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anarchist_nomad Mar. 23rd, 2015 06:37 pm)
anarchist_nomad Mar. 23rd, 2015 06:37 pm)Gentle readers,
Ten days ago, your friendly neighbourhood Nomad hit the big FOUR-OH. Wowza -- how did that happen? Seems like only yesterday that I was celebrating my 30th birthday at the Event Horizon!
I firmly believe that if one is going to grow older, one should do it in style. Ten years ago, I resolved to throw the biggest Event Horizon party to date... and I succeeded.[*] For forty, I raised the stakes and decided to make it my absolute bestest birthday ever!
So what does that mean? What are the ingredients for a spectacular birthday?
Well, first is location. I love Oxford, but celebrating at home wasn't going to do. I wanted somewhere that would be warm and sunny in mid-March. No point in partying somewhere cold... and, besides, I wanted to go scuba diving! My first thought was the Mediterranean, possibly Corsica or Sardinia. Maybe Sicily. Then I checked: Average highs of 50F? That won't work!
Further South, then, which brings us to the Canary Islands. Yeah, that could work. Average highs in the mid-70s? Now that's more like it!
A plan began to take form: Rent a large villa in Lanzarote and invite everyone I know to join us there for a week. Although not the largest of the Canary Islands, the volcanic landscape and the César Manrique architecture was highly appealing. What's more, the entire island has been designated as a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve.
In the end, I didn't end up inviting everybody I knew. We topped out at sixteen people, filling two private holiday villas. That seemed like a wise place to stop; coordinating an international week-long trip with sixteen people from two continents was one heck of a lot of work! Lots of logistics to arrange, including accommodation, transportation, and activities.
Lots of work... but it was totally worth it!
So what did we do in our week on the "Island of Fire" (as Lanzarote is known)? Well, we rode camels over the volcanic landscape:
(click on picture for full version)
and we ate food cooked with geo-thermal heat:
(click on picture for full version)
The picture above was taken at the El Diablo restaurant in Timanfaya National Park. The grill is set over a hole in the ground. That's all. No fire below; the heat of the volcano cooks your food for you!
(Also acts as a nifty underfloor heater, too!)
What else? Well, I got my scuba dives -- two off the coast of Playa Blanca (one day dive and one night dive) and another from Puerto del Carmen. We spent time on the beach at Arrecife, the capital of the island. We also took a bus tour around Timanfaya National Park. On another day, some of us went horseback riding (not me), whilst others took a bicycle tour (me!).
On one afternoon, we chartered a private pleasure cruise for five hours; on a different afternoon, we visited a few of César Manrique's architectural masterpieces. My beloved![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cheshcat lined us up an excellent sampling of his work, including his Volcano House, his Cactus Garden, and the lookout point Mirador del Rio.
Some of us also made time for hiking. I went on three hikes, around the Montaña Caldereta, along the Timanfaya Coastal Route, and a sunset hike on my birthday itself, climbing the red mountain Montaña Roja, which was just behind our villas.
Here is a shot of yours truly atop the Caldereta (a volcanic crater):
(click on picture for full version)
Plus, there was lots of chill out time at the villas. Besides the two heated pools, we had a jacuzzi, sauna, and steam room. So it became a regular pattern to go out and be active during the day, then come together for a big meal in the evening -- coordinated by my darlingmiss_amaranth. After dinner, we would soak up the amenities and be social in the evening.
By chance, the folks who went horseback riding ran into a masseuse; she was then hired to come to the villa on two separate days, working on half of our party during that time -- some people used her twice!
The penultimate day of the trip was my actual birthday, March 13th. After days of rushing about, the big day was spent at the villas. Pancake brunch, afternoon tea by the pool (served bymiss_amaranth in a bikini), and lots of good company!
Was my plan a success? You betcha! As you may recall, dear friends, the goal was to make turning 40 my best birthday ever. Spending a week on a subtropical volcanic island with more than a dozen of my closest friends? Riding camels and scuba diving and eating geo-thermally cooked food? You bet this was the bestest birthday ever![**]
Now then, what can I do to top it for turning 50?
[*] Eventually, as I made more friends in Chicagoland, the regular parties would grow to be larger than that special one... but at the time, my goal was met with 25 people celebrating in a two-day party.
[**] Sixteen hours before I left for this awesometacular holiday, there was one extra development that made it even better. "What might that be?" you may ask. Ah, but that's the subject of my next LJ post...
Ten days ago, your friendly neighbourhood Nomad hit the big FOUR-OH. Wowza -- how did that happen? Seems like only yesterday that I was celebrating my 30th birthday at the Event Horizon!
I firmly believe that if one is going to grow older, one should do it in style. Ten years ago, I resolved to throw the biggest Event Horizon party to date... and I succeeded.[*] For forty, I raised the stakes and decided to make it my absolute bestest birthday ever!
So what does that mean? What are the ingredients for a spectacular birthday?
Well, first is location. I love Oxford, but celebrating at home wasn't going to do. I wanted somewhere that would be warm and sunny in mid-March. No point in partying somewhere cold... and, besides, I wanted to go scuba diving! My first thought was the Mediterranean, possibly Corsica or Sardinia. Maybe Sicily. Then I checked: Average highs of 50F? That won't work!
Further South, then, which brings us to the Canary Islands. Yeah, that could work. Average highs in the mid-70s? Now that's more like it!
A plan began to take form: Rent a large villa in Lanzarote and invite everyone I know to join us there for a week. Although not the largest of the Canary Islands, the volcanic landscape and the César Manrique architecture was highly appealing. What's more, the entire island has been designated as a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve.
In the end, I didn't end up inviting everybody I knew. We topped out at sixteen people, filling two private holiday villas. That seemed like a wise place to stop; coordinating an international week-long trip with sixteen people from two continents was one heck of a lot of work! Lots of logistics to arrange, including accommodation, transportation, and activities.
Lots of work... but it was totally worth it!
So what did we do in our week on the "Island of Fire" (as Lanzarote is known)? Well, we rode camels over the volcanic landscape:
(click on picture for full version)
and we ate food cooked with geo-thermal heat:
(click on picture for full version)
The picture above was taken at the El Diablo restaurant in Timanfaya National Park. The grill is set over a hole in the ground. That's all. No fire below; the heat of the volcano cooks your food for you!
(Also acts as a nifty underfloor heater, too!)
What else? Well, I got my scuba dives -- two off the coast of Playa Blanca (one day dive and one night dive) and another from Puerto del Carmen. We spent time on the beach at Arrecife, the capital of the island. We also took a bus tour around Timanfaya National Park. On another day, some of us went horseback riding (not me), whilst others took a bicycle tour (me!).
On one afternoon, we chartered a private pleasure cruise for five hours; on a different afternoon, we visited a few of César Manrique's architectural masterpieces. My beloved
cheshcat lined us up an excellent sampling of his work, including his Volcano House, his Cactus Garden, and the lookout point Mirador del Rio.Some of us also made time for hiking. I went on three hikes, around the Montaña Caldereta, along the Timanfaya Coastal Route, and a sunset hike on my birthday itself, climbing the red mountain Montaña Roja, which was just behind our villas.
Here is a shot of yours truly atop the Caldereta (a volcanic crater):
(click on picture for full version)
Plus, there was lots of chill out time at the villas. Besides the two heated pools, we had a jacuzzi, sauna, and steam room. So it became a regular pattern to go out and be active during the day, then come together for a big meal in the evening -- coordinated by my darling
miss_amaranth. After dinner, we would soak up the amenities and be social in the evening.By chance, the folks who went horseback riding ran into a masseuse; she was then hired to come to the villa on two separate days, working on half of our party during that time -- some people used her twice!
The penultimate day of the trip was my actual birthday, March 13th. After days of rushing about, the big day was spent at the villas. Pancake brunch, afternoon tea by the pool (served by
miss_amaranth in a bikini), and lots of good company!Was my plan a success? You betcha! As you may recall, dear friends, the goal was to make turning 40 my best birthday ever. Spending a week on a subtropical volcanic island with more than a dozen of my closest friends? Riding camels and scuba diving and eating geo-thermally cooked food? You bet this was the bestest birthday ever![**]
Now then, what can I do to top it for turning 50?
[*] Eventually, as I made more friends in Chicagoland, the regular parties would grow to be larger than that special one... but at the time, my goal was met with 25 people celebrating in a two-day party.
[**] Sixteen hours before I left for this awesometacular holiday, there was one extra development that made it even better. "What might that be?" you may ask. Ah, but that's the subject of my next LJ post...
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Sounds as if a good time was had.
Forty? A mere stripling, so you are! :o)
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That will, of course, mean that you'd have to start planning 60 in about 5 years, so maybe not.
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As you say, there's always the big FIVE-OH to look forward to! Topping this trip is going to be quite the challenge! I rather look forward to it... ;-D
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It was indeed an amazing trip. I'm still smiling, over a week later! Happy birthday to me, indeed! *grin*
How have you been, hon?
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And yeah, I know I vanished from LJ for a while! I'm hoping to come back and use it more though. I was pleasantly surprised to see that people are still here!
I've been good - trying to travel a bit. I went to Iceland and New England last year and have Ireland planned for later this year. Now I'm trying to work out what to do while I'm there.
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So you went to Iceland, huh? Spiffy -- how was it? Where did you go?
Actually, our travel plans have a remarkable overlap, as I'm also planning a two-week road trip to Ireland with
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Iceland was amazing! I went to Reykjavik and had a great time. We went on a trip out to see the Northern Lights and were so fortunate with the weather. It was freezing cold but we saw a wonderful display. The Blue Lagoon was also really fun (outdoor swimming in February! Brilliant!) The Icelandic Penis Museum was a bit of a disappointment, but had to be done.
You'll be in Ireland just after me then! At the moment our potential travel dates are last week of July/first week of August. It's like you're stalking me. :p
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Iceland sounds spectacular -- especially the Northern Lights! Everyone keeps asking us why we would go to Iceland in November. Duh! Of course it's the Northern Lights! *grin*
Also, our Ireland dates are probably August 1st - 15th... so we might even overlap! Guess I am stalking you... *giggle*
From:
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And how funny would it be if we randomly ran into each other in Ireland? I'll keep my eye out for you! =D
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It would be great to see you again -- it's been years! And since we know it won't happen in England, perhaps Ireland is the answer... ;-D
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Happy birthday to you, m'dear!!
*huge hugs*
Miss you, sweetie. Hope you can make it back to the usual place this October!!
[*] Well, now yesterday.
<br?
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Thank you!
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If there's anything I can do to help get you there, do let me know. In particular, if the registration is an issue, I'm sure we can arrange something. *hugs*
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Oh, October Gathering
I have been feeling solitary lately, not wanting to be around a lot of people. Where there are people there are politics and I don't deal well with politics.
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Re: Oh, October Gathering
My advice? If you skip the Community Meeting, you avoid 90% of the politics. Maybe more.
These days I can't do that. Being on the Board of Directors since 2009 obligates me to be involved. But when I starting attending, back in 1997, I never went to the business meeting. I very deliberately skipped it every year until my 10th time at the gathering. Then I made the mistake of attending, and never went back. Until I was nominated to run the event, that is. :-D
Seriously, if you're not planning to run the gathering, just skip that meeting. Then you get the pleasure of seeing folks who you wouldn't otherwise see (*waves*) and you miss out on the unpleasantness.
*hugs* I really really hope you come back. We miss you! Not just me; I know
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Misha doesn't look terribly thrilled with the camel ride, but I see grins and waving hands further back in the caravan.
I assume you (and the other vegetarian members of the party) were able to get some volcano-grilled non-meat - what was it? How was it? Is geothermal barbecue as exciting as it sounds?
Were the heated pools, jacuzzi, sauna, and steam room also geothermally heated? (When R. and I, and A. and
You might consider celebrating your 50th birthday atop a tall building; given the momentousness of the occasion, maybe Burj Khalifa would be appropriate :-D
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By the way, everyone in that photo is from P**T***. Except for
We were indeed able to sort out some grilled vegetables at El Diablo. It helped a lot to have Misha on this trip! The volcano-cooked were fine, if not utterly noteworthy. The omnivores in our party said that the chicken, fish, and steaks were quite good, but of course the vegetarian contingent could not partake. That's okay -- I knew all this going in. For me, the point of that meal was the method of cooking, not the food itself. It was definitely the most unusually cooked meal I've ever had! Geo-thermal barbecue is indeed a rather exciting thing! *grin*
Amazingly enough, the pools and other amenities were electrically heated. One of our party, TH, is an engineer; his mind boggled that there were no geo-thermal power generation stations on the island. That said, there was a salt factory, using the ocean water for raw material.
Looking forward, you mentioned Iceland.
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I guess I was expecting the volcanic heat to add a unique flavor to the foods cooked over it. (Although it would probably be "brimstone", now that I think about it. Still, that would be unique.) But it's still something to brag about - eating food cooked over a volcano!
You'd do better to ask
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(Actually, I took far fewer than I expected, because I eventually realised that whatever I wanted to shoot, he would have already photographed twenty times)
Thankfully, the volcano-cooked food did not taste like brimstone! ;-D There wasn't active smoke coming out of the cooking pit. Just head. You could really feel it if you put your head over the hole. Nothing burning but -- wowza! -- it was hot!
I'm sorry to hear that your trip to Iceland wasn't more pleasant. I will make a point to ask A&A about it when we start planning. We definitely want to hit the Blue Lagoon! And having a week there, we are certainly planning to spend some time travelling outside of Reyjavik.
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And, yes, the villas with pools and jacuzzis were quite nice. We had two, as we were too large a party for one villa. They were quite close, 5 minutes on foot -- less on bicycle or mobility scooter -- so it was easy to pop back and forth as needed. One was lovely, but only had a pool. The other was huge, with pool, jacuzzis, sauna, and steam room. That one was naturally the main social space for everyone to congregate, though we did also have a poolside pancake brunch at the other villa on my birthday.
Our party spanned a large age range, with every decade from 20s through 70s represented. (The average age was 49) That means that we also had a range of mobility and activity within our party. Having such lovely villas, with views of the mountain and ocean, meant that some people could stay in and be less active on some of the days, whilst others could hike, dive, and cycle to their heart's content... but no one would be left on their own. It worked out well that way.
Also, although we would disperse to our various activities during the day, we would come back together in the evening to enjoy everyone's company as a larger group.
Good times!
Thank you very much for your pre-trip advice on places to go and things to see. It was rather helpful in putting together the programme for the week! *hugs*
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would of like to have gone, but I would of miss the Chicago weather. It been up to 70F in the past two weeks. We just had another snow storm.
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Sorry you couldn't make it, my friend! You were definitely missed.
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I'd love to go back to the Canaries at some point. As much as we loved Lanzarote, I doubt I would return any time soon. There are six other islands to explore, so I would want to visit a different one during a repeat visit.