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Day Something - Still in the north
What words some up to date - worry, guilt, should I, amazement, stunning, fantastic, majestic, bouncy - give me time there may be a few more.
Lets start at the first four, worry - poor Mum is still in WDHB and sadly did not get good news, she gets to see the surgeon in a few days, the upside is that it is fixable and should give her more comfort and a few more years, but being over here all I have is worry to start with, then comes the guilt because I am here and Mum is there and Sharon is carrying all the load - she is good at it so I know mum is in good hands. The next 2 words are "should I" come back - the answer is maybe but it is really difficult and there is not much I can do - so we work our way round to guilt again, so I will stay here and suffer, seeing magnificent sites, eating wonderful food and travelling roun South America.
Mum and Sharon, rest assured that I am thinking of you, and I know Robyn and Alan will do what ever needs to be done on my behalf.
OK, now that I am over the first four words, I would like to add another "siesta". We speak English - dont we? Well it seems there maybe some evidence that we have an accent and speak fast. Cant see it or hear it myelf but ..... Ruth or more correctly "Hootchey" they pronouce it hear - asked Daniel our guide do you have a siesta - the answer was "No I have three brothers". Of course we all cracked up, then explained what she had asked which was do you have a siesta and here they really call it a shiesta - possibly the spelling is incorrect but that is the way they say it - and yes they do but that seemed to be less important after the laughter.
Daniel - from Lonely Planet - is a nice guy, must be early twenties - but he is really good and patient. Helps us sort out the menu at night because it can be dificult - we had a local dish last night with chicken - we all just chose to ignore the part where he said it was cooked in chicken blood - but it was lovely - a bit like a caserole and had most of the bits including the liver. Seemed to be we had most of the chicken although it was a bit strange to have two necks!
Ok so where have we been - we went to Lagos de Peixe, this is a lagoon in the sand dunes, we walked for about 30 minutes over sand, luckily mostly firm, and then reached the lake along with a number of Brazilians, all of us headed into the water for a swim with the fishes, it was lovely and cooling as it really was hot. The wind blew most of the time so the sand itself was cool and we were all barefoot. Most of the lagoons were empty as we managed to come on a 1 in 50 year drought where there had been no rain so most of the lagoons were empty. At the end of the day it was back into the 4 wheel drives and we bounced our way home, in the back of the trucks you have to watch for the branches that bush by, the road into the sand dunes is in heavy scrubby type country, all on sand and the tracks got through to the sand. If you sre on the edge you get bounced and have to be aware of the branches, one came in the side and smacked me in the sunglasses - not hard but a good reminder to watch out.
Just a word on the national park - it is 155 million hectares of sand, very few native animals are left, just goats, horses, donkeys, snakes, birds and insects. From the air the sand dunes are massive and just go on and on. We found out that they do a hike into an oasis which of course we would like to do but it would be hard, start at 3 a.m. walk for 21 k's over the dunes, then stay at the oasis for the night then at 3 a.m. start out again for the next 21 k's - sounds like fun but a fair hike in the heat. To get water all they have to do is go dig down a few metres and water will start to pool.
And a word on water, we try to take on lots of fluid - beer as well water - to stay hydrated but no luck - we go to the loo sometimes but it is more out of practice really - it is just so hot and sticky. I sit here in the shade and it still hot - 28-30 or so at least. So ok I will move away from our kidney function and back to where we have been.
Lagos bonita - more sand dunes but oh boy what a treat. We got back into the 4 wheel drive and headed back into the park. It was a drive through more scrubby type bush with to a steep sand bank - 27 metres high and with a rope to pull yourself up on the sand and it was really soft, but once we hit the top what a sight - better than yesterday- just amazing, even thought the lagoon had dried up it was just stunning. Sand dunes covering the horizon, clear skies just amazing. I will try and put a couple of pictures up but we are running on an internet just a bit more than the old dial up speed. It is hard to describe the stunning beauty. Just think of any superlatives and you wont be wrong. You are greeted firstly by the tips of a large tree which has been burtied by the sand - it keeps moving and as we stand on the top of the hill you can see the sand being blown around. The lagoon did still some water but it was ankle deep with lillies still trying to grow - looks like it will dry up soon. The nice part about being here was there was onhly 7 of us, the driver and his two girls, Daniel and the 4 of us - ok that is 8 but it was better than the 100+ the day before. Just stunning.
Well I am going to sign off now and try and put this on the blog site write it in notepad and then put it on the site.
Till next time, take care mum.
Ian
PS David - if you are reading this can you send the link to Garry Brooks please.
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Sharon
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Mum
Quickly read part of your blog entry, don't rush home finish your trip, put guilt aside enjoy what you can, Mum would not want you to do anything other than carry on. You will be able to help when you get back and yes I can cope!! Enjoy and we look forward to seeing you in March, until then we will enjoy you blog entries.