When I am traveling I always regret that I don’t own a wide-angle lense. Taking landscape photos with a normal lense is just not the same. Lanzarote has some amazing landscapes. The whole island is covered in smaller and larger volcanos of different colours. Luckily, I am traveling with Mr. K who let’s me use his superduper lense if I ask very nicely.
Some shot’s from the centre of the island.
Watch a sunset with a friend
Yesterday, we drove to the centre of the island and were surprised by wineyards and grapes. The climate is not ideal but with a couple of tricks they make delicous wines. They use a layer of lava gravel to prevent evaporation and build walls to protect the grapes from strong winds. And all tasks are carried out by hand.
We visited the Bodegas el Grifo, which has become our favourite wine. In the backyard they have a lovely cactus garden.
We have moved on to Lanzarote. This island is even more sparse and covered with huge lava fields. I am fascinated about the colours and plants that mange to grow under these conditions. There is approximatly 100mm of rain a year and the temperature never goes below 20°C.
I have my analog Zeiss Ikon Contraflex camera with me on Fuerteventura. Analog photography is fun and yes, it’s also very hip. But it reminds me of the days when everything was analog, I like the sound the camera makes when you take a picture and the fact that you cannot see the picture emediatly. It takes a couple of weeks before the developed film comes back, which is the best part of it. But I still find myself looking at the back of the camera and wondering why I cannot see the picture…
Starting the year in the sun was a good strategy last year and we decided to repeat it. Yesterday, we arrived on Fuerteventura. Lately, we have discovered Airbnb and are living in house in a small village called Camino Casillas del Morales, far away from all the tourist. We cannot see the ocean, but have stunning volcanic landscape around us. It was a bit difficult to find the place, since it seems that you can pick any house number you want for your house. Next to 28 is 109 and then 74. No structure at all. Last night we went to the beach for a wonderful sunset.
Today, we drove westwards, over a mountain pass to a small village called Betancuria. This was Fuerteventuras capital until 1834. It was built hidden between the mountains to escape attacks from European and Moroccan pirates. Today, it’s a cosy place with white houses and well attended gardens and is worthwhile to visit. After that we visited Ayju, a small village at a stunning beach with black sand.
I use this blog as an open diary to remember all the things that happened and it is fun to go through the whole year again. Going backwards from December – January, 2015 was the year I…
… lived in Bergen, Norway, where it rained 279 days
… traveled to China and leanrt a bit Chinese
… stared in 3 movies
… started to teach yoga at work
… bought fat skis and learnt to ski in powder
… traveled to Turkey
… learned Baysian Statistics
… got a kayak
… published a paper about local adaptation at range edges in Journal of Evolutionary Biology
… spent 50 days in the field
… learnt to identify grasses
… traveled to Oslo and Göteborg
… went on a camping trip with Mr. K, Sandhy and Sophia (a VW bus)
… went skiing on a galcier with Mari
… got an owl cup from a lovely person and bought a crocodile cup
… did a lot of field work in the snow
… visited my aunt at easter in the best place on earth and made a cutting bord and found a coke can in the forest from 1988
… moved my office twice and got a can see Ulriken from my new offcie
… started climbing again
… moved in with Mari
… got a new job doing the old thing
… wrote a farmers report to give back a thank you to all the land owners where we have our field sites
… digged out an old analog camera, which is really fun
… sold more than 20 stamps
… fell in love with El Hierro
and started the new year with some sun in Teneriffe
I’m making some graphs in R and suddenly I realized it looks more like art than science. To make it a bit more real, I added som colour and here is a brand new Halbritter, unfortunately not for sale.
I will soon be on my way back to Switzerland. 6 weeks with family and friends. Hopefully a little skiing. I need to find out if my ski’s can manage the Alps or is it the other way round (?), probably. Then we go and catch the sun on an sandy, dusty island in the Atlantic. More of this later…
For now, god bye Bergen. Why do you always have to make it so difficult to leave you! Sunshine and snowy mountains!
