Tuesday, October 05, 2004

Goodbyes And Penises

One of the great things about travelling alone is that you have to actively go and speak to people and interact with them, otherwise you just become a wandering hermit. And this allows you to meet lots of different and interesting people, and perhaps share part of the journey together. 5 days ago I met Karla, una chica muy chida (and not a little brave to go travelling with a nutcase like myself), and together we visited a bunch of places around the Barranca del Cobre and had a lot of fun. Not only that, but she also helped me immeasurably with my Spanish by persevering with my butchering of her language and correcting me whenever necessary, as well as teaching me the many diverse meanings of chingar and the difference between cargar and cagar (which can help avoid many an embarrassing situation). But unfortunately, as many times as you meet wonderful people, you also have to say goodbye, and so we parted our ways when she took the train for Los Mochis earlier today. However hopefully we'll be able to meet up again some day.

Well, that's enough of me maudlin, I'm sure you've probably had your fill of that and so I'll continue by recounting today's occurrences. I decided to rent a bike and discover the surrounding area, which is home to many weird and wonderful rock formations. Among these are the Valley of Mushrooms, the Valley of Frogs and the Valley of the Monks. The latter being by far the most impressive, with pillars of rock reaching up to 20 metres in height. In the local Tarahumara language, however, their name for the Valley of the Monks actually translates to "The Valley Of The Erect Penises", which I, personally, think conveys the image of the rock formations much better (and would draw many more (female) tourists without a doubt). But I suppose the conquering Spaniards must have been rather prudish. Pity really.

P.S. For any of my ex-students who might be reading this (heaven forbid) I especially recommend the Valley of the Monks as it is a fantastic example of primary succession.

1 comment:

Morgan_P said...

!Eres una persona muy estranga!