Madalo

I don’t like that man. I must get to know him better.—Abraham Lincoln I hate camping. Or is it, “I am the sort of person who hates camping.” Or, “I’m the type who puts up with camping only when really good photo ops are involved.”? In the past year, I’ve been harassed, railroaded, and manipulated into temporary tent-living on multiple occasions, which would be odd for someone who actually hated camping. In each case, I had a specific rationale for overriding my dislike: I did it to get those Big Bend photos, to reconnect with a European friend who has romantic notions about the American Southwest, and because My Man really needed a nature transfusion. I did it for them, I told myself—I did it even though I Hate Camping. But this last bout has made ... read more

I woke up slowly from a dream that receded as fast as I ran after it, then faster. Soft light filtered through the curtains and delineated the sink, the red locker, the blue-painted door, and the floor lamp that had a paper shade in the shape of those extraterrestrial pods that take you while you sleep. The hostel was quiet for once. Warm under a thick feather comforter, I hated the idea of moving, of breaking the spell. But I had to pee. As quietly as possible I slipped out of bed, and looked out the window. As far as I could tell from the narrow airshaft/courtyard, the light looked good, the sky a pale morning blue. I made sure I had my little electronic key nub in my pocket—I checked twice because I’d really hate ... read more

It sounds like a Gold’s Gym slogan, but I think Hitler had something a little different in mind. He dreamed of a holiday camp on a beautiful island in the Baltic Sea, where 20,000 people at a time could come to relax and gear up for the inevitable rigors of world domination. He would call it Colossus, and it would be the cornerstone of the Kraft Durch Freude movement: a string of six-story buildings stretching nearly three miles along the beach near a village called Prora, on Rügen Island. The construction began in 1936, but within a few years things had gotten a little more complicated than expected, and building holiday camps went on the back burner. Colossus was never finished. In 2010, those buildings are gently mouldering in the crisp sea air. Many of the ... read more

If you didn’t grow up speaking English (or Italian), could you figure out what the word “hospital” means? Once you have a basic German vocabulary, you don’t have many problems like this. Here in Germany, if you get sick, a sickwagon will take you to a sickhouse where a sicksister will take care of you. If you eat too much greasy train station food, you’ll end up with fall-through, though that’s certainly never ever happened to me. Where on earth did the word “diarrhea” come from—and how on earth would someone new to English know it? Over breakfast this morning, I read the local scandal sheet the hotel provides for its guests. I didn’t need fluent German to be horrified that a 66-year old woman was “skalpiert” when she had a crash in her “Smart”—which ... read more

My guidebook told me that at the Natural Bridge Viewpoint the trail at the south end of the parking lot would take me to a spectacular viewpoint. I grabbed my camera and backpack, and set out. I like “spectacular”. The trail started out fine, then it narrowed. Then it split. I stood for a moment, then decided the most likely way would be toward the sound of the ocean. Although, with these trails, the most likely way is not always the right way—I’d found they can meander in ways you’d never guess, they can go on for miles, they can dwindle to nothing, or they can exceed your wildest expectations. And the signage generally sucks. I thought I did well to actually carry my Moon travel guide with me in the car, but in this case, ... read more