I have to apologize in advance for today, as there are simply inadequate words to describe what it feels like to sit here in the shade under a very pointy desert thing, and feeling the breeze cool my back. I sit by an old path on a rock made exactly for this purpose, with chiseled divots every 6 inches. There are more irregular seats nearby for others to join and laugh and talk but today there is only the dry breeze and the birds. This spot between two huge glacial erratic boulders and a big hill made also of them channels the wind to make this such a perfect sitting place. I may not pass this way again but others will.
I don’t think I was even a little bit prepared for how I would feel here. The air is sucked from my lungs, I am not breathing it out. The scale of things makes me dizzy. I am trying to take a cell photo or two, but the real gems (I hope I hope I hope) are in my sd card. But, I saw pictures of this place before, and you will see mine and maybe say they are nice but the air will not be sucked from your lungs and you will breathe and your day will move on and you will not know what it is. Today is my day.
I sat under a big old tree by a rare stream. You may ask why there was a city in a desert but the river makes this clear. Still green things are mostly so only at the tips – sparse leaves, palms. This was a great bushy thing, whose name I will have to ask. Around it was configured a temple and a spot to leave footwear, which I did while I sat in the shade. Some flies were also in attendance at the temple so I did not stay overlong.
On ascent and taking a break (I do wonder what the altitude is here) an asian man was climbing behind me and I asked if he had seen the old tree. He seemed interested enough and descended.
Of course nearly all men here are asian but you know what I mean in that trying-not-to-be-racist American vernacular of “i feel bad that I can’t tell and maybe it’s a complicated question, and and and” But he had a nice camera and he looked like he wouldn’t want to miss the one old tree that doesn’t look like any others, hiding outside the wall behind a boulder the size of… What is even that big? A building I guess, but there are lots of buildings here and none look much like anything else really so the analogy breaks down. A really freaking big rock, OK? So big if it squashed your house no one would probably know because it would just be missing under the rock. Of course people lived under this rock (the side of it) befor they got kicked out for living in a monument. Something doesn’t seem right about that, but it would be a much trickier affair if it was all “excuse me but can I have a look in your loo? It seems quite old dunn’it?” (All polite people have british accents in my fictions of alternate present )
On an amazing overlook I spotted a shimmering green bird who dove downwards with spread triangular wings before flipping up into flight. It sat on a nearby branch and I got ready to capture its dive, but got impatient and looked away an instant too soon.
Onward and upward. I hope some enterprising local has more water…
Noooope. Lots of warning signs though, written clearly in the universal language of “you cross this white line you fall of cliff and die”. Fortunately I am literate in not-dying. So far. I definitely didn’t bring enough water into the desert though. That sign would be harder to translate but maybe they assumed the giant parched desert of rocks and dust would be a clue. Don’t worry though, there are park rangers around to take care of my dessicated corpse.
Ok couple snaps and I descend.
Oh, look another way down the mountain. Not closer though, I don’t think. Must resist urge to explore.
Actually kind of hard to walk in here at the pinnacle monument as people have stacked up many rocks in piles. I guess people’s urge to stack rocks is part of why that 12 storey temple exists down there so it’s hard to complain much, but it’s in my job description so I carry on.
Ok I got down, but went quickly through a bunch more places. I figured out how to get the timing close on the bird but finally gave up after 30 pictures of the same bush. Hint: set up the shot, then look with the other eye. I bet my photographer friends knew this already but one of you probably learned it with me today.
Walked back to Rocky’s, washed out my only piece of cotton (bandana/snot rag) and put it on my head under the fan. I am hungry but overheated and my arms and hands were burning. I need to deal with heat exhaustion before food. Was Maslow from India?
Posting this without editing because tired.