Love at Last!!

Between blizzards, deathly icicles, potential broken hips, and frostbite, Estonia in March has become an inhospitable environment. After brief consideration, my friend Trudee and I decided to flee the frozen tundra for friendlier lands. This meant traveling as far south as possible on a limited budget. Thanks to cheap internet-based services, cunning, patience, and a 5 hour game of "travel agents" played by Trudee and I, we booked an amazing trip to the Canary Islands. For those of you who don't know where these Islands are, take out your map and locate Africa. Then move to the west coast and find Morocco. To the west of Morocco are the small Canary Islands. Our island was Lanzarote. The actual trip was 2 nights in Madrid, and 5 in Costa Teguise, Lanzarote. It doesn't get much cooler than that.

We returned two days ago to Estonia where there is still ice and snow on the ground as well as fear of ice shards from above, but we are re-charged and willing to take the risk. In addition, March is over half-way through, and April has got to be better! Please!!!!

So to provide a contrast, the weather on Lanzarote averaged about 72 degrees while we were there, no precipitation of any kind, and sunny. We also happend to arrive the weekend of Costa Teguise's Carnival celebration = parade, parties, dancing...fun. We ate like pigs, lounged by the pool under the sun, and danced the night away...basically paradise...and I'm tan.

For a little geological background, the Canary Islands are a chain of volcanic islands, much like Hawaii. A local company offers tours of the island and the Timanfaya national park, Spains second most visited park. It takes you through lava fields, craters, geothermic areas, and best of all, a camel ride!

Brave adventurers that we are, Trudee and I could not pass up an opportunity to ride these beasts of burden. We named our camel "Mittens", and our neighbors behind us were riding "Bitsy". The camels form a chain of about 8 or 10 animals, 2 riders per camel. Each camel is chained to the rear of the one in front of it. About 1/3 of the way into our ride, I started to feel something against my back. Turning around, I realized that Bitsy had begun to burrow her nose into my back. We began going uphill, so Bitsy had to back off a bit, however, unlike the other camels, she started to breathe very heavily. I could feel her camel breath on my neck, and her inhilations practically pulled my skin back. If it weren't for the muzzle on her mouth, I'm sure I would have recieved a few camel kisses!

After mastering the hill, Bitsy returned to my backside, and we finished the ride in this tender embrace. When we returned to the bus, our guide informed us that Camels are very sensitive to smell, so if people had put on too much perfume or aftershave, it attracted the camels. I was wearing a tanktop, it was hot, and I was sweating off my deodorant. I think that Bitsy and I had something special though. I felt it, and I'm pretty sure she did too. I think she was sad to see me go. Camels have very good memories, so perhaps if I return to Lanzarote we will visit one another. I will never forget Bitsy and our little affair at the "Plains of Tranquility".

As I mentioned before, I am now back in Estonia. I cannot show off my tan to anyone as we still have to bundle up considerably to go outside, but in the privacy of my apartment, I can look upon my brownish skin and think fondly of my tropical tryst.

By the way, if anyone wants to see pictures of my vacation or any other photos of Estonia and Europe, shoot me an e-mail! Take Care and remember you never know where you're going to find love.

Death from Above

In my last blog I mentioned that I've fallen because of slippery sidewalks three times now on my adventure in Eastern Europe. I previously thought that this was the most perilous part of living in a country where snow-maintenence is fairly non-existant...oh how wrong I was. Up until now, I have been looking down and watching my feet as I try to climb my way over the drifts of snow, skate down small hills sheeted with ice, and basically make it from point A to point B without fracturing my tailbone. I figured, it's good to be cautious, "watch you're where your walking". About four days ago, we had a 2 day long blizzard that dropped about a foot and a half of snow on Tallinn. Since then it has been warming up a bit, and the snow is melting, making the ice underneath quite slippery.

I recently learned, however, that the cause of most winter calamities is falling icicles from the rooftops above. Apparently some people have died due to being impaled by giant shards of ice as they plummet to the earth. As the temperature increases, the fear of being skewered by an icicle rises proportionatly. The kind Estonian people have taken to roping off particularly dangerous areas, or just placing blockades to prevent people from walking under these frozen nasties. Unfortunatley, this forces us all to walk in the middle of the road where we now must dodge traffic as it too slips and slides on the thawing snow and ice. Basically, going outside is like playing Russian Roulette.

Now, I must watch my feet for ice and drifts, the sky for falling knives of ice, and both ways at all time for cars. I'm starting to feel a little paranoid, and my neck is beginning to hurt. I might buy cleats...or maybe a helmet.

*Pics: http://www.physics.utoronto.ca/~smorris/edl/icicleripples/icicle_out2.jpg,