All the time in the world - PHOTO EDITION

Mexico -- OCAMPO (continued)

2009-12-21T21:47:00.009+01:00

The last of the Ocampo pictures!

Little kiddies make an impressive pyramid at the November 20th parade in Ocampo.

Big kiddies make an even more impressive pyramid.

Pompom-wielding schoolgirls in formation.

The marching band watches the parade from the presidency balcony. Jacob, whom I hold in very high regard (if I say that instead of "whom I love dearly", I won't get nostalgic and sappy -- nobody wants THAT), is fifth from the right, crouching.

These clouds, seen from our kitchen door, are actually a poorly-camouflaged UFO.

Setting up the large artificial Christmas tree in Ocampo's main plaza -- a merrier version of this.

Jacob (left) and Cesar, two of my favorite Ocampo residents. That's Jacob's default facial expression. Isn't it a great default facial expression?

On the day of the Virgen de Guadalupe, children wore capes and danced for an hour outside of the church.

El Salto de Agua, which Eduardo, Fierros and I reached via river.

Eduardo and Fierros stand beneath my favorite street sign in Ocampo. Fierros looks particularly sexy with my sweater (which was dry; his t-shirt was still soaked from our swim in the river).

Fierros, Eduardo and Oscar take a break after climbing up the Cerro Camacho -- two hours uphill through forest.

We climbed the tower at the summit.

And gazed upon Ocampo, so far away. Oooooh . . .

Aaaaah . . .

Eduardo is much friendlier than he looks in this picture.

For posterity. (Eduardo carves our names into the bar.)

Here's the tower from below -- it is a tall one, eh?

Fake Christmas tree and real palm tree. I wish that you could go to Ocampo during the holiday season at night. The main plaza is full of Christmas lights, each strand of which plays a different Christmas tune, and the overall effect is god-awful. It sounds like a bunch of dying chipmunks, and it can be heard more than a block away. I laughed hysterically every time I passed through Ocampo at night, but nobody else seemed to understand what was so funny. Story of my life.

Karina, my English student and friend, posing in front of a pretty part of the Rio Puerco (the dirty one). She is great, and can say things like, "I didn't do my homework." She never said that, though, because she always did her homework.

Well, I feel accomplished! Now I just have another 87409872423 photos to post and I'm done with the Mexico series. I think I'll do pretty touristy pictures next to keep your attention.

Mexico -- OCAMPO (continued)

2009-12-18T18:14:00.005+01:00

I realize that all of these "OCAMPO (continued)" posts are not as aesthetically appealing as one long post containing all of the photos would be, but . . . DEAL WITH IT. I have my reasons. The photos continue:

Nina and I relax on our broken, dirty sofa. If you look at all of the pictures I've posted so far, you can sort of put together a picture of our house.

Adriana climbs up La Roña, our old, creaky, homicidal ladder, to inspect the water tank. See, now you can see that the outside of the house is painted pink! Actually, it was mostly red.

The marching band passes by during the November 20 parade. The drummer closest to me is Jacob, whom you will see again in another photo (not today, though).

Notice the name of the store in the background. APPROPRIATE? Quite.

"You can stand under my umbrella, ella, ella, eh eh eh"
"Te puedes parar debajo de mi sombrilla, illa, illa, eh eh eh"
Adriana has been asked to translate this song and it sounds unbelievably stupid in Spanish. But I would stand under these little kiddies' umbrellas, ellas, ellas . . .

That's all for now. Coming soon: human pyramids, UFO clouds, a large artificial Christmas tree, and stunning views of Ocampo and the surrounding countryside. Then: photos of Angangueo! Photos of Morelia! Photos of pyramids at three different sites! Photos of churches and ex-haciendas! Photos of mountains and lakes! Lots of photos.

Mexico -- OCAMPO (continued)

2009-12-18T17:31:00.004+01:00

Adriana stands proud by our indoor clothesline, where we hung clothes up to dry on rainy days.

From left to right: Adriana, Fierros, Eduardo, and Freddy. One of my goals in life is to look as gentle as Eduardo does.

A rainbow in Ocampo!

Anaisa in her kitchen.

Nina the Lopsided Kitten. Notice that her left leg sticks out -- it's "bionic" (says Adriana).

Nina stares down a bug from the windowsill. Adriana's red car, Baby Boy, does its best to make a snazzy background.

Ricardo and Gabriel came with Adriana and me to a bar and club in Zitacuaro, the closest city to Ocampo. Don't they look thrilled to be there?

Adriana and I sure are thrilled. (I'm glad I don't pick up on the more subtle social situations, like people running away from me in horror when I flash them an enthusiastic smile, because my self-esteem would probably plummet.)

This is Ocampo's Rio Puerco. It is one of two rivers that run through Ocampo. The other is just called the Rio. One of them is dirtier than the other. Can you guess which one?!

Nina's bionic leg sometimes made her look like a bunny.

Mexico -- OCAMPO (continued)

2009-12-18T17:20:00.004+01:00

At Adriana's school's anniversary celebration, children make giant balloons out of crepe paper, fill them with gas, light a wick and let them fly (or burn, as the case may be)! Don't you wish children at U.S. public schools got to do this, too?

Mexico -- OCAMPO

2009-12-17T22:29:00.005+01:00

I'm cheating a bit -- technically, some of these photos weren't taken in Ocampo, but, since they feature Ocampo residents and the setting is not important, I'm including them in this category. In the same vein: Adriana and I didn't live in Ocampo. In fact, we lived much closer to Angangueo, in a neighborhood called La Junta. However, we consider ourselves Ocampenses, and so I'm putting the pictures taken in our house here, too.

Adriana shows off our homemade tamales.

Adriana attempts to teach me how to smear tamal filling in the corn husk. Instead, I break the corn husk. (You're looking at our dining room!)

The tree in Ocampo's plaza, dubbed "Ramon" by Adriana (because, you know, it has a big rama).

Ocampo from afar.

The September 16th parade! The very first thing I saw in Ocampo.

Okay, that's the teaser. I'm not going to post any more pictures tonight because I have ambitious plans for tomorrow (which include waking up at the ungodly hour of 8:00 am -- that's pre-dawn!) and need to sleep in order to carry them out. I'll try to post more pictures tomorrow.

If you're reading this, let me know and you'll get a special prize.

Mexico -- BUTTERFLIES (continued)

2009-12-17T21:41:00.007+01:00

Here are more pictures of the butterflies. Pictures of human beings and places forthcoming.

Mexico -- BUTTERFLIES

2009-12-17T17:52:00.003+01:00

I'm finally posting pictures from Mexico! I'll do it by categories, the first of which is: BUTTERFLIES. If I am feeling extremely ambitious, I will even post a few videos (can't be too hard for a computer whiz like me) (JOKE). Actually, I'll try to post a video right now:

I hope that you are thoroughly impressed. Each of the butterflies fluttering about in that video traveled to Mexico all the way from Canada -- by wing.

No photos until December

2009-10-27T11:39:00.000+01:00

This poor blog! It thought it would be great one day, full of pictures of neato things, and look -- I have completely abandoned it. I won`t be able to post any new pictures of Spain or Mexico until I am in Norway (where I think that I will have wifi . . . but might not), and I will make an announcement in my regular blog when I finally update this one.

I hope that you are well! Love life! Be excited!

Viveiro, Celeiro, and San Ciprian, Spain

2009-08-28T09:53:00.008+02:00

Here are some more photos! I think that's probably it for today. Photos of Burela, Mondonedo (with a tilde over the second n), the boat trip, and Foz forthcoming.

1) One of the imposing gates of the city wall -- from the 16th century. I am imposed! Are you?
2) The bridge of a ship makes friends with a crane.
3) Dead trees.
4) Dead trees with murder accomplice. (I really should be in Greenpeace.)
5) The lovely town of Celeiro -- it is lovelier than it looks here.
6) Grapes growing on the roof of somebody's toolshed.
7) Potatoes.
8) Old and old-with-facelift. (Not quite old and new.)
9) This was a street of ruins.
10) Trucks at the lonja.
11) Seagulls = fishing boat.
12) Fancy-shmancy technology aboard the Pino Ladra. You have no idea what it can do. It can read your mind.
13) The concert where I made friends with little Jorge and Marta (or they made friends with me)! I have pictures of them, but I wanted to ask permission from their parents before posting them, and I'm still waiting to hear back.
14) Unloading crates of fish in the early morning.
15) This room will soon be very full and every single box of fish will be sold.
16) Industrial landscape at San Ciprian.
17) Fish farm tanks.
18) This is a pretty artsy photo, no?! I find eucalyptus trees, and especially vast groves of them, beautiful. And they squeak when the wind blows! They creak like doors. It's magical.
19) Lake of toxic waste from the aluminum plant of photo #16.
20) Another view of the lake of toxic waste. People live right next to it, and the fruit no longer stays on their fruit trees.
21) "In a town like Twin Peaks, no one is innocent." This building is in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere -- perhaps in a tiny town like Twin Peaks?
22) Very pretty.
23) Forest, farmland, and ocean -- very much Galicia.

La Corunha again!

2009-08-28T09:42:00.002+02:00

These are all photos of Guillermo, Mirela, Nicolas and Nicole, the family that was so kind to me at the docks the first time I was in La Corunha and who invited me over for lunch the second time.

1) Guillermo is building nasas, cages to catch octopi (sob).
2) Mirela and Nicole.
3) The whole family, avec chien.
4) Nicolas and the nobly named dog (I've forgotten the name) (some Norse god's trusty steed) often go on walks around the docks.
5) Suspicious.
6) Disorder at the docks.
7) Nobly named dog goes on his daily swim.

The people have spoken

2009-08-27T23:20:00.002+02:00

Three people have spoken, to be precise, two of whom were my parents (my most faithful blog followers). One of them threatened to disown me if I stopped posting pictures (yikes!) -- so, lest I become half a daughter, I'll keep the photos coming, but slowly, slowly . . . And starting tomorrow.

A question with no right answer

2009-08-19T21:08:00.005+02:00

Well, I clearly keep getting behind on the photo blog updates, and I was wondering if anyone checked it anymore. Would anyone be devastated to see it go, pass on to blog heaven? If yes, let me know and I'll keep updating it as usual. If no, I'll TRY to keep updating it, but maybe less ambitiously (it takes so long to upload twenty photos at a time!), and I won't feel too guilty if I stop updating it altogether. I could, instead, do a monthly facebook album . . .

Let me know, ye who look at this blog:

[_] Irene, I HAVE looked at your photos here and want to see more. Keep posting!
[_] Irene, nobody is even reading this! (This is a trick box because you can't truthfully check it.) (But you get the idea.)
[_] Irene, I prefer facebook albums.

If nobody says anything, it's like a giant check mark in the second box, and don't worry, I won't be offended.

I hope that you're doing wonderfully!!

Buño, Spain

2009-08-09T14:27:00.003+02:00

I spent an afternoon in Buño (copying and pasting is the way to go for tildes!), famed for its pottery. As for the previous five towns, I'm writing descriptions with seven words or fewer (much faster than my long-winded captions before). Please ask questions if you want more information about anything!

1) Church has lovely pottery chandelier!
2) Alternate Universe Irene buys this for-sale house.
3) This building and I -- passionate love affair.
4) Ugh. Such blue blue. Such empty windows.
5) Arrows point everywhere. Stars on building windows.
6) Corn is king, but nobody eats it.
7) Self-portrait.
8) Sad potatoes in sacks. Not free-range.
9) Love Affair Building. Imagine standing up there!

Malpica, Spain

2009-08-09T14:05:00.006+02:00

In the interest of saving time (time as a commodity!), I continue to write descriptions with seven words or fewer . . .

1) Dona Carmen sorts her sons' percebes.
2) View from room #1.
3) View from room #2.
4) Find perfectly heart-shaped rock! Really!
5) Percebeiro series #1. Ooh.
6) Percebeiro series #2. Aah.
7) Percebeiro series #3. Aagh!
8) Percebeiro series #4. Brr.
9) Percebeiro series #5. Pulse rate up.
10) Malpica from away and above.
11) Children and sea series #1.
12) Children and sea series #2.
13) Children and sea series #3.
14) Children and sea series #4.
15) Percebe auction. Quiet and tense. Money decisions.
16) Poor boat, out of its element.
17) Malpica -- such a vertical town!
18) Obligatory. Seagull and sea. Cliché. Beautiful.

Camarinhas, Spain (and around)

2009-08-09T13:44:00.006+02:00

I'm still writing descriptions with a maximum of seven words!

1) Linda and Gaby -- German hikers-with extraordinaire!
2) Muxia and its big hill. Tiny sailboat.
3) I was kicked out of (this) fish farm! (Shucks! Eight words. And shucks! Kicked out of the fish farm.)
4) Classic.
5) Faro Vilan. Large and pretty, saving ships.
6) Making lace! So complicated-looking. Who invented?
7) World looks a little tilted. Whoops.
8) These waves are bigger than they look.
9) As are these.
10) Bizarre row of houses on hill!
11) See distant green-covered sand dune?
12) Cloud and trees are friends.
13) Find the little house.
14) There! I want to live in it.
15) Natural background, human-made foreground. Same material.
16) Like a strange and perfect alien being.
17) Algae ropes and boats.
18) Ominous clouds. Distant light on water.
19) These cages catch fish! Clever round design.

Muxia, Spain

2009-08-09T13:39:00.002+02:00

Muxia is pronounced "Moo-SHEE-ah." I have only four pictures of it to share. Maximum 28 words of description!

1) Muxia fits into one picture. Empty harbor.
2) Notice stone plot divisions between buildings.
3) Sun setting on a young love.
4) Clear night. Artificial light. Moon. Cat meows.

Cambados, Spain (and O Grove and Villagarcia)

2009-08-09T13:21:00.006+02:00

These photos are from several different towns -- Cambados, O Grove, and Villagarcia -- which Asmus and I visited. I'm going to write descriptions with seven words or fewer again -- little information, so if you have questions, please ask!

1) Boat series #1. Low tide.
2) Tower ruins. Low tide. Goop piles -- yum.
3) It is very squishy ground.
4) Whose red shoes?
5) Boat series #2. Rising tide.
6) Boat series #3. High tide.
7) Cloud show. Low white ones eerily soft.
8) Men leave early to dig for clams.
9) Ruins of Catedral de Santa Marinha. Arches!
10) Cambados from slightly above.
11) Net-mender! Rain or shine, sitting at docks.
12) Pouring ice into boat.
13) Boats are painted in the summer.
14) Sacks of mussels! Boat leans with weight.
15) "Chronicles of Narnia"esque lamppost on dock. Aslan?
16) Composition in blue and green. (Credit to Asmus)
17) Ex-boat. Squishy ground. (Credit to Asmus)
18) O Grove. Bridge leads to Isla Toja. (Credit to Asmus)
19) View of Islas Ons from big hill. (Credit to Asmus)

Santiago de Compostela, Spain

2009-08-09T13:01:00.006+02:00

I have gotten way behind in my photo blog (a full six towns!). I will attempt to do some catch-up the next few times I have internet, and, to minimize the time it takes me to prepare the posts, I will write descriptions with seven words or fewer (yes -- I challenge myself to be concise!). If you have further questions, feel free to ask! The photos are out of chronological order because several were taken by Asmus and have different names from mine. Here are the shortie captions:

1) Santiago from the Monte Pedroso. (Credit to Asmus)
2) Thousands gather to watch cathedral fireworks! Claustrophobia. (Credit to Asmus)
3) Face of man between us. Cheer up! (Credit to my arm!)
4) Chummy chum chums.
5) Ojos de Brujo concert on first night!
6) It is an impressive cathedral.
7) Eucalyptus takes over Galician forests. No koalas.
8) Communications tower! So pretty against blue sky!
9) Communications tower and Catholicism -- chummy chum chums?
10) There is a zebra in the sky.
11) Giant wheel indeed. A carnival must.
12) Old eucalyptus! Man wants to cut down.
13) Cathedral fireworks! Audience of thousands most pleased.
14) Street. (This one was easy!)
15) Galician national pride day." !In-de-pen-den-cia!" Armed officers.
16) Outskirts of Santiago.

Ezaro, Spain

2009-07-25T20:01:00.007+02:00

1) These little houses lie along the road between Ezaro and O Pindo, the next town over. Don’t the mountains look magical?!
2) Site of a water trickle – but it becomes the site of a waterfall when the dam is opened.
3) The “off-limits” machinery room in the electrical building at the base of the river. Some of the equipment is over a hundred years old. I was leaving the museum when the man who had first showed me how to get to it said, “Pssst. Come here. I’ll show you something cool.” (It didn’t sound nearly as sketchy then as it does now in writing.) And he gave me a tour of this room! (And it was not sketchy, because clearly he meant “cool” in the geeky sense of the word.)
4) This is Ezaro on a blue-sky day.
5) If I were a beach, my sand would always have neato-looking patterns like these.
6) And a section of large pebbles. This makes me think of Giant Land in Mario Brothers 3, which I played far too much when I was a little kiddie (as evidenced by the fact that these rocks make me think of it).
7) The waterfall!
8) This is the beginning of the path up to the top of Monte Pindo, A Moa. You begin to understand why one of my flip flops broke on the way down.
9) See the fog?! Magical.
10) Dead trees.
11) Ah, tres belle, tres belle.
12) The view from the top of the mountain! Do you see the very little hill at the end of the coastline? I was there! That’s Monte Louro. Also – FACTOID – this beach, Praia da Carnota, is the longest in Galicia.
13) Wind turbines! And Ezaro from high above.
14) The river just below the dam.
15) My hiking companions, post-hike and pre-swim. From left to right, they are: Manel, ____, Zoraya, Pilar, and Dogs Behind The Tree (they have names, but I have forgotten them).
16) This is a port near the town of Quilmas, which is south of O Pindo (which, in turn, is south of Ezaro). The buildings, which I originally thought were houses, are used to store fishing equipment, like nets and cages.
17) The walk along the equipment storage buildings.
18) A boat! A building! A blue-sky! A beauty-place!
19) Ruins. This was supposed to be an artsy-fartsy picture, but it just turned out a bit confusing (maybe fartsy, but not so artsy).
20) Again. Don’t judge me too harshly, fine photographers. I do appreciate the aesthetic appeal of the scene, even if I can’t capture it.
21) A walk to the coast through these bushes is a cure for the common bad mood (also makes you look tough – scratches all over your legs. Now when people look at me the first thing they think is: “TOUGH”).
22) Here you can see part of the structure of the dam – water flows through those pipes. The blue water is river water, not ocean, and you can see some of the boats that rest in this little harbor.

Muros, Spain

2009-07-19T20:10:00.006+02:00

1) The docks at Muros.
2) Santiago shows me seed mussels – the thin netting disintegrates in a week, by which time the mussels have stuck onto the rope.
3) These are teenaged mussels, held by Felipe. Raising mussels is a full-time job – the mussels have to be transferred to new ropes as they grow (or there are so many of them that they just fall off), so there is a rotation. I wrote in my notebook that there are 500 ropes per batea – now that seems to me an implausibly high number – but even if I’m off by a factor of 10, and there are 50 ropes per batea, and you consider that Felipe, Santiago, Carlos, and Nando maintain 14 bateas – it is a big rotation!
4) This is a batea. I hopped along those wooden beams! I did not fall into the water! Yeeeaaah!!
5) This is the crane used to lift ropes with full-grown mussels.
6) Many mature mussels make marvelous meals.
7) Carlos, Felipe, Nando, and Santiago – my first (wonderful) impression of the Muros fishing community.
8) Manolo, the net-mender, shows me what a trawling (not trolling!) net looks like in miniature. The real ones are enormous, but I don’t have a number to offer you and I won’t guess because I’d embarrass myself.
9) These are marisqueras, women who dig for clams in the sand. You might be able to make out some specks in the water towards the right edge of the photo – those are also marisqueras! They go waist-deep or more in search of almejas finas, babosas, and japonesas. Only women dig for clams on land, and only men dig for them at sea (going by boat to remoter sandy areas). Very gendered work.
10) Here are some almejas japonesas (I think).
11) Look at the reflection of the clouds in the watery sand!
12) Here you can see how big an area the marisqueras have in which to dig.
13) Part of the road to Louro, the next town over (two different people told me that it was two or three kilometers away – it was six). It is a pretty pretty road.
14) I am headed towards that mountain! That is the Monte Louro.
15) Looking down on the town of Louro from Monte Louro.
16) Fiesta night #1 – this man is singing to ME. My apartment (!) was in the building next to the one right behind him. Music all night long.
17) Look how flashy this is! When people told me that there would be “orquestas”, I expected small acoustic bands playing on wooden stages. NO. This stage came out of a truck – like a Transformer – and the special effects were wild.
18) The procession of the Virgen del Carmen starts out at the church . . .
19) . . . continues through town . . .
20) . . . on to the port . . .
21) . . . and now she is on that red boat! All of the littler boats accompanied the Virgen del Carmen a ways out to sea and then back.
22) I just liked this photo. I took it at the chapel where the Virgen del Carmen was finally set down – but have no picture of the chapel itself. Instead, I made a video while the whole town sang a hymn about fishermen! But I’ll have to upload it later.
23) This is fiesta night #3. More costumes and impressive technological feats of entertainment.
24) One of my adoptive grandmothers! This is Candida, who finally smiled (yeeeaaah!!!) on my last afternoon in Muros. I had accidentally come across Pepita’s house while walking through the upper part of town, and they both, of course, pushed me into their kitchens and fed me cookies and cake and hot chocolate. Candida’s fourteen-year-old granddaughter was with us, and, as we were walking into town, Candida told her, “Go, walk a little faster! I’m going to explain something to Irene.” Then she said, “Irene – do you know what the polvorete is really about?” The polvorete is a song that we had danced to the two previous nights – the shockingly sexual one that pretends to be about a rooster instead of a penis. She started explaining and I said, “Yep, got it, got it” and she cackled and cackled. Amusing loss of innocence (I’d figured it out on my own, though! I was proud of that).
25) Another adoptive grandmother, Pepita, Candida’s sister. She sang along to every song the bands played and never let go of my hand. I will miss these two women!

A few more from Vigo!

2009-07-19T19:54:00.002+02:00

Here are a few pictures of the outing on the traditional Galician sailboat with the group Remadoira (e-mailed to me by somebody with a neato waterproof digital camera)! Amable is the big man in the tan t-shirt who hangs off the ropes. Luisa is the only other woman. And Sito, Suso, Javi, ____ and ____ are the other men. My favorite picture is the third one – Luisa and I have just been splashed. Cooold water.

Vigo, Spain

2009-07-14T18:30:00.006+02:00

(A while ago I realized that what I have been calling “clams” are actually “mussels” -- I forgot that those existed. Oysters, clams, and mussels: ostras, almejas, and mejillones.) Here are some photos from Vigo!

1) Vigo’s port, as seen from the Parque do Castro.
2) The towns across from the Ria are called Mainha and Cangas. You can see the bateas, the rafts where mussels (not clams!) are raised, as little brown lines in the water.
3) Galician stone ready for exportation. I find cranes beautiful, especially when there are several of them together so that they look like a herd of grazing animals (also wind turbines).
4) This is Francisco, who gave me the royal tour of the port, standing in front of a mound of salt! The salt, he explained, is used to make a saline solution for the holds in tuna ships, so that the fish is preserved longer.
5) A ship loading (unloading?) aluminum ingots. This kind of crane slides along the sides of the ship and has much more lifting power than the upright ones.
6) Containers! 5000 of them on this dock.
7) These nets are used for drag fishing (trolling? something like that) and need to be fixed periodically.
8) Francisco in front of a tuna ship! This is the back of it – you can see the stern slanting towards the water and the machines used to winch up the nets. Also the high look-out posts! These are my favorite ships.
9) Traditional Galician fishing boats! Each village had a unique kind of boat, but there are a few main designs: gamela (rectangular bottoms), dorna (front and back pointed), chalana . . . Actually, those are just the names of the ones that this group had built. This one is a mix between two designs – it has the form of a dorna but the wood planks overlap as in a gamela. Don’t quote me on this – but do be impressed by how pretty the boats are.
10) These little boats are tiny, and Tonio told me about races between children (his daughter competes!) across the beach. Balance is hard to maintain – “tienes que usar el culo,” Tonio said.
11) Francisco took me up to Monte Alba – the Ria looks so far away! Very pretty, very pretty.
12) Unloading sharks in the wee hours of the morning.
13) This is the Gran Lonja in Vigo – there are lanes for people to walk along. The auction hadn’t started yet, but people were already selling and buying fish.
14) Swordfish.
15) All sharks. I have yet to figure out where they go.
16) Sunrise at the docks.
17) Luisa and Sito in the boat that we took out! This is the only photo I have of it, and I was told not to bring my camera along for the ride because we would get wet – but it is infinitely more beautiful when the square sail is hoisted and full of air, and there is water all around.
18) Cliché postcard photo of the Islas Cies.
19) Morning mist at the Islas Cies! It was all very peaceful until the seagulls started dive-bombing.
20) The reason for dive-bombing. Cute, no? They are little rascals. They purposely stood on the path in front of me so that I couldn’t move forward or around them without being attacked – so of course, I spent a lot more time at the top of the hill than I expected (I refused to risk my eyes, which the seagulls surely would have plucked out, or my life, which is what the seagulls were ultimately after). The chicks make an adorable squeaking sound, though, for which I forgave all.

Baiona, Spain

2009-07-04T21:21:00.005+02:00

1) The port of Baiona – most boats are for sport. The green-roofed building at one o’clock is the lonja, where the fish are sold. There were so few fish (and so few buyers) that the auction was more of a conversation, and oftentimes a box or two of fish wouldn’t find a buyer.
2) This is the view from the water reserve on the mountain above Baiona – another day, I walked along Playa America, which is to the right of the green archipelago in the distance.
3) On the other side of this walkway is a steep dam! And the water in this tank is so beautiful. Look, you can see the bottom in this picture.
4) The mercado in Sabaris, on Monday morning. It was enormous!
5) Here is Juan Jose #1 (Galo) cleaning and sorting his hooks. He has four or five of these containers for his hooks, and every day he and his friends (look in the background!) spend hours preparing the hooks for the next day. The building behind them is the lonja.
6) These are octopus traps. You put a tasty morsel inside and the octopus enters through the hole at the top and forgets to come out. Octopus season starts this week, and many fishermen were putting away their nets for a few months to fish octopus exclusively. A single ship carries out over 500 of these traps, and each of the traps is checked and refilled with bait every day! I was told that there are about 20 ships that fish octopus – I don’t understand how any octopi are left alive.
7) These petroglyphs, at Outeiro dos Lameiros, are 4000 years old! Can you find the six-pointed spiral? It is the only such spiral in Galicia. A serious point of pride.
8) The Alto de O Grobe! Very high up! And there I am doing something like the YMCA.
9) The Virgen de la Roca. She was made in 1910 and is quite large. For scale: the ship that she holds in her right hand holds six people.
10) Roberto took me on his boat! I am standing where the fish are usually dying. Behind me, in the distance, are the Islas Cies.
11) Roberto! He is steering the boat. The metal cylinder that looks like it’s coming out of his chest is a winch, used to pull in the nets.
12) Clam floats! These rafts hold long underwater ropes where baby clams are put to mature. A book on Galicia informs me that the Rias, bays where freshwater from rivers and saltwater from the ocean meet, have such rich waters that clams grow at thrice the rate that they do in other places. (Sure! I believe it.) There were men on the ship to the right shoveling clams into boxes.
13) The wind and my wacky curly hair conspired to give me a 70’s look while I (yours truly, yes, Irene!) steered the boat back to the dock. If only I looked like this every day (and owned a boat).
14) I like the look of this long dock. (So close to alliteration. Shucks.)
15) UFO clouds over the fort that presides over the town. This fort (the people in it) fought against Sir Francis Drake! Also, Baiona was the first place to hear about the New World. Pinzon arrived here on the Pinta three days before Columbus arrived to Lisbon.
16) Guillermo, the seller of fish (among many other duties), holds a big (big) lobster.
17) The clams that Juan Jose #2 (Ge-ge) and I collected, and the instrument of their demise. We gathered two such buckets of them. My toes are there for scale.
18) The clams after Pura and I steamed them and picked them out of their shells! In this picture they look like diseased ears, but they were delicious.

La Guardia, Spain

2009-07-04T20:49:00.006+02:00

1) The sky in La Guardia is always putting on a show, and the seagulls are always watching you -- do you see them on the crane? There are many cranes in Galicia.
2) La Guardia from one of the long docks around its harbor.
3) “Isto e Galiza non Espanha” – I’ve seen a lot of graffiti expressing that sentiment. Look, you can see boats in the other end of the harbor!
4) La lonja, where the auction is a calm and quiet spectator sport. The prices are posted on the big black board on the far wall, and buyers signal that they want to stop at a certain price by means of an electronic control.
5) These people are always at the dock at eleven! They are all helping one fisherman, Antonio, untangle and de-fish his net, and in return, they get good company and fresh fish.
6) This sea urchin is inedible, Benito tells me, but the blue and green ones aren’t. I asked what he was going to do with it, hoping for an answer like, “Oh, I shall toss it back to sea so that it can rejoin its family! Then it shall enjoy the rest of its life in freedom!” – but he said that they are a nuisance and are crushed.
7) Low tide!
8) This is the castro at the Monte de Santa Tecla – these stone circles were the homes of native Gallegos two millennia ago. In the first century AC, after the Roman invasion, the people started moving out of this kind of community and into newly established urban centers on lower ground.
9) La Guardia from the high and far Monte de Santa Tecla. I was probably out of breath when I took this picture.
10) This hill has a higher concentration of stairs than any other hill in the world (possibly) (it looked like it) (not an official factoid).
11) Look at the RAINBOW. It was about twenty-three and a half times more splendid in real life.
12) Look at the OTHER RAINBOW.
13) I have now seen three such fort-like structures that have been overtaken by the sea. I may have passed more without realizing it. (Later: Now I know what they are! Suave Gentleman Lito in Bayona showed me a similar ruin and told me that they were used to keep the catch until it was consumed – so these water-filled tubs housed doomed lobsters, crabs, etc.)
14) This is in the Portuguese city of Caminha, a ten-minute ferry ride away from Spain! Many buildings are covered in colorful tiles like these.
15) The coast is also full of these half-crumbled walls. Some are still used to enclose gardens, especially in the city, but many are overgrown like this one.
16) The view from an abandoned and crumbling house. ! Why would anyone leave?
17) Traditional Portuguese dancing. The little boy was my favorite.

SHUCKS

2009-07-02T20:39:00.003+02:00

I have so many photos that I want to post! But I am wifi-dependent for photo uploads, and I haven´t had wifi in a while. Someday, someday . . .

Just imagine pretty, glorious, big, little, medium-sized, and a few disgusting things for now.

Last days in La Corunha

2009-06-25T18:46:00.010+02:00

1) I am drawn to ruins. Decay! I found these along the road to the Portinho, which is a bus ride and a hike from A Corunha.
2) The view of the Portinho from the Parque de Bens.
3) Hydrangeas grow everywhere in Galicia!
4) Look how clear the water is! This is where I met Scuba Diver Jose.
5) From right to left: Mirela, Guillermo, and Son of Mirela and Guillermo. Without their help, I would have been utterly lost at the lonja.
6) Preparations for the Noche de San Juan! These piles of wood popped up on all of the beaches.
7) Grilled sardines, the traditional dish on the Noche de San Juan. They are salty and delicious. I may have seen these very same fish being sold in the morning!
8) The streets were packed with soon-to-be sardine devourers waiting in line for the grilled fish.
9) Sylvia and I are holding special herbs that women are supposed to soak in water overnight as part of the festival. If you wash your face with the water the following morning, you are beautiful for the rest of the year! Unfortunately, I left my bundle of herbs in Sylvia's bag, and I never wash my face in the mornings anyway. I'll probably be dirty for the rest of the year instead of beautiful.
10) Crowds on the beach on the Noche de San Juan!
11) Left to right: Marta, Juan, Sylvia, Antonio, and Puri. Julia was with us, but she is out cold in her stroller behind Juan.
13) FIRE.
14) FIRE and THRONGS.

Views, fish sales, and ancient stone buildings (La Corunha, Spain -- also Baronha and Corrubedo)

2009-06-21T11:07:00.023+02:00

This time they're in chronological order! I win!

1) A Corunha from the Monte de San Pedro.
2) Chocolate con churros -- delicious and, as a bonus, chock-full of vitamins and minerals. Low in calories and cholesterol. All natural. Meal of champions.
3) Octopus is a delicacy here. (But they're so intelligent!)
4) I've forgotten what these fish are called, but see how many of them there are! There were . . . mmm . . . about forty or fifty times this many crates in total. + or - twenty times (counting is a skill I never quite mastered).
5) A big ray.
6) A beast.
7) Sharks.
8) A fish auction!
9) The sun rises at the docks.
10) The Celtic village -- do you see the circles of rocks? This is either from the fourth century (says Juan) or 2000-2500 years old (says Simon).
11) Sylvia and Juan! And Julia!
12) Starfish death.
13) Okay, I'll move in.
14) Simon and Almudena!
15) Very natural pose in front of a 6000-year-old tomb marker.
16) Juan pushes Julia through the sand -- this should be an Olympic sport.
17) Praia de Ladeira near Corrubedo.
18) The view from the Mirador de la Curota.

Ships and stones in A Corunha

2009-06-19T08:38:00.014+02:00

Well. I can't figure out how to format these photos, or maybe it's just that my computer screen is too small. If they look all crowded to you, too, pretend it's a matching game! Oh boy!!!

10) A congrio -- mmmmmm.

9) One of the "day boats" (which leave at 4:00 am and arrive at 10:30/11:00 am) pulls into the Lonja, where people buy fresh fish.

8) Fishing storage garages. Multiply this scene by twenty or so and you have the entire fishing dock.

7) In this photo you can see the nets on Fran's boat!

6) The navigational system on Fran's boat! These are routes to get in and out of the A Corunha port.

5) Where fish are cleaned in Fran's boat!

4) One of the most beautiful corners of the city. There are two monuments here -- the rounded stones are just for "Celtic" influence (the man who told me used quotation marks), and what I called "Baby Stonehenge" in the written blog is a memorial for the people who were executed on this hill during the Franco dictatorship.

3) Empty recreational watercraft docks.

2) A boat!

1) Beach maximum density law.

Goodbyes are difficult

2009-06-16T17:11:00.001+02:00

I flatter myself by pretending that this means that my cat Vega will miss me. Really she just has a smelly shoe fetish.

Is this face ready to travel the world for a year?

2009-06-16T15:35:00.000+02:00

This is the photo on my Watson ID -- the before picture. By the end of the year, my face will be caked in a one-inch layer of dirt, because I won't be showering at all during my travels. Just kidding. But who knows what the after picture will look like?!