La Roche Ecrite was great, really, really great, but I forgot my headlamp, which kind of put me in a hurry to get to camp and get it set up before dark. Justin and Emilie (a french girl) were a good fifteen minutes behind me, as they had just arrived when I had the tent all set up and ready. But it was cool, and we ate some good couscous with spaghetti sauce, cheese and sausage (mmmm). Plus on the way up, another oiseaux la vierge came right up to me. He was even closer this time! I love how curious those birds are. The morning was crazy, because Justin and Emilie wanted to get up before the sun had risen so that they could see the sunrise from the peak, even though they had no lights at all. I told them that it was a dumb idea and that I wasn't going with them. In any case, they left early in the morning, and I spread out a little in the tent (as I had been sleeping on a root) got about thirty minutes of sleep when I realized that it was getting light out. I jumped up, threw some warm clothes and my boots on, grabbed my camera and booked it up the trail (I did in fact want to see the sunrise, and knew that if I hurried, I might just be able to catch it). A good thirty or fourty minutes later, I caught up with them as they shuffled along the trail, cold and tired. So we all reached the peak at the same time, after taking our time to get there and we saw that there was a break in the clouds when we got there. So we ran up, snapped a few quick photos of the view, and just then the wind brought clouds which completely envelopped us, and that was the end of the view for that day. so we were lucky! :) We spent a little more time up there in the hopes that it would clear up, but it didn't, and when I started to get cold, I told them we had better leave, and we eventually did (hiking with girls who hike in shoes bought from some french boutique is not advised). We made a good breakfast couscous :) and hit the trail after warming ourselves in the morning sun. We had decided, in fact, to return by another route, for a change of scenery, which was good, but bad at the same time. This other trail was very rarely traveled and there were plants growing right next to it so that you couldn't see where you put your feet. Also, it had been raining a bit, and the trail was a mud trail, but not like the mud back home. This mud had been baking for a few months every year during the dry seasons, and was as hard as bricks, but the surface was as slippery as ice. So we were pretty dirty by the end, but it was worth it, as I saw a few flowers I'd never seen before and it was really, really pretty. Anyhow, we got a couple of lifts to a bus station and eventually got dropped off right next to campus. It was a tough weekend, but the hike up on top was amazing, and the contrast of colors here is always stunning to my eyes.
After that, I went with a bunch of people to a place called Trois Bassins, which, obviously, has three large pools, two of which have waterfalls, the other one is obviously fueled by a large underground spring (I guess), and that one you can cliff dive. The first one was magnificent, and we were there before the sun had hit the water, so it was still frigid, but it was the bluest, clearest water I've ever seen in a fresh water pool. It was amazing! I went swimming a little and explored the waterfall, and dove a little bit off of rocks and such, but the real cliff diving was at the top pool, where you could jump from a good 25 ft. above the water or from roughly 50 ft. I only dove from the 25 footer because when I dove, I tried to show off and do a front flip, but I didn't turn enough and landed flat on my back. So I was in a good bit of pain for a few minutes followed by a long period of discomfort, but life goes on and it was worth it. The coolest thing about the whole day was that we found two cameleons just hanging out in the elephant ears next to the pool. That was awesome to see up close, and I have a few good pics. Then when we hiked out, we went out through a way where you had to walk through parts that were completely dark (it was an old aqueduct) and that was really fun. So that was a good day. O yeah, and I found a piece of bamboo there that I eventually made into a fishing rod. I haven't caught anything yet, but keep your fingers crossed...
Ok, so then I went to do the Chemin des Anglais, which is an old road made by the English when they were here, but it was pretty tough at points. Personally I feel bad for all the poor donkeys that had to pull stuff up and down that road. Anyways, the views were amazing, the walk only lasted two hours and it really wasn't that hard. The wierdest thing was that there were seven guys cutting the grass that grew in between the stones of the road at the very end. It seemed to me like a very big waste, but I guess its work. Regardless, here are some pictures. :)
So that was fun... :)
And then the great round-about the island! Me and my friend Sarah decided a while back that we were going to do something crazy, and this is the result - to hitch hike around the island searching for the perfect croissant. And we did. People here are much more welcome to hitch hikers than they are back home (maybe that's because its illegal in the states) and we had no problems making it all the way around. And although we did get a few crazy people (like one guy who told us that there was a serpent in the river in St. Souzanne that bit one of his friends in the ear as he was standing on the bank), most of the people who gave us lifts were amazing, and very interesting. One guy had been travelling his whole life, and had plans to move somewhere else soon (he has been on the island for two years). A girl that gave us a lift was living in an abandonned house with a bunch of other artists (she was a potter) who were trying to put the life back into an area ravaged by unemployment. there was another guy who had been working for ten years straight in a morgue, so he had two years paid leave and was taking care of a hobo he found on the streets and driving around doing random things (like picking up hitch hikers). He was especially nice and took us to his home, offered us a little of some rhum arrangé he had, some avocados he grew and even gave us a little wall hanging of Reunion Island. If ever I come back, I'll chill in his pad. There were about nine people in all, and it was amazing to meet each of them. My only regret is that I was not as relaxed as I should have been, and I was just waiting for most of them to pull over to some bushes, pull out a chainsaw and hack us up. I think that the youth of our generation have been spoiled by all those stupid horror movies. Anyways, the croissants were nice too, we actually found the perfect croissant at a gas station twenty minutes from campus, which I think is absurd, but it really was better than all the others. We still did the tour of the island even though we found the croissant the first place we tried (it may not have been the most scientific thing I've ever done, but it was worth it).
The Perfect Croissant (bask in its glory).
Saturday - start to cross the island on foot. :) More picture/stories later!
In other news, I've got my last exam on the 22nd and then I'm DONE done. It'll be nice, but I've got to study for it, and I've got to get a good grade, because that's my biology class, and I have to pass this class for this semester to be any good, and this exam is going to be hard, if the practice exam is any indication. Regardless, I can do it, and I will do it, so yeah. :)
Until next time...
1 comment:
I had a dream about you a few weeks ago. All that you did was come back from Africa and everyone was excited. Just thought you should know. : )
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