Big Bend National Park

Feb. 19, 2019  Tuesday

The ranger at the Visitor Center suggests that, for one day in Big Bend National Park,  we should drive to Canyon Santa Elena and visit all the view points or trails that stem from the road. Though we entered the park last night, and slept at the Chisos Mountain Lodge, we received our map and visitor guide, The Paisano, this morning, after buying our National Park Pass. To get to the Canyon we have to climb out of the Chisos Basin and then take the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive (named after the first superintendent,  who, knowing the area so well, laid down the route to connect the most spectacular geological features of the west side of the park). 

Our trip is highlighted in blue.

Journal of a Nomad Through Vasteland (2)

August 4th

Today we climbed on the Amphitheater in the Drakensen Mountains, to Tugela Falls.

View from our hotel of the Amphitheater from our hotel.

Journal of a nomad through Vasteland

July 22nd

Hello South Africa! 

The Big, Small, Little and the Dascalus

Getting to Africa is a big step in our journey, it is the 9th month and a whole new continent. We are on our way to Madagascar but because we arrived Sunday and the only plane tickets to the island were on Saturday, leaving us with 6 nights and 5 days, we decided to go to Kruger national park. A brilliant choice.

Cheetah

In Kruger, having only three days to see all we can, we look around

Tsingy and Baobabs

Road, what does it mean? “A wide way leading from one place to another, especially one with a specially prepared surface that vehicles can use” says the dictionary. I like that part with specially prepared surface. Here is missing. We have almost 5 hours to travel to the “Parc National de Madagascar, Tsingy de Bemaraha”. The wide way is just one lane that resembles red mountains and valleys at a smaller scale. On the sides there are walls of vegetation, grass, or bushes, or young eucalyptus trees (they grow rapidly, when they are five years old, they cut them for charcoal, and from the stumps will grow new shoots). If two cars meet, one will squish itself on the side and the other will pass.

It feels like we’re training to become astronauts or we have a particular contest for fitness. In order to keep our heads not bobbing we need to move our bodies, and soon enough we feel all our muscles. After one hour we take a break, I’m so nauseous. The only relief comes when we’re passing small bridges, when all four wheels are on the same level, and for an instant we glide. It’s briefness makes it more precious. At some point there are children shoveling dust from the sides back in the holes. They are repairing the road. But every passing car, and every gust of wind sends in the air half of their work. It doesn’t matter, they wave happily.

At the entrance of a village, under a shade tree, women and children are gathered. Three women, long poles in their arms, are taking turns in pounding them in a tall tub. They are “grinding” rice. From their looks this work is back breaking. They don’t have the money to buy a machine to grind it or to pay for the electricity that it would consume.

Is This Real?

We are in a tiny ancient car, zig-zagging slowly on the best parts of the road, almost stopping to cross potholes. The only light, coming from our head beams, illuminates towering gnarled trees. The air is heavy with a sweet smell. 

Tenga sua (ten-gah sue-ah) in Madagascar! Welcome in Madagascar.

We had one of the most pleasant flights, with large chairs and free leg space, a really tasty meal (with a choice of beer, wine and martini) and stewardesses who had a genuine smile. Ioan and myself are to be blamed for coming to this part of the world. He doesn’t remember why, maybe because of the Madagascar movies, but I wanted to see this “flora and fauna” gem. 

The Eighth Continent

Believe it or not, but some people don't know where Madagascar is. Most people don't know that it is truly special and nobody actually knows how special it is. There are isolated areas where no scientist has ever made it and they think that there are plenty of undiscovered species. Madagascar broke away from the corner of East Africa some 160 million years ago and, that I really like, some 80 million years ago, the eastern part of Madagascar broke off to become the future... India. Isolated, the island took its own evolutionary course and subsequently 70% of its plants and 90% of its animals are endemic. Madagascar alone accounts for 5% of the number of species known to man. There are 71 species of lemurs, some mammals similar to monkeys yet different, still distant cousins of ours. Humans only arrived 2000 years ago and did their usual share of damage, but there is still a lot left. They came from different corners of the Indian Ocean and melted into a unique culture. The language has the closest relative on the island of Borneo. For all the above reasons, Madagascar is often considered the eighth continent, a world in itself that doesn't resemble anything else on Earth. Ioan wanted to come here, probably inspired by the animated movie, but he did a decent share of studying and preparing this segment. We were all on board and made this an important part of our trip.

Kruger National Park

We were forced by airline schedules to break our trip to South Africa in two parts, one week first, before our flight to Madagascar and the second stretch for four weeks when we return. The first week was dedicated to a trip East to Kruger National Park, the jewel of South Africa and "one of the best safari" in the whole of Africa.

Noi6 Around the World

For ever it will remain a mystery of this trip: who and when

Wonderful Malaysia

Like many countries, Malaysia is trying to promote tourism and in the process is using various slogans. Wonderful Malaysia. Malaysia, truly Asia. Amazing Malaysia. Occasionally slogans have some truth in them. For us Malaysia has been wonderful.

Malaysia is wonderful

We've been in the country enough times that we

A day in Ubud

One of the most interesting destinations in Bali is a place called Ubud. It was a small village in the mountains some eighty years ago, but now is counts around 80,000 people and nobody knows where it starts and when it finishes. In the 1920s it became a destination for Western artists and it continues to attract a lot of them. It was hard for me to imagine how we'd have any fun in a place so removed from the beach, but I loved it, it was great. We got here twice, spent more than a week altogether, and we did have a good time. It is a major touristic destination, some would argue that it lacks authenticity, but on the other hand, it is good to see some tourists every now and then.

If you only have a day, here is a suggestion for filling it up. Don't rent a bike, unless

The Way Out

We’re looking for a place to spend the night. “If you want to sleep in town you have to go to a gated camping. The blackies drink too much and cause problems” says a well intended white. We press on a little further, at Three Ways, where one of the campers is not happy, we should have backed in our lot. It is something that we are going to see in all the camps, we’re supposed to follow the rules, but we’re not very good at it. Water here has a yellow tint, a metallic taste, but it is clear and safe to drink. It is brought with cisterns and kept in huge drums. It is free! Or you could buy a plastic bottle and have it on your conscience, because there is no recycling outside big cities. 

The straight road isn’t fun. We have 700 km to drive until we stop for the night. There is nothing that catches our eye: grass, shrubs, an occasional tree. But at the end of the day we realize we have some clouds, there are more trees (and they’re not eucalyptus), flocks of birds that fly in the sun, and many hawks eating roadkill. Driving after sunset is not recommended, not because there are no lights to see the road, but for the animals, who, after the heat of the day, become active and start foraging. You don’t want to have a collision with a euro (a big kangaroo), or to flatten a possum or a wallaby. And beside this, if you have an accident, there’s no one who can help you until morning.

As we’re driving, we pass through small communities, the petrol station (gas is for cooking), the grocery store, some disheveled looking houses. The few people sit where the action is—waiting on a bench, looking at you as you get down from the car, as you fuel, scrutinizing the way you walk, talk, your gestures, looking for something to remember, to have something to talk about long after you’re gone.

The Top End and The Land of Never Never

As we drive North from Alice Springs toward Darwin there is a sign, about 20 km into our trip. It is the Tropic of Capricorn. As important as that might be, the girls choose not to get out of the car. I learned in school a hundred years ago about the imaginary lines on the map, the Equator, the latitudes and longitudes. The tropics. Yeah.

The Tropic of Capricorn

Melbourne

I love the time spent in an airport! You have to be there waaaay ahead of your flight, so you have time to spare, to peruse the stores, see what’s new, to go through security and count how many times you can go through the scanner with your iPod nano clipped on, to find your gate and a block to park yourself and your whole family and luggage. If the airport has windows on that side, you can see the take-off or the landing of a different flight. It is the quiet time before a storm of new experiences ...

Looking at all the possibilities of transportation to our apartment, Mihai felt confident to take the train. After finding out where to buy tickets, and which tickets (for two hours of for the whole day) and where to change the trains, we boarded one. The children were out from schools and they were migrating in their groups, girls giggling and primped up, boys slurping from sodas and with clothes in a disarray. People talk loud, I can follow their conversation and their accent tickles me.

We walk on the streets in the Prahran neighborhood, looking in the shop’s windows, at how people dress... We meet with the owner of our apartment and she explains everything that we need to know. It is a nice one bedroom apartment, furnished in a masculine style, with a large balcony. We like it so much that we don’t want to leave it. This is a problem that slowly grows on us: the moment we find a clean new house, we just want to stay there, away from the crowds, from the touristic objectives, from the options of restaurants and their choices of food, away from each other. Yes, we find a spot only for our own self and with a book or headphones, we are free to be in our own world. But it can’t last... Mihai wants to see!

Prahran market is THE market, a covered space with natural lighting in which there are different vending spaces, according to their ethnicities. Greek food with olives, tszaziki, hummus and bread; French pastries and cheeses; Italian ravioli and vegetarian lasagna mingled with stalls of vegetables and fruits, flowers, candles and soap, seeds, and wine and beer. The meat and fish were in a different part, enticing you to buy from their beds of crushed ice or their illuminated trays. This is the place to buy your vegetarian burgers, next to the real ones! In this market you can have a massage, or do your manicure, or take a picture with the owner of a shop and get a free cheese!

Hawaii

Blog about Hawai’i. (I don’t actually like that apostrophe, so I’ll start again.)

Blog about Hawaii. (There, better.)

So we hopped on a plane from New Zealand and reached Sydney, Australia, where there was a free internet station with four computers and no chairs. I stood on my feet for well over an hour, checking my Facebook, my email, my deviantArt, and could’ve stayed much longer had there not been a person waiting for me to get off. But in the end, I solved all those little things that had been saying, “Ileana… come to us… reply to all your comments… read those poems… favorite these pictures…” The only thing that I couldn’t do with those computers was to upload my pictures to dA, because they were on our computer. The one that is never, ever connected to internet, and if it is, then the internet is too weak to upload so many photographs. It’s not so bad, though. There are only 80 photos crying to see the World Wide Web, and six people who will definitely see them, not to mention the innumerable passerby’s that say, “Oh pretty! I will favorite this picture! And this other picture by the same person! And look through their gallery and favorite some more pictures! Oh, what the heck, I’ll just add them to my watchlist and see every new picture they upload.” And so increases my popularity*.

Green Rocks and Beans

Aloha

After a trip of 35 hours we’re on Big Island, Hawaii. Stepping back in time is possible, but you don’t get to relive the old day, you live a new one. Flying on the 20th from Christchurch to Sydney and from there to Honolulu we crossed the International Date Line and arrived on the 20th in the morning, we got a new day. A day for new decisions, different situations. But before you get too excited about possibilities, there is a price:  later, you will lose a day, you don’t get to live it to the full extent.

We rented a condominium for 4 nights and we stayed for the first two days without doing anything. 

Touring the South Island

Sunrise in Kaikorua

They pronounce Kaikorua as Calcutta. We are on a whale watching trip, they talk about the region and quite often they say Calcutta. And I wonder what are the whales doing in India. Eventually I get it and start enjoying our experience. It was a complete success, it almost seemed scripted, like the whales would know where to wait, the dolphins would play when it was their turn, the albatrosses would fly when there wasn't much else going on. And in the intermission we approached the shore to see some other birds and some New Zealand sea lions. We saw four whales, pretty close, and they all did their perfect move with the tail, the iconic image that is so hard to catch on camera. We only have a hundred pictures now.

New Beginnings End

We have to take a decision: are we going South, to Stewart Island, a birds’ haven, or East, to Dunedin, more Scottish than the original? You see, the weather here is wonderful if you see the blue sky, but if it rains, is cold, and humid, and the wind can move your whole van, not a pleasant experience. After ten days of continuous spectacular views we’re getting tired. And the roads, and the driving, and we didn’t see our children in ages, because they’re in the back.  

Dunedin Wins!

New Beginnings Two

Hanmer Springs

We arrived on a rainy night, we were hungry, because we skipped lunch, so we chose to  stay “home” and not go to the warm geothermal pools in a beautiful surrounding. Children change beds, trying to find out which one is better. It is cold over night so we turn on the portable heater (the one that comes with the RV is inefficient and noisy). We can’t wake up in the morning and leave early enough. 

We drive through Lewis Pass a nice, but cold, forested area. 

The Butterfly Liberator

Chitwan National Park, second day. Ioan and I wake up at 6.30 to go on the bird watch trip. He seems OK, but it's almost funny to see him getting out of bed like an 80 year old, puffing and aching. He has sore muscles from yesterday's elephant activities. We leave at 7, a guide, a Dutch guy and the two of us. We take the road for a couple of minutes, the guide mentions the serious fog, little chance to see anything. I ask why can't we go later and we readily agree to postpone the trip for 8.30. Ioan goes back to bed and won't leave for the rest of the day. He is clearly under the weather, maybe a touch of fever. I leave again, with Kris, the Dutch, and the guide and we have a good 3 hour bird watching trip. Nothing happens at first but at some point we see some kind of crow on the back of a rhino, I get good shots moments later and more birds join in.

A wounded rhino welcomes birds. They clean the wound and this helps it heal faster.

Birds on the rhino. Can you see the little wound on the left side of the picture?

We see a few more birds and a rhino with a huge horn and a huge erect penis. No pictures of that or just by special request. The guide is amazed, apparently the rhino got excited when four women came in his way. It calms down and lays on the ground, blocks the pass over a creek, we have to jump over it.

We end the trip at the guide's house, and while waiting for the car to pick us up, we talk a bit about economics. Everybody here saves money to build a hotel, buy an elephant and a car. The elephant might cost €25000 ($33000) but you can make $100 per day and pay it off in 3 years. But the elephant might die, the car you can sell if it breaks and get some money back. We sit on his porch, his wife makes tea, his children are gone to school. He built the house himself, it's small, maybe twice the size of my bathroom, and there are 12 people living there.
In the afternoon we have scheduled a "jungle walk plus", the plus part is that at the end a local person will show us how they pick products from the jungle to cook food. Ioan was excused for being sick, Ileana sacrificed herself to stay with him, but couldn't hide her excitement. We walk for 3 1/2 hours without seeing any animal, maybe the distant image of a monkey, a deer and a wild pig. We see some trees, we taste the outer shell of some wild walnut, we see the imprint of a paw of a rhino, a nice marsh where rhinos sometime come and a lot of butterflies, spiders and termites. We decide we don't want the plus part and it works out fine that the guide forgets about that. The most action we have all day is Ileana jumping to free a butterfly from a spider web. So I call her "Mom, the butterfly liberator!"

Poor little butterfly

Monstrous spider

On better days rhinos and tigers and deer come to this little lake in the jungle

Nothing happens, but still looking for animals