In the Desert: The Kindness of Strangers

This is where it ends - or begins, depending on which way you stand. If you stand looking North you will see pelican prints in the sand and it is the end.
If South, you will see a lighthouse, and it is the beginning,
Of South America that is. 
For two days, I am at the Nothernmost point of South America: Punta Gallina at the very tip of the La Guajira peninsula.

To get there from Cabo de Vela was a further bumpy two hour ride in a 4WD jeep and a 10-minute boat ride to boot. The boat took us to our hostal Alexandra. It’s a bit like being in holiday camp, since breakfast, lunch and dinner have to be pre-ordered and eaten at fixed times. There is no competition, since there is nothing else here.
Well, not nothing exactly. About 50 day trippers, who set out in jeeps never to be seen again, some staff and a quite a few goats.
Also this vulture, who knew no fear
This multicoloured lizard, who certainly knew fear and was a slippery customers to shoot with a short zoom. The photo below represents possibly my greatest moment as a nature photographer.
And a couple of snakes, who may have known fear, but I didn’t stick around long enough to find out.
While on the subject of animals, some may wonder how I get by in lands with exotic spiders, since my arachnophobia is a well documented fact of life. My method is a weird form of denial, where I just refuse to believe spiders exist. No use looking in the dark corners of my shabby accommodations. There will be no spiders there, since spiders do not exist. It’s possibly an unusual method, but has worked well for me for the past twenty years. 
(Something to ponder on: If someone who doesn’t believe god exists is an atheist, does this make me an arachnoist?).

Apart from the animals, there is the nature in which they roam, fly and slither. The desert reverberates the sun in a magcal way. The weather was fine, but there were some clouds. In a cloudy moment the desert seemed a bit dull
Then the sun came out and everything went pop, pop, pop!
The coast is, once again, the most beautiful part of the region - and it’s a stunner!

I spent most of my two days at Punta Gallina beachcombing in the best tradition. Wading along empty, unspoilt, undeveloped and totally rubbish free beaches, 
laboriously trudging up sand dunes that fall straigh into the sea, 
clambering over razor sharp rocks that seemed to be of lava, 
and trying not to run into any cacti. Their flowers may be pretty, but their business end is 5cm long, very efficient and painful looking. I feel even sorrier for the cow I saw (read the last post to sympathize with our bovine friend). Not even goats are immune! I saw one fine individual with a melancholy expression and a cactus leaf swinging from his beard.
However, the locals work with what they have, as this cunning use of cactus as a fence reveals. 
And what people here have, when push comes to shove, is each other. This became apparent when our 4WD car broke down on the way back from the peninsula. The driver felt the back behaving strangely and luckily stopped, since all five bolts that keep the rear right tyre in place had sheared clean off and the wheel was about to spin off into the desert. 
The first car to drive up was a Toyota truck of very respectable age, which was carrying 8 people, a lot of equipment and four goats. 
Their driver immediately offered his superior tools to our aid and spent the next 1,5 hours under our car with our driver - hammering away the remains of the bolts and fastening new ones in place.
The whole party took this in their stride. Their journey was interrupted and everyone was delayed by the same 1,5 hours that we were held up, and it wasn’t even their truck that had broken. Yet it was impossible to see a grumpy face or hear a cross word. Everyone took things in extremely good grace. Well, apart from the goats, who were a bit loud about it.
Finally, miraculously, our car was fixed. The driver of the truck refused any payment for his services and everyone, driver, passengers and goats were all smiles. Life must be hard here in the land of wind, drought, sand and a very hot sun. Yet the kindness of strangers is no small thing.




Comments

Ana said…
Sun postaukset on aina niin 10++++ tasoa! Hämisfilosofia erityisen kiinnostava - ai sen voi tehdä noinkin..

Meille tuli muuten nyt sitä valkoista maahan, niin että luulen että sun on iloisempi nyt palata Suomeen kuin siihen hemmetin ikuiseen marraskuuhun, josta lähdit. Valoisempaa sentään.
Kati Åberg said…
Hämis? Mitä ne.on?
Juu valkoinen voittaa harmaan menne tullen. Mut kyl tää vihreä voittaa valkoisen..

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