By Roger Owens
We decided to go to Belize in 2012; we just had to see the temples before the end of the world, you know. That whole Mayan calendar thing was a huge joke there, with tee-shirts showing cartoon Mayans saying things like “Down tools, everybody, we lost the contract,” to a crew of stonecutters, or one stonecutter to another, “People in 2012 are really gonna freak out over this!” Of course, the world didn’t come to an end, but we sure saw some incredible temples.
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Destiny’s lessons in disguise
By Valeria Idakieva
[Sequel to “Days 12 & 13,” published on December 24, 2018.]
When I woke up on the morning of the 14th day of my trek along the E8 European long-distance path, I felt happy because I remembered going to bed the day before and praying to the God of the E8 path to remove the pain in my kidneys and let me complete the trek, and now I felt only a slight pain.
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On under clear, blue skies
By Valeria Idakieva
[Sequel to “Days 10 & 11,” published on July 30.]
The morning after another wonderful day in the Rhodope Mountains woke me up with a clear, blue sky and gentle, soft sunshine streaming through the window. I had the usual morning cup of coffee and hit the road, filling my head with pleasant memories and my lungs with fresh air. The mountain was revealing a softer beauty now – some houses of a nearby village perching on a hill, stacks of hay, rounded slopes, trees.
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Imagination and reality
By Valeria Idakieva
[Sequel to “Days 8 & 9,” published on July 3.]
After the lazy day I had spent in Pamporovo, the clear blue sky and the fresh air the next morning urged me to continue at full speed. The grass was glistening with the morning dew, the forest was awakening with the vibrant song of myriads of bugs and birds. Every single creature was worshiping life and giving its share to the harmony that reigned over the forest.
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Backwards to Pamporovo
By Valeria Idakieva
[Sequel to “Days 6 & 7,” published on April 7.]
I woke up early in the morning on the back seat of the jeep where I had spent the night and started getting ready quietly so as not to wake up the kind people who shared their food, good spirits, and time with me. Later, when they did wake up, we had some coffee and then it was time for me to continue through lush meadows and pine forests.
Interviewed by Moristotle
I was delighted to meet Sandi Dalton sometime last year when I visited Chef Benjamin Messaoui’s French Corner Bakery (in Durham, North Carolina). There she was behind the counter, greeting customers Bon jour! I was happy for Benjamin to have Sandi at the counter, and happy for Sandi to be countering in so fine a bakery. (Benjamin’s interview was published on April 15.)
Over the course of many returns to Chef Benjamin’s bakery, I learned enough about his new assistant to want to learn more, and to realize that our readers deserved to know Sandi too. So, I asked her if she would be willing to answer some questions, which are included here in italics.
Under the scorching sun
By Valeria Idakieva
[Sequel to “Days 4 & 5,” published on March 2.]
When I got up early in the morning and started walking, the sun was still hiding behind the grand ridges surrounding the gorge of the river I was following, and the fresh, cool air was sharpening my senses.
Forest and Water
By Valeria Idakieva
[Sequel to “Days 2 & 3,” published on February 12.]
I woke up early in the morning to find out that the village was wrapped in thick, white fog, but I knew that when I went higher it would vanish. Climbing up the steep forest hill early in the morning was not to my liking, but I quickly reached the neighborhood where I had entered the village the previous day.
Leaving Rila
By Valeria Idakieva
[Sequel to “Day 1,” published on January 24.]
After a cup of coffee, I left the lodge in the morning and met the first strangers for the day.
Eastward from Borovets
By Valeria Idakieva
At the beginning of January 2017, I started thinking about doing the Bulgarian part of the European long distance path called E8*. In Bulgaria the route starts in the Rila Mountains and crosses the Rhodope Mountains, reaching the Turkish border. As usual, my preparation consisted of obtaining information and waiting for August when I could run away to the mountains. Finally August came and I was soon getting my backpack ready for the summer adventure. I could not make it light enough, but it was not the first time I’ve had this problem, and I knew I was going to get used to its weight anyway. I got on the bus and headed for Borovets – a ski resort in the Rila Mountains where my route started. The next day rose a bright blue morning with fresh, cool air, and I eagerly followed the path, which weaves along a beautiful river.
Written towards the end of May, just in case
By Moristotle
Besides missing Siegfried, who will be kenneled for the month of June, a sadness of being away from home, mostly in Paris, is the knowledge that our neighborhood’s wild birds will find no seeds in our back yard all that time. They won’t even find their favorite feeders. I took the favorite feeders down this morning to stage the photograph shown above. Though it may look inviting enough to you, I who delight in seeing & hearing birds there, find it a desolate spectacle.
Adventures from Bulgaria: Questions without answers
By Valeria Idakieva
In the beginning of April, after I had lost a friend in February, and my friend Dimitrinka, who had joined my adventures in the Rila Mountain (“In the Rila Mountains with a 70+”), suffered a stroke in March and was struggling for her life in hospital, I felt I was stifling in the city.
By André Duvall
In April, I visited New York City for the first time. I traveled with an older friend, a former mentor/professor who lived in Manhattan as a young man and had returned to the city for visits many times over the years. In the five days I had available, I chose to tour museums and skyscrapers, experience cuisines of various ethnicities, observe the architecture of different neighborhoods, attend a concert, seek out nature/green spaces, and spend part of a day with a good friend of mine from Memphis who is currently living in Brooklyn.
Чрез Валерия Идакиева
Винаги съм мислил за планините като мястото, където се чувствам свободен от всички притеснения на всекидневния живот. Сърцето ми скача от радост в цялата красота и спокойствие, което изпълва душата ми. Ето защо аз обикновено прекарват малкото свободно време, имам в планините.
Аз също имам голямо уважение към хората, които са били в планината много. Такъв е моят приятел Димитринка който е опасана българските планини за повече от 30 години. Преди започване на дълги разстояния пътека, аз обикновено посещават й да говори за това и тежи раницата. При един случай, когато щях да ходя на екскурзия по протежение на дългата писта в българските планини - около 720 км - тя ме посъветва да вземе малка бутилка ром, защото е добре да има някакъв алкохол в планините.
By Valeria Idakieva
I have always thought of the mountains as the place where I feel free of all the worries of everyday life. My heart leaps with joy at all the beauty and serenity that fills my soul. That is why I usually spend the little free time I have in the mountains.
I also have great respect for people who have been in the mountains a lot. Such is my friend Dimitrinka who has crisscrossed Bulgarian mountains for more than 30 years. Before starting a long-distance trail, I usually visit her to talk about it and weigh my backpack. On one occasion when I was going to hike along the longest trail in the Bulgarian mountains – about 720 km – she advised me to take a small bottle of rum because it was good to have some alcohol in the mountains.
Still further!
By Valeria Idakieva
[Part VI, “Santiago on the horizon,” was published on July 27.]
Santiago de Compostela is a grand city. Last night I had time only to have a shower and dinner, but now it was time to see some of the city’s splendor. The pilgrims’ mass would be at noon, as it was every day in the Cathedral of Santiago, so I had the whole morning to wander through streets that manifested the strength and beauty of more than a thousand years of history. Only a few minor tasks awaited my attention, such as buying a train ticket to Madrid and printing out a confirmation letter from a hostel in Madrid where I had booked a bed, but these were not going to spoil my walk of pleasure.
Mountain relief from the sweltering plain
By Valeria Idakieva
[Part IV, “The Meseta,” was published on April 12.]
Early in the morning after the day dedicated to sightseeing in the glorious city of Leon, I said goodbye and buen camino to Bill, who had been walking with me for a few days and decided to walk a bit more slowly and then travel to Portugal where he was going to join a group from the USA.
The Meseta
By Valeria Idakieva
[Part III, “Legends and reality,” was published on February 3.]
After the sweltering heat of the previous day, luckily a storm during the night lowered the temperature and cleared the air. So my first day on the Meseta – wide-open spaces with very little shade – started on a more cheerful note in the fresh air.
Legends and reality
By Valeria Idakieva
[Part II, “On the road again,” was published on January 5.]
I left the little farming village of Azofra early in the morning to head for Santo Domingo de la Calzada, named after Saint Dominic. The legends that surrounded the town were attracting me like a magnet.
