First, apologies for the last post. Second, we have made it half way through France! Avignon is a beautiful and lively tiny city of art and theatre and our dear friend Cecily is taking great care of us. As I write this blog I sit in a street cafe listening to the performers trying to entice crowds to their theatre shows with music and singing and sword fights!
On the way to Avignon, Brian and I spent day after day on the Mediterranean watching the small waves lap at the sandy rocky shore and looking down 20 feet into the sea below us as we swam. We biked through several cities and small towns and continue to face the French with wary eyes as they either shout encouragement or curses at us from their cars!
Our informal campsites continue to improve as we get better at selection and slightly more bold about our presence. We camped on a large hill above the Mediterranean amongst power lines and beautiful clouds accented by the sunset and then the next night along another canal surrounded on all sides by acres and acres of vineyards- and mosquitoes- our nemesis!
Some highlights: Brian and I witnessed a fantastic display of windsurfing and kite boarding in the knee deep bay and I am convinced my next sport will be kite boarding! We experienced a real French Bastille Day celebration in a small town where "Brian is in the kitchen" came back (see Brian's blog post several days ago) and we befriended some French folks while drinking Ricard with water and witnessing a bull running- except the French run AFTER the bulls! What cheaters. Last night, we chatted with Romanians and Americans and went to our very first discotheque. Moderately bad music aside, it was good to dance in Europe again, even if it was a gay bar.
This evening, we joined Cecily and her friend Andrea to see a Hungarian written Romanian adapted play in French. To say the least it was translated a few too many times. But a good attempt at depicting eastern European family life post communism...
All and all, Avignon treats us well and we are taking it all in with many glasses of Rose. Brian and I will try to reach Milan in 10 days between trains and heavy riding after the Tour de France. We will witness the stage beginning in Nimes and ending in Digne-de-Bains on Saturday the 19th. We hope you will look for us in the broadcast that day! With internet access and lots of time, we hope to continue heavy blogging to relate our adventures. Bon soir!
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
To Montpelier
Unfortunately I am out of time for writing this but 2 more flats and rain made riding difficult two days ago. Fortunately, the aid of a Frenchman delivered us from the side of a highway in the rain in a truck after Brian hitchhiked us out of there. This trip seems to move and churn in waves of euphoria and relaxation constrasted sharply by absolute struggle both mentally, physically, and emotionally for both of us. This is an amazing journey both joyous and difficult. More to come at a later date. Love and miss you all.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
America, Part Deux
As the title might suggest, our time spent in France has been significantly different in experience and landscape than that I had in Spain. Certainly there is a change in people and attitudes and the way we are treated.
First, the landscape: ever much more like the United States than Spain. We have encountered beach towns which could have been ANYWHERE in the midatlantic on the coast including the kitchy American soft rock cover band set up at the end of the main drag toward the sea before the sand and oversized hotels with overpriced food in the bottom floor. We have also witnessed American type foods which surprised us and the Mega Super Market is in full swing and running small businesses out of town. New single family suburbs dot, or more accurately, consume, the countryside. None of these were the case in the Spain I saw. Amazing transformation. The French and Americans seem very closely tied.
On bikes, especially with my French jersey on, thank you Istvan, I am the most popular guy: people shout Vive la France out their windows and people honk and wave and kids on scooters yell Allez Allez! We are now in Tour de France country, also. Outside Beziers, the tour will pass this point in just 6 days! We will catch it somewhere near or beyond Avignon, so look at the replay that night, everyone, for the Americans holding a huge sign: TOUR de AWESOME. We are sure to get on the broadcast! I will give better info on that in the near future.
Yesterday we rode long and hard and even drafted a tractor for about 7 km and have pictures to prove it! We wound through vineyards and had our first rainshower in weeks. The feeling of water dropping from the sky onto the skin to cool us was a religious experience for me. Life giving water. I also had my first tire blow and it really went. Sliced the tire and thank goodness for my tire boots to keep me moving forward after a sweaty dirty tire repair which left me drenched and my hands black.
The day ended in a celebration though we do not exactly know what of. The local mens high school American football team rushed us in the street on our bikes as we rounded a corner looking for a place to end our days journey and force fed us strange alcohol mixed with lemonades and wines. We chugged to their cheers and they threw water all over us. They chanted and jumped up and down and so did we. This was the most exciting moment of the trip and we felt that the once American countryside held some secrets afterall. After a long ride we reached what we knew must be home in this beautiful, excited, lively French town and stayed at the hotel for showers and laundering and the first night of the 4 night festival in the town. Today we ride again, after a brief recovery, back to the sea!
First, the landscape: ever much more like the United States than Spain. We have encountered beach towns which could have been ANYWHERE in the midatlantic on the coast including the kitchy American soft rock cover band set up at the end of the main drag toward the sea before the sand and oversized hotels with overpriced food in the bottom floor. We have also witnessed American type foods which surprised us and the Mega Super Market is in full swing and running small businesses out of town. New single family suburbs dot, or more accurately, consume, the countryside. None of these were the case in the Spain I saw. Amazing transformation. The French and Americans seem very closely tied.
On bikes, especially with my French jersey on, thank you Istvan, I am the most popular guy: people shout Vive la France out their windows and people honk and wave and kids on scooters yell Allez Allez! We are now in Tour de France country, also. Outside Beziers, the tour will pass this point in just 6 days! We will catch it somewhere near or beyond Avignon, so look at the replay that night, everyone, for the Americans holding a huge sign: TOUR de AWESOME. We are sure to get on the broadcast! I will give better info on that in the near future.
Yesterday we rode long and hard and even drafted a tractor for about 7 km and have pictures to prove it! We wound through vineyards and had our first rainshower in weeks. The feeling of water dropping from the sky onto the skin to cool us was a religious experience for me. Life giving water. I also had my first tire blow and it really went. Sliced the tire and thank goodness for my tire boots to keep me moving forward after a sweaty dirty tire repair which left me drenched and my hands black.
The day ended in a celebration though we do not exactly know what of. The local mens high school American football team rushed us in the street on our bikes as we rounded a corner looking for a place to end our days journey and force fed us strange alcohol mixed with lemonades and wines. We chugged to their cheers and they threw water all over us. They chanted and jumped up and down and so did we. This was the most exciting moment of the trip and we felt that the once American countryside held some secrets afterall. After a long ride we reached what we knew must be home in this beautiful, excited, lively French town and stayed at the hotel for showers and laundering and the first night of the 4 night festival in the town. Today we ride again, after a brief recovery, back to the sea!
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Lets Start It!
Brian and I had one of the lowest points of the journey recently, when we had left Bareclona and were traveling the rocky Costa Brava. We experienced some physical and emotional set backs. In the face of a failed bike lock tying the bikes together seemingly forever, we waited for the car mechanic to reopen and cut through one of our locks! We decided the day was doomed for riding at 7PM and retired to L'Estartit, where out of our frustration we happened to mount an enormous hill in a residential street, only to become completely exhausted, doubled over, and climb onto a wall overlooking the perfect Mediterranean port in evening and down on an abandon villa carport. Such ended, in our Mediterranean villa, the difficult day.
The town name, appropriate in our state of rebirth and starting new our journies, rang true as we cycled away early and climbed, reached, passed and had a beer in celebration of: CROSSING THE FRENCH BORDER! I have officially cycled through an entire country. I spent 32 days completely excited about Spain, Spanish, and these people of Southern Europe but it is time to move ever onward. Pressing the pedals down, down.
Suddenly, all Spanish has dissappeared, Brian must rely on my French, the poor guy, and we camped on a bluff overlooking the Mediterranean at the end of the mighty continental Pyrenees where they crashed into the crystal blue sea. We ate our dinner in the sea breeze at dusk and shared a bottle of wine with some French people we befriended and I practiced my French! This got easier as the wine consumption continued along, as is to be expected. We are marching ever north now and shoot for crossing paths with the Tour de France in just 7 days!! Vivela France!
The town name, appropriate in our state of rebirth and starting new our journies, rang true as we cycled away early and climbed, reached, passed and had a beer in celebration of: CROSSING THE FRENCH BORDER! I have officially cycled through an entire country. I spent 32 days completely excited about Spain, Spanish, and these people of Southern Europe but it is time to move ever onward. Pressing the pedals down, down.
Suddenly, all Spanish has dissappeared, Brian must rely on my French, the poor guy, and we camped on a bluff overlooking the Mediterranean at the end of the mighty continental Pyrenees where they crashed into the crystal blue sea. We ate our dinner in the sea breeze at dusk and shared a bottle of wine with some French people we befriended and I practiced my French! This got easier as the wine consumption continued along, as is to be expected. We are marching ever north now and shoot for crossing paths with the Tour de France in just 7 days!! Vivela France!
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Home and Road
Having now left the United States 4 weeks ago and now very deep into the book On the Road, I thought I might have a go at discussing a topic which would interest anyone, but is of special excitement to a Geographer. Again, I must nod to a professor of cultural geography, Edmunds Bunkse for introducing me to this concept.
The concept of home and road is one which many of us, either in travel, in situ, or in writing, experience almost daily. We are subject to it because both are our realities as humans. The home and the road are two situations and two sets of feelings and landscapes. However, there are really three possibilities. The third being that the road is the home, but more on that later.
The dichotomy of home and road leaves most undeniably yearning for the other at some point during their situation. Just think- when one is at home, they are bound to routine and similar landscapes and similar climates and, most of all, similar people. There is food, shelter, and familiarity where one has a home. It leads to feelings of comfort and security, but these are not always the most important aspects to humans.
We have other desires which begin to boil to the surface when one is at home. They are feelings of desire for adventure, new places and new people. A need to break away from routine and learn new things about the world and about ourselves. This leads us to the road. The road is the place for adventure and exploration of landscapes and self. This excitement and opportunity to grow draws us away from the home. The person on the road, although they appreciate their situation because it is outside of routine, also finds the unfamiliarity may eventually become too great. The road does not provide comfort and security as does the home. So, those on the road, though they may be envied, experience pangs of ¨home sickness¨which is really just a desire for comfort and security.
Such is the dichotomy of what some geographers consider undeniable human nature. However, there is the third possibility looming, in which the unusual individual finds themselves only at ¨home¨on the road! The charactersitics which define home for many of us are equivalent to the road for this certain group. They are forever bound to the road or they will never be at home. It can be a lonely and difficult existence, one learned early in life and then never shaken.
Such musings often roll over me as I roll through the Spanish hills on my bike, on the road. Fortunately, I have loving and caring homes that I know I can return to. For now, the feeling of security and comfort be damned, I am in Europe again.
The concept of home and road is one which many of us, either in travel, in situ, or in writing, experience almost daily. We are subject to it because both are our realities as humans. The home and the road are two situations and two sets of feelings and landscapes. However, there are really three possibilities. The third being that the road is the home, but more on that later.
The dichotomy of home and road leaves most undeniably yearning for the other at some point during their situation. Just think- when one is at home, they are bound to routine and similar landscapes and similar climates and, most of all, similar people. There is food, shelter, and familiarity where one has a home. It leads to feelings of comfort and security, but these are not always the most important aspects to humans.
We have other desires which begin to boil to the surface when one is at home. They are feelings of desire for adventure, new places and new people. A need to break away from routine and learn new things about the world and about ourselves. This leads us to the road. The road is the place for adventure and exploration of landscapes and self. This excitement and opportunity to grow draws us away from the home. The person on the road, although they appreciate their situation because it is outside of routine, also finds the unfamiliarity may eventually become too great. The road does not provide comfort and security as does the home. So, those on the road, though they may be envied, experience pangs of ¨home sickness¨which is really just a desire for comfort and security.
Such is the dichotomy of what some geographers consider undeniable human nature. However, there is the third possibility looming, in which the unusual individual finds themselves only at ¨home¨on the road! The charactersitics which define home for many of us are equivalent to the road for this certain group. They are forever bound to the road or they will never be at home. It can be a lonely and difficult existence, one learned early in life and then never shaken.
Such musings often roll over me as I roll through the Spanish hills on my bike, on the road. Fortunately, I have loving and caring homes that I know I can return to. For now, the feeling of security and comfort be damned, I am in Europe again.
Zaragoza-Barcelona, Simply.
I am now sitting down to a computer in the home of Bernat´s parents on yet another beautiful day in Barcelona where the winds blows off the green hills to dance among women´s dresses and the sun brings forth the masses to descend upon the sand and play in the oh-so-blue surf.
Brian and I boarded a train in Zaragoza too escape the desert and trecherous heat of the Spanish interior. As we rolled out of town on a much cooler day than our arrival, we followed the Rio Ebro and suddenly the Spanish landscape flew past our big train window. The pace of the bicycle was shattered by the daunting speed of the local ¨slow¨train. We read and slept as the abandon weather-beaten cottages flew past our windows. Hills, dry, full of rock had broken the owners of the lands and the only remaining residents lived in the small towns dotting the countryside. Winter, the wettest, was the only growing season here. Then the Mediterranean suddenly jumped into view and I was beyond excitement. After hearing about it from my family so many times, it was finally mine to hold in my sight and play in for many weeks to come!
We arrived in Barcelona in a beautiful train station and immediately were thrown into tourist frenzy. To find our place to meet Bernat, Brian and I latched onto Americans and Italians who had maps or were going to the subway and everyone was very happy to help a fellow tourist. Unfortunately, this also made me feel like I cheated my way into and around the city whereas until now, I was spoken to only in Spanish and treated like a crazy foreigner- a feeling which settles and becomes a satisfying role. No longer. We made it to Bernat and ate a delicious traditional Catalan dinner in which we spread tomato and oil and salt on the bread and then loaded meats and cheeses upon the bread! Heaven. We have also consumed an inordinate level of wine.
We finished the night in Bernat´s favorite bar where we continued to catch up with him and learn more about his life here while strolling the exciting, vibrant streets full of people even on a Thursday. I spoke with a Slovak fellow who worked for the Red Cross in Burundi with war prisoners. He was on vacation to escape the realities of his daily life for just one week and will return two days from now. I asked him to share some of his life and it was an important reminder of just how easily our lives drift along in the developed world with very few cares relatively. Even my trip made me feel all-too-privilaged and I tried to avoid the subject but I was left in a changed state the rest of the evening after an hour of talking with the man.
The next day, Brian and I spent time in the local area, seeing a bar Bernat´s roommate was opening and getting a cafe and buying a new shirt for me. I decided I need more than just one t-shirt for the next several weeks where it will be warm. I look distinctly more European, or at least Pakistani, in it. We cruised to the tourist sights- Gaudi´s cathderal and park spaces to witness not only interesting architecture but HORDES of tourists. Enough to make a man crazy and so Brian opted out and slept by the end of it while I strolled some more of the park grounds. The cathedral was so ornate and unbeievable that I was glad to spend that time despite the tourists.
In the evening, Brian went to visit a friend who happened to be living in the city as of a week ago and I ate a late dinner with Bernat and strolled the streets to eventually meet his girl, Stella, a very kind Greek who spoke perfect English despite never having traveled to an English speaking country. We spent time in an unusual place full of skateboaders and sitters just talking and carrying on with beers being sold by Pakistani men. The scene is loud and exciting and public- an unusual combination for an American to witness. We ended the evening at a bar which I loved. The front window had aqua con gas pitcher antiques and the place was packed crowded in with good lighting behind the bar and loud with the music loud enough to roll over everybody. The music was all American and British soul, jazz, instrumentals and the crowd would occasionally break out in dance to a good one- though no one really moved far because you couldn´t. I stood with my back pressed against the bar or turned around the whole night talking with Bernat or his girlfriend or her Greek friends. We got home after 3, my first real European night out in several years!
Today we biked to see Bernat´s hometown and swim for the Mediterranean for the first time in my life! The water is clear beautiful blue and the perfect temperature. We swam and came to the house for a great vegetable lunch and will return tonight to town for a beach party! Brian and I are really enjoying the Barcelona scene- Brian says its his favorite location so far. But thats it for my first Mediterranean update- many more to come!
Brian and I boarded a train in Zaragoza too escape the desert and trecherous heat of the Spanish interior. As we rolled out of town on a much cooler day than our arrival, we followed the Rio Ebro and suddenly the Spanish landscape flew past our big train window. The pace of the bicycle was shattered by the daunting speed of the local ¨slow¨train. We read and slept as the abandon weather-beaten cottages flew past our windows. Hills, dry, full of rock had broken the owners of the lands and the only remaining residents lived in the small towns dotting the countryside. Winter, the wettest, was the only growing season here. Then the Mediterranean suddenly jumped into view and I was beyond excitement. After hearing about it from my family so many times, it was finally mine to hold in my sight and play in for many weeks to come!
We arrived in Barcelona in a beautiful train station and immediately were thrown into tourist frenzy. To find our place to meet Bernat, Brian and I latched onto Americans and Italians who had maps or were going to the subway and everyone was very happy to help a fellow tourist. Unfortunately, this also made me feel like I cheated my way into and around the city whereas until now, I was spoken to only in Spanish and treated like a crazy foreigner- a feeling which settles and becomes a satisfying role. No longer. We made it to Bernat and ate a delicious traditional Catalan dinner in which we spread tomato and oil and salt on the bread and then loaded meats and cheeses upon the bread! Heaven. We have also consumed an inordinate level of wine.
We finished the night in Bernat´s favorite bar where we continued to catch up with him and learn more about his life here while strolling the exciting, vibrant streets full of people even on a Thursday. I spoke with a Slovak fellow who worked for the Red Cross in Burundi with war prisoners. He was on vacation to escape the realities of his daily life for just one week and will return two days from now. I asked him to share some of his life and it was an important reminder of just how easily our lives drift along in the developed world with very few cares relatively. Even my trip made me feel all-too-privilaged and I tried to avoid the subject but I was left in a changed state the rest of the evening after an hour of talking with the man.
The next day, Brian and I spent time in the local area, seeing a bar Bernat´s roommate was opening and getting a cafe and buying a new shirt for me. I decided I need more than just one t-shirt for the next several weeks where it will be warm. I look distinctly more European, or at least Pakistani, in it. We cruised to the tourist sights- Gaudi´s cathderal and park spaces to witness not only interesting architecture but HORDES of tourists. Enough to make a man crazy and so Brian opted out and slept by the end of it while I strolled some more of the park grounds. The cathedral was so ornate and unbeievable that I was glad to spend that time despite the tourists.
In the evening, Brian went to visit a friend who happened to be living in the city as of a week ago and I ate a late dinner with Bernat and strolled the streets to eventually meet his girl, Stella, a very kind Greek who spoke perfect English despite never having traveled to an English speaking country. We spent time in an unusual place full of skateboaders and sitters just talking and carrying on with beers being sold by Pakistani men. The scene is loud and exciting and public- an unusual combination for an American to witness. We ended the evening at a bar which I loved. The front window had aqua con gas pitcher antiques and the place was packed crowded in with good lighting behind the bar and loud with the music loud enough to roll over everybody. The music was all American and British soul, jazz, instrumentals and the crowd would occasionally break out in dance to a good one- though no one really moved far because you couldn´t. I stood with my back pressed against the bar or turned around the whole night talking with Bernat or his girlfriend or her Greek friends. We got home after 3, my first real European night out in several years!
Today we biked to see Bernat´s hometown and swim for the Mediterranean for the first time in my life! The water is clear beautiful blue and the perfect temperature. We swam and came to the house for a great vegetable lunch and will return tonight to town for a beach party! Brian and I are really enjoying the Barcelona scene- Brian says its his favorite location so far. But thats it for my first Mediterranean update- many more to come!
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Bilbao-Victoria Gastiez-Estella-Desert-Zaragoza
Hola from Zaragoza! (Make sure you lisp those Z´s!) Brian and I have made serious headway on this journey and we will continue to make serious distance with the aid of train tomorrow, but more on that later!
Last I wrote, we were in Bilbao experiencing the exciting architecture of the city. We went to the Guggenheim and took in some incredible works of art in two exhibitions: Juan Munoz and the surrealists. Juan Munoz I knew and recognized from works at the Hirshhorn in Washington. His work makes the viewer feel an outsider to another world. Our afternoon strolling through these works of art was extremely pleasant and we ended our Bilbao day with the Spanish semifinal in which they destroyed Russia. As in Basque country, Brian and I were the only ones cheering on the national team!!! A thunderstorm to end the day made me happy to be out of the weather in our Hostal, too.
We left the next morning, gear dry, and ready to take on the road once again. Brian climbed his first pass at 645 meters and we ended the day dry and in good spirits. On Saturday, we rode through Victoria- Gastiez with its University and saw lots of young people. It was a very new extremely clean city with enormous development projects at its edge. Brian commented that it may remind him of Dubai! Dozens of tall structures with accompanying cranes protruded from the hills. In town, we ate grand pasteries in the excessive sun and heat and then took off again down the road without an internet connection. With a box of bad but good red wine in an orchard in the sunset, we spent our last night informal camping before reaching Estella. Our tents were ignored by the local farmer, or he didn´t see us in his orchard! We finished the stretch to Estella the next morning and watched the Spanish final in the small town with locals and some Aussies and Kiwis. The heat really began this Sunday. We could not stand the hours between 12 and 5- even at the pool. A sign of things to come.
The scorching, dry heat pressed and increased as we rode out of the hills finally and into the Spanish plain, nay, desert. For the next two days, Brian and I could not bike from 1PM to 6PM. If we did, we got very overheated in a matter of minutes and the continuous sun began to break us. We saw beautiful landscapes reminding Brian of the Mexican Pleatea and ruins and the sun. White houses with residents cooling themselves in the shade of their cool homes when we reached the unusual small town. The sun is the most memorable part of the past two days. It was, however, two days of centuries. The heat may have hit and destroyed the century mark for fahrenheit, but we also rode at least two kilometer centuries. In fact, yesterday, Brian and I rode approximately 120 km to reach the campsite in Zaragoza. We rode 80 km of that after 6 PM! We are certainly getting strong and increasing our endurance drastically. Riding at the right time of day is critical. The Spanish siesta is suddenly very sensible to us.
Before last night which we spent in the Expo campsite- the campsite for the world´s fair entitled ¨Water and Sustainable Development¨. We slept in the desert, after cooling our sun-overheated bodies in a cold, blue canal. It was amazingly refreshing dunking in 50 degree mountain water, but sleeping was not as refreshing. A thunderstorm blew over to our east and we experienced major winds for several hours. Brian and my presence in the tents alone anchored them.
Today, though, we explored the Expo and found it disturbingly unsustainable. I am questioning the use of the spaces, the future use of the site, and the actual water sustainability of the site itself! Watering planted sod in the middle of a 90 degree day and spraying mist into the arid desert air lacks what I would consider a sustainable angle. Brian and I have studied all this at some length and may even coordinate to write a piece on what we´ve witnessed here at the Unsustainable Expo.
Tomorrow is exciting! We will ride a local train to Barcelona! I have not ridden European rail for many years and we can even bring our bikes aboard! No more desert riding. And a serious rest after 220km in 2 days. Our bodies are ready for it. The rest of today we will explore this desert city and retire to the campsite and prepare for a new form of travel!
For those who have emailed and left comments I am wholly appreciative. Your thoughts and comments place my daily activities and current life in a beautiful perspective. Shannon, I hope the delivery is perfect when it happens and I can´t wait to have a new first-cousin-once-removed! Love and miss you all.
Last I wrote, we were in Bilbao experiencing the exciting architecture of the city. We went to the Guggenheim and took in some incredible works of art in two exhibitions: Juan Munoz and the surrealists. Juan Munoz I knew and recognized from works at the Hirshhorn in Washington. His work makes the viewer feel an outsider to another world. Our afternoon strolling through these works of art was extremely pleasant and we ended our Bilbao day with the Spanish semifinal in which they destroyed Russia. As in Basque country, Brian and I were the only ones cheering on the national team!!! A thunderstorm to end the day made me happy to be out of the weather in our Hostal, too.
We left the next morning, gear dry, and ready to take on the road once again. Brian climbed his first pass at 645 meters and we ended the day dry and in good spirits. On Saturday, we rode through Victoria- Gastiez with its University and saw lots of young people. It was a very new extremely clean city with enormous development projects at its edge. Brian commented that it may remind him of Dubai! Dozens of tall structures with accompanying cranes protruded from the hills. In town, we ate grand pasteries in the excessive sun and heat and then took off again down the road without an internet connection. With a box of bad but good red wine in an orchard in the sunset, we spent our last night informal camping before reaching Estella. Our tents were ignored by the local farmer, or he didn´t see us in his orchard! We finished the stretch to Estella the next morning and watched the Spanish final in the small town with locals and some Aussies and Kiwis. The heat really began this Sunday. We could not stand the hours between 12 and 5- even at the pool. A sign of things to come.
The scorching, dry heat pressed and increased as we rode out of the hills finally and into the Spanish plain, nay, desert. For the next two days, Brian and I could not bike from 1PM to 6PM. If we did, we got very overheated in a matter of minutes and the continuous sun began to break us. We saw beautiful landscapes reminding Brian of the Mexican Pleatea and ruins and the sun. White houses with residents cooling themselves in the shade of their cool homes when we reached the unusual small town. The sun is the most memorable part of the past two days. It was, however, two days of centuries. The heat may have hit and destroyed the century mark for fahrenheit, but we also rode at least two kilometer centuries. In fact, yesterday, Brian and I rode approximately 120 km to reach the campsite in Zaragoza. We rode 80 km of that after 6 PM! We are certainly getting strong and increasing our endurance drastically. Riding at the right time of day is critical. The Spanish siesta is suddenly very sensible to us.
Before last night which we spent in the Expo campsite- the campsite for the world´s fair entitled ¨Water and Sustainable Development¨. We slept in the desert, after cooling our sun-overheated bodies in a cold, blue canal. It was amazingly refreshing dunking in 50 degree mountain water, but sleeping was not as refreshing. A thunderstorm blew over to our east and we experienced major winds for several hours. Brian and my presence in the tents alone anchored them.
Today, though, we explored the Expo and found it disturbingly unsustainable. I am questioning the use of the spaces, the future use of the site, and the actual water sustainability of the site itself! Watering planted sod in the middle of a 90 degree day and spraying mist into the arid desert air lacks what I would consider a sustainable angle. Brian and I have studied all this at some length and may even coordinate to write a piece on what we´ve witnessed here at the Unsustainable Expo.
Tomorrow is exciting! We will ride a local train to Barcelona! I have not ridden European rail for many years and we can even bring our bikes aboard! No more desert riding. And a serious rest after 220km in 2 days. Our bodies are ready for it. The rest of today we will explore this desert city and retire to the campsite and prepare for a new form of travel!
For those who have emailed and left comments I am wholly appreciative. Your thoughts and comments place my daily activities and current life in a beautiful perspective. Shannon, I hope the delivery is perfect when it happens and I can´t wait to have a new first-cousin-once-removed! Love and miss you all.
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