Tuesday, December 4, 2012

journey to Lanzarote: time & 3 more days




Three more days on the island. Back home, it's winter now: freezing temperatures, snowrain falling. Still a part of me starts to long for home, while another part would like to stay here another week, read some historic books about the place, about the life during the vulcanoe eruptions in the 17th century, about the people who arrived here, and went away again.

i look forward to having a proper web connection in the snow. but somehow it fits, that this far-off island is slower in connection. which also lead to some thoughts on time:

today on a drive through the lava region here, I thought about this note from a friend, about just being in the now, not making plans, not thinking forward, analyzing, but instead just being. That's how Lanzarote is for me this year – and somehow (even though it's a nuisance, especially as i had some online stuff to do for my freelance online work) – the slow and dysfunctional web connection really is a good thing, in the way it restricts online activities to a minimum.



It's so good to be here, in this place of water and stone, fire and wind. it's not the all-sunny holiday, but one of constantly changing skies. Every day has a different mood, a different temperature, a different direction of wind, a different tune of sunrise. So energetic, vivid. And the landscape, the colors and the light keeps changing every day. Even the storm on Monday fitted in, and the way it changed the beach, moved away piles of sand, brought rocks to the surface.

Sometimes I wish that it would be simple sun, but then, that's what we had last year, when we were here for 7 days. This year, it's 12 days, which also makes a difference: the space of time. It brought the idea to visit Teguise, a place I knew from driving through, but hadn't really taken the time to visit. That's where I went yesterday, while Ronnie went for a long bike ride. And it was so interesting, stepping into history. I blogged about it today, took some pictures that came out fine in combination.

I also thought that I would write more, draft some flash stories or poems – but I guess I really needed this break of just being in a place. I am taking a lot of photos, though.

A thought I had in the last days: that I might change my rhythm when I am returning. With my own projects and the freelance work, especially with the ongoing online projects .. it's a beautiful but neverending string of things to do. And from projects, there isn't a point of “done for now”, or “done for today”. There's always something else that waits. Which creates this constant pull. Which is absent now, here on the island. and this time of absence now gave me the thought that I could install my own “done for today” point, not by projects, but by time: and say that after working so and so many hours, I'm done for the day. so I penned a kind of rough schedule today, and will try this when I am back.

Also, I want to create some open time/space, to go and visit places I haven't seen before. There's this line I have written in one of my travel diaries, that I now came across again: “Every day, try something new.”

Which is easy, here on the island. but then, it's an advice for life, especially for the everyday, a way o explore and journey every day.

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