The Botanist
Door: Gilles
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Gilles
28 Juli 2011 | Slowaakse Republiek, Tatranská Lomnica
The Tatra mountains are not so high, but their peaks are everything you expect from a mountain. Sharp, rocky and silent. Zuzana, Henk and I are sitting on one of the ridges, eating our well deserved and delicious Slovak lunch. We can see Poland rise above the clouds. Our guide is a 60 year old energetic female botanist, also called Zuzana.
There are several ways to distinguish a true botanist from the wannabes. Firstly, professional botanists drive around in 4 x 4 cars with big trunks. This helps them access awfully remote and unreachable areas and bring back significant amounts of preferably scarce types of local vegetation without any moral hesitation. Secondly, they wear camouflaging clothes -several layers-, ranging from hats and zipp of pants to rainclothes and fleece jumpers, suitable for any weather type you can imagine. A true botanist could survive months in any place on earth on car and clothes alone. But most importantly, the real botanist can be distillated from charlatans by his remarkable skill in noting and recognizing a variety of plants species that most people would fail to see even if their face was pushed into the meadow. Zuzana scores high on all criteria: we have a real one.
Zuzana the botanist speaks some English, but she gets along well in Slovak with our Zuzana. For a botanist she talks a lot. Sometimes she turns to Henk and me. She then explains us how the mountains have shaped the vegetation, what different plants there are and how some places are called. She also shares anecdotes. She met a bear last week.
Meeting Henk in Trencin has been good. I have missed him without realising it too much. Long before Henk moved into our house, we used to call Henk "Iron Henk" because of his rock-in-the-tide way of being. I still do sometimes. He is brief, to the point and a strong worker. But he has also shown more sensitive and funny sides during the months preceding his departure to Slovakia for an internship. The last week on the Pohoda festival turned out to be as cool as ever.
Meeting Zuzana was awkward. She expecting, me distant. Staying overnight in Brno has not made things easier. And I am never the most caring person on events and festivals with many people around. In the crowded business it took two days before we took a moment together off the terrain.
One moment we´re in the sun with a breathtaking view; the next we are surrounded by clouds reducing our view to the spot we are on. We finish our food and go back down aided by metal chains tied to the rocks. I can see the abyss right under me when I hang a little to the right. Zuzana the botanist takes us down to flowery meadows with big marmots. She guides us over boulders.
"I usually go straight down here" She points down a steep slope of rocks. No road to be seen.
"But we´ll take the path because I´m with you". The is one of the steepest mountain paths around. Not much easier, but her story about the deceased minister in the Tatras covinces us we are taking the right way. She keeps gathering plants along the way. The fog around us makes it look as if we stand on a tiny green island in a vast space of white nothingness.
"It is as if this is the only place on earth". I have not spoken the words, or I see a sweet little forget-me-not smiling at me from the grass.
We eat the rest of our food on the rocks downhill while our botanist keeps looking for plants. Quite exhausted from the steep walks, we look around silently.
"You seem sad". Says Zuzana when she gets back
"We are". Says Zuzana. She´s right.
Later this day we´ll have a final beer with Henk. Saris.
I´ll get the amazing idea of eating a pizza in Italy.
And I´ll break up with Zuzana.
After that we´ll have two beautiful days together.It had never occured to me before that the Dutch word for Vienna means "to cry".
There are several ways to distinguish a true botanist from the wannabes. Firstly, professional botanists drive around in 4 x 4 cars with big trunks. This helps them access awfully remote and unreachable areas and bring back significant amounts of preferably scarce types of local vegetation without any moral hesitation. Secondly, they wear camouflaging clothes -several layers-, ranging from hats and zipp of pants to rainclothes and fleece jumpers, suitable for any weather type you can imagine. A true botanist could survive months in any place on earth on car and clothes alone. But most importantly, the real botanist can be distillated from charlatans by his remarkable skill in noting and recognizing a variety of plants species that most people would fail to see even if their face was pushed into the meadow. Zuzana scores high on all criteria: we have a real one.
Zuzana the botanist speaks some English, but she gets along well in Slovak with our Zuzana. For a botanist she talks a lot. Sometimes she turns to Henk and me. She then explains us how the mountains have shaped the vegetation, what different plants there are and how some places are called. She also shares anecdotes. She met a bear last week.
Meeting Henk in Trencin has been good. I have missed him without realising it too much. Long before Henk moved into our house, we used to call Henk "Iron Henk" because of his rock-in-the-tide way of being. I still do sometimes. He is brief, to the point and a strong worker. But he has also shown more sensitive and funny sides during the months preceding his departure to Slovakia for an internship. The last week on the Pohoda festival turned out to be as cool as ever.
Meeting Zuzana was awkward. She expecting, me distant. Staying overnight in Brno has not made things easier. And I am never the most caring person on events and festivals with many people around. In the crowded business it took two days before we took a moment together off the terrain.
One moment we´re in the sun with a breathtaking view; the next we are surrounded by clouds reducing our view to the spot we are on. We finish our food and go back down aided by metal chains tied to the rocks. I can see the abyss right under me when I hang a little to the right. Zuzana the botanist takes us down to flowery meadows with big marmots. She guides us over boulders.
"I usually go straight down here" She points down a steep slope of rocks. No road to be seen.
"But we´ll take the path because I´m with you". The is one of the steepest mountain paths around. Not much easier, but her story about the deceased minister in the Tatras covinces us we are taking the right way. She keeps gathering plants along the way. The fog around us makes it look as if we stand on a tiny green island in a vast space of white nothingness.
"It is as if this is the only place on earth". I have not spoken the words, or I see a sweet little forget-me-not smiling at me from the grass.
We eat the rest of our food on the rocks downhill while our botanist keeps looking for plants. Quite exhausted from the steep walks, we look around silently.
"You seem sad". Says Zuzana when she gets back
"We are". Says Zuzana. She´s right.
Later this day we´ll have a final beer with Henk. Saris.
I´ll get the amazing idea of eating a pizza in Italy.
And I´ll break up with Zuzana.
After that we´ll have two beautiful days together.It had never occured to me before that the Dutch word for Vienna means "to cry".
Reageer op dit reisverslag
Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
