Now THIS experience entitled “Real food in Macedonia”!
First stop Skopje, first taste Turkish coffee and baklava
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INFORMATION!
MADAGASCAR-land of the Lemur
Lemurs are “pre-simian”, whenever and however they got to madagascar they did not then evolve to monkeys, but instead evolved to fill every spare ecological niche, and there are many different ecological areas. Rather like the way birds evolved in to all sorts of roles in NZ. There are more than 100 lemurs identified so far and about 15 known to be extinct. A bit like Galapagos, they are remarkably unafraid, their predator is a catlike dog sized nocturnal tree climbing relative of the mongoose. The foosa.
This is a ring tailed lemur.
close up of his toes!
and front view!
This and next is a sifaka, kind of lemur.
I think this is a common brown.
Diadem, or jumping lemur.
Lesser gray bamboo lemur
Red fronted brown.
Did see golden bamboo lemur, and it was golden, 
but out of camera range. This last is a rescued pet, on an island in a river.
Swimming with dolphins
In the middle of the Pacific, well nearly–
Wet suited up and with mask and snorkel so we could “swim like a dolphin!”
They really did come and swim round with me, so close you felt you could put your arms round them! but couldnt/wouldnt of course.
Later, video of them racing the boat after we were back in, IT glitch, so no video yet!
–and we saw these on rocks but aparently they bite!
so more dolphin–
and this is a shag!
–preening
and this is a Takahe, flightless NZ bird, just escaped extinction, after rats, cats, weasels etc brought here–by US! historically.
He thinks he is hiding, no wonder he is nearlt extinct!
-oh and this was my bus to the beach,
Almost out of time, more anon————-
Extreme adventure
Well, depends on your taste! Photos still in camera, working on it!
Christchurch sobering, centre flattened by earthquake still, but vibrant none the less. Clearly Brits imported native meadow seed to get sheep going, but across the plain and up into the mountains, stunning scenery, wide glacial rivers, descending to temperate rainforest in no time at all. Breathtaking coastal scenery, Tasman sea. Lots of mountains covered in clearly native forest, small thick leaves, no doubt wind influenced, frustration at not being able to upload pix, YET!
Vast areas of new Zealand flax on salt laden cliff edges, not surprising it died in my garden. 2 days of unforcast warm sunshine, current tropical downpour explains why they have SO many ferns! Mist, rain, wind notwithstanding, walking up to glacier before the day is out, come hell or high water! Geological fantasia, produced by the most extreme temperatures and pressures. COME TO NZ!
Costa Rica butterflies
look at all this, and it’s only the first morning!
admittedly they were not wild, strictly speaking
the place we stopped for breakfast, having been traveling for 2 hours!
so we needed breakfast, which was rice and beans as usual,
anyway, round the back they had enclosed a bit of rainforest, not cut it down, or so it seemed,
and they were obviously breeding! so must have been happy, that too anthropomorphic?
now this is the undersiside of the big blue one, which we saw later in the rainforest.
I dont know anything about any of them, beyond being stunning!
the bit of rainforest was underplanted with far more flowers than you saw in the real rainforest
WOW!
now there are 2 here, feeding on over ripe banana, the second just looks like an old bit of dead
leaf, can you see?
and more evidence of reproduction
these were in a collection that had clearly been found and put together, but some were emerging
so not harmed by this
and more caterpillars practising self defence!! I mean, if you were hungry would you risk nibbling that lot!
Having seen them and had them fluttering round, as there were hundreds, and taken pix, defused the butterfly thing. So no panic or risking falling out of boat when they were spotted later in natural habitat, anyway, photos would have been impossible, so enjoy!
An interesting afterthought, there are several small businesses, very labour intensive, where locals breed butterflies and export them, in the form of chrysalises, all over the world, infinitely repeating demand as butterflies may only live hours or days.
then I had another thought, about 6am, walking in the early light, saw a fabulous swallowtail butterfly resting, next minute it was in a dance of death over the road, with a bird, which won, partly as there was no where to hide I think, so nature is red in tooth and claw even in suburban streets!!
Of now to travel to next port of call””””””’
Costa Rica———–green turtles
Now t.his has to be without photos, as it is forbidden to take cameras or flash anywhere near green turtles, in case they are disturbed in the act, and don’t comeback.
Costa Rica’s atlantic coast is one of the most important hatching grounds in the world, for the green turtle 24 miles of beach, further than the eye can see, fine black volcanic sand, about 40 yards wide, backed by impenatrable rainforest. No swimming for us, not only are there rip currents but a batallion of sharks wait off shore for the tasty turtle snacks, or anything else!
We did actually walk the beach in daylight, which is allowed, and amazingly found a solitary hatchling, he ran so fast to the sea my camera showed only a blur, but we cheered him into the water..
8pm we were back officially, having paid to support their conservation. IIt was like a cross between a spy movie and the blind leading the blind! Pitch dark except for frequent flashes of thunder for 2 hours,usual climate round here, but only a little rain, unusually. The full moon did struggle thro the cloud towards the end. Our guide was a native Indian who had been doing the job for 30 years. We walked miles on soft sand, as well as waiting in the dark with only an occasional official red light.
We did see 2 turtles tho. One had sneaked in early, they usually only do it in the dark, so when we were shown her she was already covering and camoflaging the eggs she had laid, we got to follow her back to the sea, it did actually seem a momentous thing to see, her strugges were legend, having spent 2 hours dragging herself up the beach, digging a hole in a good spot and laying 100 eggs. Our guide told us many times how the male turtles were waiting out beyond the surf to fertilise the next lot, aparently she lays 3 or 4 lots in one nesting season. FEmale multitasking yet again!
SEcond made her way all the way up to the jungle and dug around, but gave up. We were told she would cool down at sea and retund in a different spot later that night, dodging the waiting males hopefully! We followd her all the way back in the dark as well, she was enormous, at least 4 feet across, and seemed as exhausted as the first, do hope she survioved laying eggs in the end.
As a bonus, in the pitch dark, there were also a load of hatchlings from earlier egg layings, hopefully 20 pairs of boots missed the wee things!
The wonder of it for me is that turtles have suvived so many millenia, in spite of how many have been eaten by us! I was thinking of each tiny creature, running the gauntlet of waiting predators, of all sorts. If 2 survive out of 100, to maturity, then that is success.Tonight we will be back on the beack, walking a couple of miles there and back to the local town, which depends on tourists for 80% of its income, to buy a few things no doubt, but perhaps to see more turtle action, so long as we are in daylight, which is “permitted!”
Hopefully pix with next, assuming IT access holds up, which is not a given!!!!!1
Spain——–a tale of two cities.
Well actually,this is a bit naughty of me, as the first “city” is actually a tiny village, of which more———then we do have a city, but the juxtaposition says interesting things about Spain, tho I am not completely sure what! Forget, for a moment, the current crisis in Spain, although there may be cross relevance, and go back to march, 2007—
Come with me as I entertain myself, waiting to fly to Costa Rica.
We start in a tiny village, an hours drive into the mountains north of Malaga. Firstly, it had been deserted and fallen into dereliction. This a reflection of economic pressures on rural society, and you will recognise that this is universal, not peculiar to Spain. 
Now this is the village, whose name escapes me, and yes I know it looks ok, but it had been bought for a song by a Brit, restored, and was now home to a horseriding “ranch” with lots of holiday homes. The horses were all Spanish, so mostly arab, but had been expertly schooled up to be safe “riding school” horses. Horseriding in Spain was previously male dominated, and about the level of control as in Lipizzaners.
Horses were matched to riders, and this was mine, a lovely old man who had been a carriage horse and still wanted to be at the front, but was as biddable as a lamb.
This was taken on a whole day ride, rides and horses sheltering from the sun.
More horse pictures for those of you interested, before I move on-
-but we can use them as a foreground for scenery as well–
-not a drop of rain fell the whole week=
–not many horse pix actually, whether on or off, I was mostly too occupied with doing it right to be able to stop for photos!
-this next just shows the arabs were not all “grays”
Plus a fascinating glimpse of the Land Rover that brought lunch!
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and I did take his saddle off over lunch, which was in an olive grove
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see!
I also ran true to form and managed the odd flower photo, see, they have orchids in Spain as well, now there’s a surprise!
Of course, you will realise the yellow one is NOT an orchid!
As well as a whole day on a horse, we also had a rest day, and took the local bus to the city, guess where–
looks like any other I hear you say?
but try looking at it this way!
-any idea?
-more clues–LATER!
Autumn gold
Sudden impulse, as a garden is an ephemeral thing, ideally———
This is “wild Edric” chosen as soil conditions are dreadful, he never fails to come up with the goods, delicious scent.
-this is “army nurse”, terribly upright and correct, do not be impressed by the names, rare for me to know them.
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cyclamen hederifolium, leaves later, they clearly like harsh conditions as they flower like crazy, grow vigorously and self seed like there is no tomorrow, all from a packet of SIX seeds.
–bladder senna, if you need an indestructible shrub for harsh conditions, flowers all summer.
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zoom in for the very large, free, garden ornament in the background.
–survives in very small area that is hot, dry, south facing.
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2nd flush of flowers, will keep on till killed by frost, like the wasp–
one of several things I like about blueberries, just look at the colour, mind you, flavour does not compare with scottish blaeberries.
Canadian creeping dogwood, gets red berries as well.
Just look at how wildlife friendly my garden is!
Beat that!!!
Comes from South Africa, just where they are going to start fracking oil shales!!
Is it really clever to clash? Well perhaps as winter approaches—
fuschia again, this one is practically naturalised in west coast scotland, thanks to the Gulf Stream–
“welsh poppy” supposed to be a spring flower!!
new frond of Japanese fern, remarkably for time of year–
-for the birds! Goldfinches love the seeds–
-and hope for next year, if it survives the winter.
surprisingly, today there is lots more, but enough is as good as a feast
Ecuador-African heritage
They told us no one in Ecuador thought much about Africans, if at all, until someone noticed the successful Ecuadorian national football team was all black African.
Not until then did they remember there was a population in the North, whose ancestors had been brought in as slaves, by Jesuits, to run sugar cane production, no doubt they needed the money to help to spread the word. The land dropped down low enough for it to be hot, wet and very fertile, towards the border with what is now Columbia.
At one point the Jesuits left en masse, might have been when the Spanish King made slavery illegal, long before Britain even got round to it. Slaves all left to get on as best they could. Mostly stayed in the area, but were very poor for a long time, there is a town they took us to. Once light dawned about how good they were at FOOTBALL, money came in for the first time, and enterprise flourished.
There was an ancient salt industry, oh the wonders of geology, salt pans at 3000 metres above sea. It has been reconstructed for tourists, lots of information as well as salt.
This man was in charge of the museum, which was fully working salt production among other things———————————————-
They had also just finished a building for tourists to include restaurant of local food, we were their first customers, they hadn’t actually opened yet.
first salt evaporating with sugar cane in field behind, just because I like the picture,
then the inside of the restaurant underneath———
We had eaten what they produced for us, snacks only but very tasty,
the black thing on the table was roasted yucca root, about to be sliced and eaten.
Sliced yucca root is also deep fried like potato, as crisps, carbohydrate storage you see. Much like any other crisp, but a demonstration in this case.
-next underneath is a view of the town, missed the carnival as my photography was not up to much back then—
I think this is a failed attempt at “atmospheric!
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-but it was on the way out to where they had renovated the old goods rail line, station and engine, behind, and brought in a new rail “bus” for tourists, in front.
Americans would love this.
We were told there was another African population on the coast, in the north. They had originally come from a slave ship wrecked on the coast, before it got to where it was going. They also said there was a powerful African woman om board, so of course they got on with successful survival and thrived. NOT MY WORDS!!
Time for bed said Zebedee—remember?
Thirst for experience. 