| giulia comes back from san francisco full of advertures and incredible stories of new age spirituality of her own, and as we are jumpy and laughing and sharing it’s clear that we should jump in the car (mihui’s) and go to the garden of eden. another circle, as we went there two days after giulia got here and now it’s two days before she leaves. for sahar and mihui it’s a first time meeting with the redwoods, and i’m all happy be the redwood story teller. doesn’t matter if they are not true, giulia laughs, they are beautiful. a moment of indignation – what do you mean, not true?!? but i guess she’s right. |  |
our arrival coincides with that of the old train, from the good ol’ times when santa cruz was still connected to the american rail track network – imagine that pleasure. (before they dynamited the tunnels that cut through the hills separating santa cruz from the rest of the world, as a way of sabotaging potential japanese invasion in the 1940s – another story that might not be true, didier and i still have a bet for a bottle of champagne on this one…). the train is now spending its old days taking visitors from the santa cruz boardwalk all the way up to Henry Cowell state park and back.
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we cross the san lorenzo river, the train tracks and find the garden of eden. it was different this time, the story of the garden of eden continues to unfold. first i must tell you, there’s nothing to do about it (i think i don’t even have a bathing suit, or at least i don’t remember last time i saw it) but i swim naked. okay, it must also be said that swimming is definately an overstatement. i step into the water till it is too cold to get in any further, and that happens quite quickly around here. and giulia also swims (yes, she really does) naked. this is not different from last time, when marÃa swimmed semi-naked as well. but no doubt last time didier’s presence, as he sat in the shade of the tree on the river banks, made a difference. |
this time sahar and mihui were sitting under that very same tree, getting increasingly nervous after a little while. as it seemed that we attracked a particular kind of annoying creatures: young fraternity-style men holding on to a beer can. the first one came while we were still sun bathing, mumbled if he could join us or if we wanted to have a conversation or something along the lines. i interrupted our conversation for a very brief moment to look him in the eyes and say as firmly as i could “no, thank you, goodbye” and resumed what we were doing as if he disappeared into the air. it seemed clear enough, in her accounts of the story afterwards mihui kept on saying “how much more clear can you get.” but they kept on sticking around. i kind of like the strategy of completely ignoring in these kind of situations, like a magical drawing of an invisible but strong boundary around our company of four. emphasising the point that they simply have no access to us, no point of entry, no impact on us. admittingly, it didn’t work to get them away: they kept on coming and hanging around and paying much attention to us – no matter how little attention we paid to them. then sahar and mihui started to propose us towels to wrap around us. in such situations i can’t help refusing the cover – when i mean no impact, i try to take that as far as i can… we couldn’t stay very long this afternoon, so soon after we had become the center of attention for frat-boys in the garden of eden, we left, immersed in our conversations and company like when we came, and without granting them the acknowlegdement of a look or a changed pace. makes you wonder how many of these frat-boys pathetically roam the garden of eden looking for some entertainment which they are unable to create on their own.