hit the cloud at the hottest part of the day because our water stores were beginning to run low and it was the heat that made it so tough. There were no trees at all until the last hour, which meant we had very little shade. I think, for that reason, the 1st day was the hardest physically but boy was it stunning.
I mean there aren’t many places where you can have breakfast with birds of prey riding the thermals next to you. Then again having black and turkey vultures circling around you does make you wonder if they know something you don’t.
Tapirs also make there homes in those mountains at such altitudes so although we didn’t actually see any, we did see a great deal of their faeces. Normally, poo doesn’t excite me much but how often do you see some from a tapirs.
However we did come across other interesting animals.
Literally as we were coming into the ‘camp site’ and Nata was announcing, “Here we are” in the relieved tone we were all feeling, Ram (in front of me) suddenly stumbled.
It looked as though he had gone to step in a place which he then realized was a hole or something.
Looking round him to see what it was, I discovered, in actual fact, the hole wasn’t a hole at all, it was a meter long, thick brown snake. I see now why Ram had tried so hard to avoid stepping on it. It was beautiful with a darker brown criss-cross, diamond pattern on its back. Unfortunately it began to glide away as soon as we spotted it so I didn’t get my camera out in time.
That night, most of us slept in the make shift shelter, whilst Nata and Devin slept outside under the tarp. I say slept, the wind was so strong that they found themselves lying under the stars and getting rained on, on more than one occasion. So I don’t think they got too much sleep that night.
We arrived back yesterday at around lunch time and came up the community that evening. I didn’t think I was tired but as soon as I saw that the mattress was more than once centimetre thick, I was dying to sleep on it. Needless to say I slept so well that I would have made a baby look like a bad sleeper. And guess what, I GOT A LIE IN!!! Yeah I know I was fortunate enough to be able to lie in my bed until the ludicrous our of 6.20 (am that is). To give you some kind of prospective, that’s like an Abbotsholme boarder being able to sleep until 10am without a teacher yelling at you to get up.
Day 1:
Well, it all started on the Sunday. We got up at the usual time of 4.30am from our hotel (yeah, I know, it had satellite TV and everything. I’m not sure staying up late watching movies before a 5 day expedition is the best thing to do but then again I haven’t done it for almost 3 months so what do you expect).
We then got in the taxi (the back of a pick up truck) and began our journey.
The band of seven consisted of Eugenio, two of his friends, Nelson and Eberhart, Nata, Ram, Devin and me.The bridge at the river had been too badly damaged for vehicles to cross so you get taken to the bridge, carry all your stuff across on foot and then load up in the taxi waiting for us on the other side. So practical, in England people would spend months fretting and complaining about the broken bridge and then wait for a new one to be built, instead of just doing the sensible thing.
Anyway, we were dropped off at the start (another bridge, this time made of cable wire and some planks) and started our adventure on foot.
.JPG)
It was beautiful! The sun was out but not too hot and by the time we had breakfast, we had amazing views of the two valleys on either side of the spur we were climbing.It was fairly hard going as it was solely an up hill day and seemed to keep on going, but the place was so breath taking that you only noticed how tired you were when you sat down to snack of fudge or a hand full of nuts.
We were fortunate to hit the cloud at the hottest part of the day because our water stores were beginning to run low and it was the heat that made it so tough. There were no trees at all until the last hour, which meant we had very little shade. I think, for that reason, the 1st day was the hardest physically but boy was it stunning.
I mean there aren’t many places where you can have breakfast with birds of prey riding the thermals next to you. Then again having black and turkey vultures circling around you does make you wonder if they know something you don’t.
Tapirs also make there homes in those mountains at such altitudes so although we didn’t actually see any, we did see a great deal of their faeces. Normally, poo doesn’t excite me much but how often do you see some from a tapirs.
However we did come across other interesting animals.
Literally as we were coming into the ‘camp site’ and Nata was announcing, “Here we are” in the relieved tone we were all feeling, Ram (in front of me) suddenly stumbled.
It looked as though he had gone to step in a place which he then realized was a hole or something.
Looking round him to see what it was, I discovered, in actual fact, the hole wasn’t a hole at all, it was a meter long, thick brown snake. I see now why Ram had tried so hard to avoid stepping on it. It was beautiful with a darker brown criss-cross, diamond pattern on its back. Unfortunately it began to glide away as soon as we spotted it so I didn’t get my camera out in time.
That night, most of us slept in the make shift shelter, whilst Nata and Devin slept outside under the tarp. I say slept, the wind was so strong that they found themselves lying under the stars and getting rained on, on more than one occasion. So I don’t think they got too much sleep that night.
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