April 19, 2010
The text says: Giml let me see his wings more closely. they have 3 fingers, like bat wings, but instead of a skin membrane, the wings look feathery. Soft. On closer look, they appear to be made of mats of silky hair knitted and interlaced to make a solid surface. I could not see how the wing attaches to the shoulder.
I found a bit of fluff on the floor and examined it more closely. Tiny branching structures that interlocked.
April 16, 2010
“Draw me! Draw me!” The little boy sitting in front of me begged when he saw my paints and papers. He laughed and laughed when he saw I’d caught his likeness.
He told me his name—he pronounced it Giml, and showed me how to write it in script clearly stolen from Hebrew lettering. I wondered how they’d come to have that lettering, yet he spoke the President’s English as well as I, although heavily accented.
April 13, 2010
(Text from left hand page) Kid with his dad in the seat in front of me. Very chatty, although I understand only about half the words. “Hullo joo laddie,” he says. “why joo skraaatching in those papers?” He crowed with laughter when I showed him the picture I drew of him.
“Open your eyes, pa.” He jostled his father awake. “ The ground-walker made my face in her papers.”
The father glanced at the portrait, but nodded politely and sank back into his doze.
April 12, 2010
(Text from left hand page) I thought at first the spray of mud and rock were explosions, so forcefully did the debris fly into the sky. We had to close the windows against the dust-thick air. The man seated ahead of me grunted, “bad year.” Took me a moment to recognize what he said. Badger. The giant badgers of the Blue Claw Mountains! My guidebook, thin as it is, says these earthmovers are myths. But not so. As we passed, I spotted the heaving back and shoveling claws, all the size of a large bulldozer. For what do they dig? Know that, and perhaps they could be trained for mining. But, as it is, these badgers only dig in the Blue Claws, and only where they wish.
These drawings are my best guess based on my observations of only a partially spied animal.
April 10, 2010
(Text on the left hand page, which you can’t see) Geysers that spray fish—fully cooked fish, spiced with a little bit of sulphur, or the terroir of the soil—are common here. Fish are known as devil fish because of the taste of sulphur. Devil fish have long sensitive feelers to help them find their way through the underground caves in which they live. They breed in hot vents of steam that cooks the fish as they spawn.
Some fish can be quite toxic with heavy metals. It’s part of the culture here to take that chance.
This is one of the last wild devil fish geysers left in this country. Most are now commercial operations. It’s also very dangerous to free-fish, or “go steaming” as it’s called here. But young men pursue it avidly, and many sport scalded patches all over their bodies.
View from Snail Rail. The legs belong to cloud cows-a peculiar bovine they have here, bigger than a house. They’re also referred to as “milkenhoneys.” Don’t know why yet.
Heading off into a new country. Things might be a little different here.
Journey to Divergencia 