Between earth and sky + Timanfaya National Park

It's day 5 on the island. And it's so good to be here - I am still amazed how a change of place can make such a difference of perception, how being here makes everything seem like a part of a larger horizon.



Even the weather and the way it changes fits in somehow: rain and sun are arriving in leaving on an almost hourly basis, as if they want to spread that zen lesson on time, and on the impermanence of all things: everything is changing. The combination of sun and rain also keeps creating stunning rainbows, which reach from earth to sky back to earth in 180°.




It’s a vibe that also is part of Lanzarote island itself, with its volcanic heart, and the lava fields: all that is here was created by vulcanoes, and one day one of them will wake again, to start their fire circle again, and add a new layer.


Driving along the lava fields of Timanfaya National Park in the changing light of sun and clouds made me feel like driving through a huge landscape or canvas of changing colors, almost like a modern impressiont painting, or like Rothko’s work of art: those vast spaces of color, combined and contrasted.




Which makes me remember seeing Rothko’s work for real, after all the photos of it. And realizing how large the paintings are. And how trying to take a picture of them then blurs the dimensions. Just like with the island, too: the ocean, the horizon, the vulcanoe landscape: they are too large for the normal photo.

Entry sign of  Timanfaya National Park (i posted this before, but it fits just too nicely with the new photo friday theme "Park")

And here's a bit more about the Timanfaya Park:

Timanfaya National Park (Spanish: Parque Nacional de Timanfaya) is a Spanish national park in the southwestern part of the island of Lanzarote, Canary Islands. In 1993, UNESCO designated a Biosphere reserve covering the whole of Lanzarote. The national park is one of the core areas of the biosphere reserve. The parkland is entirely made up of volcanic soil. - Volcanic Activity: The greatest recorded eruptions occurred between 1730 and 1736. There is only one active volcano, Timanfaya volcano which the park is named after. more: wiki/Timanfaya_National_Park

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Another moment from today: sitting on a bench made out of vulcanoe stone, and browsing the books on my reader – and finding this road poem by Walt Whitman:




“Song of the Open Road” 
Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road, Healthy, free, the world befor me, 
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose, 
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing.. 
Strong and content I travel the open road 
The earth, that is sufficient.