Giving Thanks...

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Here's giving thanks to all of you for your visits to these pages in 2011, and hoping for more fine blogging exchanges in warmth and levity and joy and poignancy throughout the year in 2012. It never ceases to amaze me that anyone ever found there way here at all, out of all the millions of blogs out there to visit on the internet.
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This wall of plaques saying "Merci", or "Thanks", was in a cemetery on Reunion Island. Hope to return there one of these days, it was one of the most amazing places I've ever been.
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A Birthday Wish to Revisit a Short Walk . . .

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One of our tadpoles turned 13 this past weekend, and while thinking of wishes to make before blowing out her 13 candles, the 13 candles on a chocolate rasberry pie prepared with love by a certain Grenouille, she specifically asked me to put together a post about the hike we took to reach the top of the volcano on Réunion Island back in February. As one cannot refuse such requests, here first is the pie in question, followed by a short report on the climb up a volcano. I'm expecting National Geographic or Geo Magazine to contact me any day now. (that's a joke)
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If one wishes to visit le Piton de la Fournaise (Furnace Peak) and actually see any of it, one is advised to rise very early so as to reach the summit by mid-morning at the latest, as later in the day the heights of the volcano are nearly always covered in clouds. We therefore set the alarms for 04:00, dressed and breakfasted quickly, and then drove in the dark up the winding access road to the jumping off point. We got there right at dawn, in the rain, and were afraid the hike would have to scratched due to the fog and clouds obscuring all. But just after sunrise a clearing in the clouds opened up, though the peak was still hidden, which gave us enough hope to set out on the five to six hour hike . . .
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From an overlook point at the top of the rim of the vast caldera surrounding the active peak, we could see a small group of people who had set out before us, and were already starting to cross the plain toward the mountain. You can just make them out at the upper right. The crater in the foreground is a relatively small vent which was active back in the 1700's.
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This gives you a little better idea of the climb down the outer caldera rim to reach the plain which must be crossed before getting to the volcano itself. This was easy going down early in the morning, but it was coming back up this steep stretch at the end of the round trip hike that was a _______ ! (fill in your own expletive!)

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The fog and clouds kept descending, causing serious doubts as to whether we should continue. The guidebooks are full of warnings about not getting lost in the clouds on the expanse of plains around the peak, which go on for miles and miles, and which are extremely rugged and unforgiving terrain.

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In brief clearings the heights of our destination could just be glimpsed. To help prevent people from getting lost out there in the lava desert, a series of white spots have been painted on the ground. One should not stray away from them.
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The Piton de la Fournaise has erupted frequently over the past 150 years, producing humongous quantities of basaltic lava flows. The solidified molten rock is beautiful to look at, but makes for treacherous, exhausting walking, as there are almost no flat surfaces.
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A few sparse grasses grow in the wastelands . . .

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And a few small shrubs which somehow managed to seed themselves in this inhospitable place.
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Hard to imagine rock like this heated hot enough to flow like mud . . .
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There are some options for destinations up there, some side trips to take if one is feeling energetic and has the time . . .

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But we were headed for the main summit, the Dolomieu Crater. In the background here is the caldera rim, known as the Pas de Bellecombe.
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A lava flow that ran to the north side of the island, running off into the distance here under the low flying cloud cover.
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One better understands what "scorched earth" means after visiting such places.

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Not all is black though, volcanic rock comes in a multitude of colors.

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Now well up on the flanks of the peak, my three travelling companions took a break to put on sunscreen, a must at 2600 meters high, or over 8600 feet.
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When one at last reaches the summit on the rim around the active crater, there are signs like this advising one to avoid falling into that vast entrance to hell.

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This is the main crater, roughly circlular, which drops back down about 900 feet from the edges around it. And which is still steaming heavily from the last eruption which took place for ten days from 2 to 12 January, 2010. There is quite a bit more information about the volcano on this site in French, Fournaise.info . . .

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The bottom of the interior of the crater . . . quietly smoking, and waiting for the next eruption. The last major eruption in 2007 saw lava flowing down into the ocean, and created new territory on the island which got bigger in surface by quite a few acres.
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After the arduous hike back down the slopes, across the plain, up the outer rim, and back to the car, this is the view down the access road which we couldn't see when we drove up early that morning in the rain and fog. . . showers and dinner rarely felt so good afterwards . . .
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A Totaled Toad . . .

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Being the carefree toad that I am, I was cheerfully hopping across the blog highway this evening, when I got run right over by a giant tractor trailer (that's an articulated lorry for you British folks out there, or a poids lourd pour les français), yes a whole truckload of kindness just ran me down and left me flat on my back with a dumbfounded smile, an amphibian grin, a bactrian belly laugh. And who could have sent such a magnificent message of munificence ? A missive more generous than any of the blog awards in circulation I've seen to date ? Well look no further than my sidebar, where a link can be found to Lynne Louciao Ciacco's Décolleté Glimpses and her post of this evening which seems to be saying that as toads go, I may be a little less slimy or covered in warts than some of my species. Thanks Lynne ! ! !
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And it does happen in the real world as well as in the blogosphere that toads get bowled over and flattened out while trying to cross the road, as below photo attests. I say we need more toads on this planet and fewer automobiles, and with fewer automobiles there might be less need for oil to be refined into gasoline, and thus less chance of oil wells blowing up and causing massive oil spills devastating entire eco-systems. Perhaps better to be flat and gone to toad heaven than to see what horrors mankind will continue to perpetrate upon this planet . . .

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The above defunct toad (now why does the word defunct contain "fun"?) and the below photos are from the February trip to Reunion Island. Reunion Island is a popular tourist destination for the French, and perhaps for other Europeans as well, but I'm not sure that many Americans tend to head there. And why should they, as there are plenty of lovely tropical islands closer in the Caribbean. But none of the tourist guides we read before going mentioned that there could be a risk of all the beaches on the island being closed. It seems that when Reunion Island gets heavy tropical downpours, which they do from time to time, the rains flush out all the ravines on the island right into the ocean, and it can take days or weeks for the sea to correct the matter and wash away the dense concentrations of waste washed into the ocean around the island. The problem is compounded by sewage treatment plants which get overwhelmed by the rainwater, and by the fact that many ravines on the island are used as dumping grounds for all manner of human wastes.

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These next two photos show the port of Saint Pierre de la Réunion as it looked the days after some particularly heavy storms. Yes, the brown stuff is the water. We were fortunate, there was still one beach open on the west coast of the island in the days just after our arrival, and then later some other beaches were able to re-open. Food for thought. Food for sharks too, who love to come see what's for lunch after the storms.

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This next view is what I sometimes refer to as another roadside attraction, in homage to Tom Robbins' book of that title. They were a little too common on la Réunion. You've heard of throwing out the baby with the bathwater, well here they threw out the baby carriage with the toilet water, errr, at least the toilet. All is not well even in a place which should be close to paradise . . .

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Fortunately for us tourists, there were some working toilets to be found, which hopefully did not send their wastes out into the ocean when it rains . . .
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There were some public toilets which left me sceptical (no pun intended) as to where the wastes were directed. This one was right at the ocean's edge . . .
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And believe it or not, I took the above photo of a trash heap by the water's edge, and then tilted the camera upwards a little and took the next one. In spite of mankind, it is still a beautiful place, this planet of ours. If we could only learn to take a little better care of it.

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A Morning at the Market . . .

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When visiting Réunion Island, which should be done at least once in life, one of the obligatory stops on any tourist's agenda should be the Friday morning market at St Paul. There is a reason for that; it is well worth a visit, if for nothing else, the abundant concentration of bright colors to be found there. Right on the sea front, one can shop for all manner of local produce, while enjoying the ocean views and breeze. Could that possibly be la Grenouille in a blue dress looking at handbags ???
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Smaller purses could be had for 2 euros . . .
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I could nibble on candied fruits all day long. The goyave was particularly good . . .
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The ubiquitous dodo logo of the local Bourbon beer was present at the market, as it was most everywhere on the island. Quite a marketing stretch to name a beer after an extinct flightless bird . . .
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More dodos . . .

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Although la Réunion is a long way from Haiti, I was wondering if these dolls may have been destined in some cases for voodoo related purposes . . .

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In 35°C or about 95°F temperatures, cool freshly mixed fruit juice blends can really hit the spot. The blenders were heavily solicited . . .

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More bags; when one heads for the beach frequently, bags are a necessity . . .

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Paintings could be had for a song. And if you look carefully, in the lower right is a painting of a place called Chez Loulou, which I had photographed earlier in the trip, and did a post about back in February shortly after getting home dedicated to Loulou of Indiaphragme out in India.

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Warm colors were not in short supply . . .

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Réunion Island's volcano is quite active, and present in the iconography of the culture . . .

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Pots for preparing picnic meals in at the numerous barbecue spots around the island . . .

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Now, let's get down to the serious business. Some people here like to drink. That is normal because it is a tropical island where it is very hot. But for some folks, water is not enough. They take their water with a little bit of refined sugar cane in it, a concoction otherwise known as rum. And for some, even plain rum isn't what is required, they'll be wanting rum which has been doctored in all manner of ways, with marinated herbs and fruits in it, which is called "rhum arrangé". . . or re-arranged rum. Well, all I can say is, you have to try it. Just don't try too much of it if you are planning on driving anywhere, because about one shot of this stuff will put you over the legal limit. Saj, Lynne, any takers ???

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And after you've had a shot or two, don't be surprised if you start seeing hordes of multi-colored turtles starting to come out of the woodwork, I'm not certain that alcohol is the only psychoactive ingredient in that rhum arrangé . . .
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Even the vegetables start looking strange after the visit to the rum stand ! God only knows what these are called, because I certainly don't. Or can't remember if I did . . .

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Hope you enjoyed the virtual visit, come back soon !
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Something to Reflect On . . .

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If you haven't been there before, I'd highly recommend a little visit to James' place, Newtown Area Photo, which is happening in south-eastern Pennsylvania, not far from where I was born, so I have a slight sentimental attachment to the region. James is doing some simply gorgeous photographs of that part of the world. And the icing on his blogcake is the Weekend Reflections series he's been running for some time now, which is drawing people from all over the world to participate and observe. Every weekend he opens up the gate, and the links to reflection themed photos come flooding in like summer sun on a South Sea island . . . which is to say, bright and colorful. Well, when the sun shines, you may be wanting a hat, so here is my entry for this week's reflections over at James' photo bar . . .
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And with a little less reflection, more hats to choose from if you didn't find your pleasure in the first lot . . .

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And with one of those colorful hats, you may be needing a sun dress as well, if you're of the fairer sex . . .

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There were some reflections going on with these grafitti shots as well, which I had to go nearly to the end of the world and get my feet wet to bring back for you . . .

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Et en français, en Pennsylvanie, pas loin de là ou je suis né, il y a un bloggeur de renom qui s'appelle James, qui anime Newtown Area Photos, et tous les weekends il fait depuis un moment une série sur les photos réflets, qui attire des photographes d'un peu partout dans le monde, et les liens vers des photos réflets commencent à tomber comme les rayons du soleil en été sur une île dans les mers du sud, et si besoin est, il vous faut peut-être un chapeau, voire une robe pour aller avec le chapeau... Sinon, je suis allé au fin fond de la planète pour ramener les deux photos graffiti ici, et me mouiller les pieds en plus . . .

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Of Dreams, Beer, Bars, and Cars . . .

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Whilst on vacation, some people dream of sitting at a lovely table and eating fine meals outdoors with great scenery ; while others dream of lying in a hammock with beer and admiring the simply stunning view from the back porch looking out on somewhere like la Réunion Island's valley of the Saint Denis River. And once in blue moon, one can dream and live both dreams at the same time in a place like this . . .
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Other people from a very early age dream of driving fast orange sports cars . . .
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While other people daydream while driving a little too fast and their car ends up like this one . . .
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Or like this one . . .
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Some people take care and drive carefully to the beerhall (Bourbon and Phoenix are the two most popular local beers on la Réunion) where they park their sports car while sipping a few beers in the cool shade of the bar, and then get a friend to drive them home . . .

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And if you had a car, would you park it anywhere near a tree which looked like this one ? I'm not sure that I would, and I didn't . . . I didn't want to have to explain to the rental car people how I'd left my car on the street near a ravenous looking tree, and it was gone when I came back . . .

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