Back to Action

It's thursday. I've been home for the last few days dying to go back to Faia Brava. I feel lazy to get off  bed, but today i'm finally going out :D I get up, kinda sleepy, and look through my window... white things are flying around... first thought: are those ashes? Oh my god...! No... it's snowing...!! Excitement takes over me and suddenly i feel like a little child again :D Big white flakes fall from the sky turning everything white. I go out to the street and I can't believe my eyes, i feel like i'm inside a snow globe that has just been shaken. Joy fills my heart in an unexplainable way. I don't think i've ever seen snowing like this! 

We hop into the jeep and make our way to Algodres. Looks like it's only snowing in Figueira. My eyes are thrilled, focused on every turn of the road, every bird on the sky, every tree of the landscape. It's been some time.

Back on Faia Brava we find ourselves with the workers who are taking care of some horses.  We help a little bit and chitchat for a while. It's good to see everyone again :) The workers go their own way (turns out there are 2 dying donkeys to take to the vulture feeding site) and so do we. I need to check both cameras, but i feel a little scared since one of the (once completely dry) water lines is now running vigorously. As we make our way, fear grows stronger inside me, there's water everywhere... water lines are all running and one of the ponds is completely filled. Off the jeep, what i just feared moments ago turns real and my mind refuses to accept what my eyes are seeing. The once small and laughable pond is now incredibly big...! And my camera... well my camera's inside it. I try to reach it, but that shows impossible, at least without getting soaked. If this one's underwater than i can't even think about the other one. 

We rush back to jeep and take the shortest way to the next pond, through the olive groves. Distracted, talking, we don't pay much attention to the road condition, which soon turns into a deadly mistake. Moments later we're stuck in the mud.  We turn on the 4 wheels, but nothing happens, the jeep doesn't move. We try going back, but the result is the same.  The more we attempt to get out, the more stuck we get. Off the car the soil is fluffy and filled with water. It's hard to even walk on it without getting stuck as well. We evaluate the situation, use shovels to try to get out, but nothing seems to work. We give up and go back to Saboia to grab some boards, but they don't work as well. Out of nowhere, like guessing our growing despair, Fernando calls us. He'll come help us with the van. On the waiting time we walk to the pond to check on the camera, but as we get there, the situation is the same. My camera is swimming. This one i can reach, but frustration fills me... What am i gonna say to Antonio? I open it up, it's filled with water and looks pretty ugly. I'm almost sure there's no point in trying to dry it, but a ray of hope still lives inside me.

Back to the jeep we find fernando waiting for us. We'll have to help him out with the donkey before he rescues our car... The poor thing is at its end, but keeps on breathing, stubbornly clinging to its life as if things could still get back to normal.  I wish it would just stop breathing, go in peace, but that didn't happen... With ropes around its legs, it's brutally pulled to the feeding site, its head dragging all the way, its knees now bleeding. But it doesn't give up, air keeps on going in and out, in a dark show of pain and sadness, as it is moved around in a search of the perfect spot. At his point, I dunno what kept me watching... but I did. A knife strikes its throat. Its last manifestation of sound is heard as blood gushes out... Its eyes stuck to this world, as if the other is way too scary. Blood keeps on gushing for a few more seconds, until a final spasm reveals the end of its life. Its eyes, now resting. What happened after its death is not quite clear to me. But i soon find myself next to the jeep once again, as the van tries to pull it from the mud. It's quite a task, but it gives in eventually.  

The day is in its end. The sun is once again hiding in the horizon. Shadows grow as the sky turns red. 

 Everything has a cycle.