Stories
The Culture of Peace News Network continued
Missions for the Culture of Peace
Travels with Lindsay in the USA
Vacations with Lindsay in the Caribbean
Vacations with Kiki in Reunion
The geometry of time
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In 2001 at my last birthday celebration at UNESCO, my team gave me a copy of the beautiful book of photos by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, entitled La Terre Vue du Ciel which I later had autographed by the author. The title page of this book, arguably the most beautiful book of photographs ever assembled, is a scene of a vast tropic mountain landscape in which a helicopter is is lost in the photo like a tiny insect. The explanation for the photo tells that it is from the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean where the terrain is so rugged that some regions, such as the Trou de fer shown below, were not entered by humans until 1989.
View into the Trou de fer, mentioned above.
We had to hike several hours just to get to the edge of the cliffs
above where we could take this photo
Click on photo to enlarge
The first time I heard of this island was a postcard that I received from Kiki when she took her last trip there with her husband, in which she said that I would certainly love it there. We could not have guessed that a decade later, we would decide to go there together in the guise of a randonné expedition, and that we would discover our very own "paradise."
I remember once standing at the observation point of Plaine de Palmistes after a typical torrential rainfall and trying to count the number of waterfalls that I could see. I stopped at 500!
How can I describe the incredible beauty of this tropical island? Perhaps best is this link to an album of photos that we took of waterfalls, lush tropical vegetation, breathtaking vistas, and beautiful coastlines, not to mention the active volcano and its lunar landscapes. The sharing of this beauty was passionate for both of us. Much of it required long hikes, some being overnight trips into regions where there was no other access except trails and helicopters which serviced the few bungalows where you could spend the night far from civilization. To mount the volcano and see into the crater also required a full day's hiking.
In the lush gardens of our friends, the artist Dolene and her husband Bernard
Click on photo to enlarge
We went twice, once in the spring of 2003 and again in the fall of 2006, each time for more or less one month. The first time we stayed most of the time with friends, but the second time Kiki was able to rent a house on the lagoon where we could cross the beach and dive directly into warm waters filled with tropical fish. We called it "paradise" and spent most of our time there without clothing.
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Stages
1986-1992
Fall of Soviet Empire
1992-1997
UNESCO Culture of Peace Programme