Sitting on the dock of Iquique

Our detour around Bolivia took us to the (completely unfamiliar to me) north coast of Chile.  I don't know why, but I was expecting something Mediterranean.  But no, as we were landing in the town of Iquique, we pulled down the airplane window shade and saw a vast desert stretching away as far as the Andes.  Then all of a sudden the word "Atacama" came back to me from geography bees past.  We were in the driest place on Earth.

In Iquique, it turns out, the whole reason for the city to exist was mining.  The big sandy hills that surround the city are full of minerals like nitrates and saltpeter - minerals valuable enough that Chile went to war with Peru over them in the 1800s. The area was full of small mining towns until they were gradually abandoned in the mid-1900s, leaving giant refineries abandoned in the desert. We heard that there was a particularly well preserved ghost town just 40 km east of us.  The place was a saltpeter mine until it was abandoned in the 1960s and now it is even a UNESCO world heritage site.  It is called Humberstone, which the people here pronounce like "Ombertun." 

Our misadventure trying to visit Humberstone need not be recounted in detail.  Let's just say, due to traffic, it took us an hour to go 5 kilometers of the way there before we decided to get out of the car and turn back so that we could catch our onward bus.  We were annoyed that we couldn't make it in time, but later found out there were several earthquakes last month (around 8 on the Richter scale!) that badly damaged the highway out of town.  I felt sheepish for complaining about the traffic when I found that out.

But still, we wanted to do something before leaving.  The tourist information office recommended an hour boat trip out past the harbor.  But lo and behold, when we got there, no boats were running.  Just our luck, right? 

Dejected, we went to the dock to look at the water.  There was some kind of huge brown bean bag on the dock.  As we got closer, it opened a sleepy eye and watched us.  A sea lion?!  Was this really a lone sea lion, sitting fat and sassy on the dock of the bay?  They live in colonies, so it made us wonder why this one was alone.  Maybe he was taking a break from the group, or maybe he had been kicked out.  He seemed pretty content either way, and his serene smile made us feel better about the failed Humberstone and Boat trips.

Sitting there ended up being lovely.  Out in the ocean, the most enormous waves I have ever seen crashed against the distant breakers.  The little sandy beach was strewn with tons of large, intact mollusk shells.  A black bird with a long red beak stalked the surf, while men stood on boulders fishing for whatever could withstand that tide.  We left Iquique wishing we had stayed longer.  I know so little about the Atacama region, but what little I know says there is a lot going for this little mining town.

Cairo Spring Break

We were slightly sad about missing Easter in Rome, what with the huge audience and blessings and fanfare.  But as soon as we landed in Egypt, we learned that Easter is a huge national holiday here, too,  It's called Sham el Nessim, and though it is not about Jesus' ressurection, it does herald spring, involve mackerel, and give people time off work.

Our host family in Cairo was using this time off to head to the beach on the North Coast of Egypt, and they invited us along.  We were initially reluctant, since it did not fit our idea of an Egypt trip, and we had not seen the museum or pyramids.  Plus, this is what Lonely Planet said about the North Coast:

"This is where well-to-do Cairenes and the top brass of Egypt’s military establishment now come to escape the oppressive city heat of the summer. It’s so busy here that when driving past, the only glimpses you’re likely to get of the ocean are through the skeletal structures of unfinished holiday villages."

Unless you come in April.

We stayed two days on the beach in El-Hamam city, about 50 km west of Alexandria.  There are no fake pyramid decorations or hieroglyphics or King Tut masks anywhere.  Just families and friend groups hanging out near the water.  For us, it was a great opportunity to relax in a gorgeous scenery while seeing how Egyptians take their holiday.

They ate breakfast at noon, lunch at six pm, and dinner at midnight.  We had Bedouin food with lots of tahini and tomato and fenugreek and eggplant.  There was fish and baklava and fûl and olives and cheese and lots of warm, hearty flatbread.  They slept in close quarters and stayed up laughing and joking around.  Josh taught them the card game Egyptian Rat.  They tried to teach is a game they called Estimation, but it was really hard and then we realized it was Bridge.  We all ran into the cold water together during a day with an extreme riptide and felt so alive, pushing against the current and the temperature and running back to our towels with brain freezes at the end.  I tried asking the men patrolling the beach with uniforms and guns to take a picture with me, but they must have been confused why an "Arab" was asking for this.  The sand was not tiny square grains like the beaches I am used to. It was white and fine and each grain was spherical, making it really pleasant to grasp and knead.  And of course, it was awesome to see old women wearing flow robes and head scarves sitting on beach chairs while their sons brought buckets of ocean water for them to put their feet in.

The whole time in Turkey and Italy, we had not visited any of the Mediterranean beaches for which they were famous.  I think that Egypt's beaches may be even better.  The only hard part is driving there, across the desert road (speed bumps sneak up on you!) and checkpoints without falling asleep at the wheel.  (Kudos to Josh for driving all the way back to Cairo and not losing his mind with all the aggressive drivers and pedestrians swirling about.)  We still have not done the pyramids yet, but I doubt they will be this idyllic.

Jungle

How do you get around on an island with almost no roads?  The common answer here is a sea taxi.  You can get picked up at any of the village jetties here and taken to another jetty on a private boat, for a fee.  But this was not good enough for us.  We are devoted walkers, and we are trying to see places by foot.  Besides, Tioman is pretty small and there is a lot of shady rainforest.  We figured, there has to be a trail.  And we were right.  Sort of.

Starting from the north end, we walked ten miles down to the southern beach village of Genting without a problem.  We noticed that there are usually footpaths that follow the electric cables on the island as they run from village to village.  Even better, these cables often run through the forest and across some excellent scenery.  So far so good.

At Genting, we were told that there is no path to the next beach.  This didn't make sense, since we could see the cables clearly running through the forest in that direction.  Undeterred, we scouted along the path.  It went through a village of abandoned huts, gorgeous deserted beaches, and eventually became a wooden boardwalk through the tree trunks until it ended at a fancy private resort.  We continued following the cable until the resort staff stopped us.  The man said he usually does not allow people to walk through, but he made an exception for us, and led us to a giant boulder.  Up there, he pointed, and to the right.  He smiled as we clambered over the railing and scurried right under peoples' guest rooms. 

We were back on the trail.  Except you could hardly call it a trail at this point.  Steep, and meandering, and difficult to find at times, but always within sight of the cables.  It took us to yet another resort, except this one was still under construction.  The construction workers there pointed out for us that the best way to continue would be out to sea.  Yup.  They meant for us to go into the sea, around a boulder pile, and then back on shore on the other side.  We did our best but, waist deep in water even as the tide was pretty low, soon decided that we would rather go over the rocks than around them.  Didn't want to lose our electronics in the South China Sea.  So we went back to the cables where they stretched high above the water.

The next four hundred meters were the hardest, but most fun.  There was almost no trail at this point, just trees and roots holding together piles of boulders.  We began scrambling and holding onto vines and jumping across some tiny chasms, following the cables all the while.  This jungle is full of amazing plants that almost seem like they want to help you, giving you armholds and footholds.  And there are those thorny ones that seem almost unnecessarily cruel.  But it is so full of life back there.

We finally emerged from the jungle and landed at Nipah, which is easily the most spectacular beach I have ever seen.  A long clearing that stays shallow for a surprisingly long stretch, with smooth footing under clear water, black sand and yellow sand, a river flowing into the ocean, a magnificent sheer rock face in the background, and islets dotting the horizon.  And almost no one in sight. 

The owner of the beach huts looked behind us and, seeing no trace of a water taxi, asked us if we got here by spaceship.  They clearly were not expecting visitors, but he was happy to rent us a room.  Content with the beachtime for only so long, we had acquired the taste for the jungle during the walk here, and we wanted more.  We had been going around the island but what would we find if we went higher and deeper up into it? 

Well you can't just walk around in the jungle without a path.  It is way too dense and full of aggressive plants.  And there is not exactly a trail map here.  Fortunately, at Nipah the stream that flows out of the jungle also serves as an excellent path up.  We spent about four hours clambering up the dry rocks of the stream bed seeing how far we could get.  We were above the canopy at various clearings and ended up in spaces unlike any I have seen before.  The bird calls were wild and the chittering monkeys quite territorial.  In our search for the elusive binturong, we also saw two new animals, one I think a flying lemur and the other maybe a mouse deer.  There were a panoply of brilliant butterflies and humongous ants.  We turned back when the streambed became overgrown and thorny, but who knows what we would have seen if we had kept going?  All in all, it is wonderful to be here.  But after so many days of jungle trekking, we think we may take the sea taxi back after all!

Tioman

Hello, South China Sea! 

We have arrived at Tioman Island, after a bus ride from Kuala Lumpur to Mersing and then the very bumpy and wobbly ferry ride out.  Monsoon season is here for just a bit longer but the rain feels so nice!  Being used to cold rain, we had our rain gear on and were ready to rush out of the boat to our rooms.  Instead, when we actually got off the boat, the droplets felt so balmy we slowed down and inhaled the gorgeous rainfall and felt silly for worrying.

I have never been on such a stereotypically "tropical island."  Mykonos was dry and desolate in comparison, and Vieques flat and marshy.  Here, sparkling coasts surround hills that slope up to a central ridge and it's all covered in trees.  There are amazing fauna: monitor lizards, slow loris, and binturong!  

Josh and I have already seen the lizards, digging through trash at the northern end, but we are still on the lookout for mammals.  Life is abundant here.  First day after lunch, Josh picked up a random pretty shell off the beach and put it in his pocket, joking that he would make it into a necklace and sell it.  When we got back to the room and he emptied his pockets, the shell started moving.  A poky little crab looked out, righted itself, and started scrambling about.  It was adorable.

Yesterday we rented a kayak and snorkel gear and paddled to Monkey Bay.  Anchored in the shallow harbor was an american boat.  We pulled up alongside and asked the crew (a man and a woman) where they had come from.  They said, Seattle, in 2008!  Wenchatted for a bit about the things and people they had seen during their voyage across the pacific.  It was incredible.  Then we snorkeled in the richest reef I have ever seen.  An eel, angelfish, zebrafish, sea cucumbers and urchins, and so many others I can't name, all swirling and dancing in the tide.  Josh was very excited to see a live squid.

While we were out, a monkey came down to the beach, rooted through our bag, and stole a pack of crackers.  We are very grateful it chose not to take the tablet, so that we can now share with you these adventures!  We now trek south on the island for a place to trek in the jungle and maybe climb its highest peak.