Friday 18 June 2010

hullo again
thanks for all the comments! appreciated.replying to them can be hard because the computers are so slow but they are appreciated.

I just got back from a knackering set of transects. Thoroughly enjoying the fact its my weekend now. I plan to get hammered and watch the football.

very strange thing happened to me today, i left my tent in teh back of a taxi without realising it and then later when i got a taxi again, it just so happened that I got the sameone by accident.whenwe stopped they calmly handed me my tent. there must be a good few hundred taxis in this area...
very strange

I also have a good story about a taxi, and old religous man and two enormously obese ladies but that will have to be told in person.

I managed to get lost in the woods in the dark last night for about an hour, we were wandering around following this stream. it was not a major problem as its hard to get lost on the island in teh day, we would only have to have waited till light but it was a bit iffy. the feeling of being lost is really not helped by the WHUM WHUM WHUM of giant bats flying past your head I have to say. they make quite a creepy leathery noise.

my transect last night in general was a hard one actually, I climbed the best part of a kilometer in height, which is a long way let me tell you, we got lost and then when we camped it was the largest storm ive ever camped in. I was quite scared the top of the tent was going to blow away.

a feature of this islandis that there are few places on it that are truely flat, and even then its not for long. so when your halfway up a mountain, and all around it are many more mountains, with valleys, rivers, patches of forest and a plethora of paths, half of which just peter out after having taken you down miles, its bloody easy to get lost, especially when you are doing all this in the dark.

Its funny the things that I have gotten used to. for example tonite I shall be having kebabs. I shall buy these at the side of a road I know, its not really a road thatcars go down but the taxi drivers here can get their cars through things you would not expect a car to ever fit down.and then they will somehow find the space to pass another oncoming taxi. anyway this road is a kinda pedestrian area and there is this little bit off to oneside, where there are a bunch of breeze blocks with cardboard on. There are a ton of side alleys, in fact most of the area is side alley here. many of them have become tunnels as storeys get added to houses, causing to meet the house opposite.house here are never built in one go. you just add another storey or room or door when you have the money. anyway there this half blind guy runs a bbq every night, selling roast bananas, kebabs and the sorry excuse for chicken that they sell here which is imported from brazil.

I shall then be going onto a bar, which is a kinda courtyard of palmleaf shacks where I will be watching the football in the owners bedroom, where he has a tv. then ill head round the back where my friends who run the place will be and I shall get hammered on coconut booze. the bit round back that we will get hammered in is a little patchof mud surrounded by three walled palm shacks that serve as bedrooms, kitchen and bathroom. there are chickens and cats all over the place. there will probably be old dvds of bob marley or westlife playing in a surreal touch. then I will hope to catch a lift on someones bike or ill walk back. the path back goes through about a mile of a palm hut area known as moronsi back to the stone building area. there Ill cross a bridge that passes over a river of rubbish that will likely be on fire and being eaten by cows, mostlikely at the same time. no joke. and the cows are the healthiest looking I have ever seen. with any luck ill sleep through the religous nutters shouting off the rooftops for the morning prayers.

oh and i had owls flying over me last night, was cool.

love to all
sam

2 comments:

  1. It sounds amazing, I can just imagine it from your description, please don't get lifts with drunk people, or without a helmet. You should have taken that sat nav thing Crispin gave you, it would be perfect for somewhere like that, wouldn't it?
    F has just set off on her d of e with a pack I couldn't lift. She is going through Thetford forest, so I now have three of you out there exploring!
    Keep up with the blogging I am really enjoying it
    M xx

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  2. Hey you :) just to let you know I'm house-sitting and the net is pretty bad so text me and I can use my phone for msn. Hope you enjoyed the rubbish football! love you lots x x x

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