Maybe it’s the South African way but we are all about survival and survive - we will
Certainly, when it comes to trespassing at least, I have it down to a fine skill. For me, it’s a newly gained skill, and possibly one I am not totally proud of, but for now - I own it. I am excited to discover that my survival skills combined with outdoor pleasure can get you far. Certainly over a few gates and fences, as I have seen. Maybe it’s a good thing that we can’t fully speak the language so that when we see these prohibiting signs we have somewhat of an excuse to keep going.
Honestly, though I think I can lay the blame at the door of technology. Apparently, you can’t just blindly trust that the modern technology of today actually knows what it’s doing. While it might add value to our lives it certainly has placed me in more than one pickle and situation which fast becomes out of control. And, with these signs in Spanish, we never know if we are in the prohibited place already or about to enter (illegally via climbing) into the prohibited place. Either way, we keep on moving. That seems the right thing to do.
So this is a story about adventure, trespassing, and escape that began with our arrival in Mallorca. Been given a mere two-day notice of the impending Easter shutdown of the Balearic Islands, and needing a 24-hour sailing journey to get there, we understandably had insufficient time to prepare. So, we squeezed through, minus any PCR Covid tests, with a few hours to spare. To our credit we did spend the first ten days in Mallorca (mostly) in isolation on the yacht, looking up in expectation of the arrival of the Spanish Civil Guardia every time we heard an approaching engine.
Back to technology and thank you Google Maps for assisting me with turn-by-turn navigation on my shopping excursion into town. When dropping a pin at my closest preferred supermarket I was happy to commit to a five-kilometer round trip – after all, it was a nice day out for a walk.
Unfortunately, my little vessel, otherwise known as a dinghy, dropped me at the wrong starting point and my walk turned into a hike. The landing point is dictated by the conditions and swell and not Google, so we modified my start at the last minute and Google recalculated. Being distracted by the exceptional view, not paying attention, and not knowing the area I didn’t at first realize that Google had kindly redirected me to the supermarket via a mountain pass. My five-kilometer return trip had increased. Slightly. By four kilometers. This only became apparent to me along the journey, and what a journey it was.
Meandering up the pass I was happily distracted with taking the perfect photos and not at all worried until I entered what Google said was a traffic circle. How was I supposed to take the second exit, as instructed, at what was merely a tree in a clearing? By now I had covered some distance and since I was enjoying the view I continued down this pathway in the middle of nowhere. Accelerating somewhat I eventually descended, via a rocky path, out of the mountain and could see my destination in sight.
Unfortunately, I found myself on the wrong side of a secure, upmarket mountain estate and needed to exit in a hurry. After throwing my backpack and climbing over the wall in my jeans I jumped to safety on the other side and breathing a sigh of relief that I had not been caught by anyone. Fortunately, I soon found the supermarket and purchased my tequila (and I think it was eggs and chocolate that Kevin wanted?) Now I had a decision to make about my return route to GypsyDjango.
“No brainer really; hello, the mountain pass of course! What an adventure!.”
If I can take a moment to describe Mallorca - this unique Island offers the most spectacular trails for exploration by foot or by bike. The views and hiking paths are quite spectacular and the farmers offer their excess fruit graciously along the way, which is a lovely touch. In Soller the large bay is surrounded by quaint clothing stores and exceptional restaurants. There is a wonderful tram that takes you to the town center which boasts a beautiful church and cobbled streets. The slopes of the Tramuntana mountain range surrounding the bay and town center are dotted with stone cottages on small orchards and they are great for exploring. We always do our homework upfront of building the best trails with the best summits that we want to follow. And to do so, back to that darn technology, we download our routes to our Garmin or phone.
Our mountain trips are not without the occasional detour, but at best we follow accurately. So imagine our surprise to discover that we ended up on the wrong side of a six-foot, spike-topped fence. Fortunately, unlike back home, the Spanish don’t shoot first and ask later. We clearly take advantage of that little difference in cultures (remember we are survivors). After assessing the situation and looking over our shoulders for angry property owners, we realized we had no choice but to scale the spiked gate in order to un-trespass ourselves. With a little bit of brute force, physical strength, mental agility, and of course yoga flexibility, we made the transition from highly illegal to hopeful safety. I feel I should add a disclosure that we have entered and trespass through a number of fences bearing signs with words such as “danger”, “prohibited”, and, let’s not forget to mention, “big game.” Ha ha now I really start laughing; coming from Africa we know big game and it’s not the sheep and goats we find in Mallorca!
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