BLOG 2022
26/3/2020 1 Comment foggy last hike before lockdownLast Saturday, Mar 21, was the final day of free movement in Portugal. We had rented a car for a 2-week block, thinking we would be able to see some of the country this way. This was before most of the country had shut down. Then on March 21, we learned that lockdown would begin the next morning, with all essential services closing for a 15-day period. A hike I'd been interested in was to a nearby hillside, to a site of a paleolithic settlement with over 100 rock art carvings - an area now called "Gravuras Rupestre do Giāo". Not much on line, and all in Portuguese. It was forecast to rain, and the drive up to the area brought us into the clouds. We spent a fruitless 3 hours trying to find the rock engravings, in the end, without success. But that didn't stop us from having a surreal time above the treeline, exploring under granite boulders and imagining paleolithic life with stone tools, goats and likely, harder times trying to survive. Kiki recorded a meditation while the boys and I searched and tried not to get lost. The entire area is covered with gorse, so it's a prickly walk. Maybe take some time to have a little sit.
Burial / Initiation Mound & ChamberThough we did not find what we were seeking, we did find a "mamoa" - an ancient burial mound and chamber dating back to the same time period. The boys were a bit disappointed to not see the skeleton of the royalty that must have been buried there.
1 Comment
Keith Moore
29/3/2020 21:44:48
Hi Tracy, Kiki, Sol and Lief. Hope things stay calm and happy as you travel through these troubled times. Life in Haida Gwaii likely not much different that you are experiencing in Portugal - we also are all at home, learning to do new things in the isolation as the town is shut down, going for solo walks, and hoping that we may see a glimmer of hope in the not to distant future. I am 16 days home from Australia - so technically self-isolation is past, but my routine has not changed and seems unlikely too. Please keep your posts coming. We are thinking of you.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
We areA family from Haida Gwaii, BC, Canada hits the road. Archives
June 2022
Categories |