Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Are We Our Own Slaves?

Tonight's Philosophy Cafe at De Vrije Ruimte was again a blast! Under the unmatched leadership of Pieter Mostert, we discussed the question "Are we slaves of ourselves?" using various techniques. We learned and practiced the six ways of refutation classified by the Romans:
  1. ab incerto 
  2. ab incredibili 
  3. ab impossibili 
  4. ab inconsequente
  5. ab indecente 
  6. ab incommode
Also we learned how to define things according to Aristotle, based on inclusion and exclusion.

I came up with this definition of a slave: Slave is somebody who is unaware of his/her true motives. In that sense, all of us are slaves to a greater or lesser degree.

There was a 15-year-old guy from South Africa at the cafe called Bernard. He spoke Afrikaans, which, although it is very similar to Dutch, I found hard to comprehend. Bernard was active in discussions and struck me as a sincere and intelligent young man.

By the way, tomorrow is Anne Sophie's second day at De Vrije Ruimte school! Her first day on Monday was a success. Even though she was quite shy in the morning, we had difficulty taking her home in the afternoon as she was so much enjoying playing with other kids!

Anne Sophie's First Day at School!

Monday 3 October was Anne Sophie's first day at school! She had been talking for weeks about going to school and telling other kids: "Ik ben groot geworden en ga naar de basisschool!" (I've grown up and will be going to the primary school!)


When asked which school she was going to, she'd say "a small school". It is indeed a very small school with a couple of dozens of children. The school is called De Vrije Ruimte (the free space). It is a democratic school based on the concept of natural learning, meaning that children learn best when they can freely develop their interests and explore the world around them at their own pace.

On her first day at school, she was wait-watching at first, clinging to her mummy, but after a short period of time she got involved in games with other kids and hardly noticed her mother any more. She took part in her first school meeting, at which she volunteered to help with the school newsletter. She probably didn't know exactly what that meant and raised her hand because other kids did. We came to take her home as she was playing the Quartet with 3 other children, and it took us some time to persuade her to go home with us. She was excited, but very tired. It was a beautiful and unforgettable day!

Friday, September 23, 2011

Anne Sophie Turned 4 Years Old!

Last Sunday, 18 September 2011, at 19:35 our precious daughter Anne Sophie turned 4 years old!

How can I express my feelings for my daughter? She is truly our best friend, the love of our life, our faithful companion in our travels and our everyday life events.

Anne Sophie
with grandma's Ukrainean cat

She may appear shy to those she meets for the first time. But that usually only lasts a few minutes. She is cheerful, playful, funny, smart, enthusiastic, she loves to play and laugh and run around! Her life force and love of life shine through her entire being.

in daddy's shirt on the beach!
She is resilient as she can walk long distances without complaining and she usually doesn't cry or complain when she falls or bumps against something or hurts something. Yet she is a sensitive child and can burst into tears when she sees other children cry. She almost never cries in order to manipulate, so if she does cry, I know that she needs immediate help and attention.

She is daring, yet cautious. She can climb all kinds of rocks and stairs and frames, but she is extremely careful at where she sets her feet and she would immediately ask for help when she realizes she's in trouble.





Anne Sophie likes playing all kinds of imaginative role plays with her toys. It's so much fun watching how she plays the different roles by changing the tone of her voice. At one point she plays a little child and at another point she is a mother or a father or her play group teacher. An interesting thing is that she doesn't play with dolls, but with her toy animals. And yes, in those plays we can hear so many things we tell her played out on her toys, which is a great learning experience for us!

Yes, she is our great teacher. When I sometimes get cross with Luda, Anne Sophie would tell me in a calm, almost mentoring voice: "Папочка, не надо сердиться на мамочку" ("Daddy, don't get angry at mummy.") She can also tell other children what they may or may not do.

She is enthusiastic and curious about the world. I like it when she asks "What is this? Why is that? What did they say?" She likes counting and reading letters and doing puzzles.

All in all, she's an enjoyable, lovable, "easy" child! But of course there are some things that need our attention:
  • She likes to go to bed late, I mean really late. She usually gets into bed at about 10 p.m., but then she still wants to play a bit, she wants us to read a book, etc., so it's not unusual that she falls asleep at around 11 p.m., which is of course very late, especially as she is starting school in a couple of weeks. I'm afraid she'll be a late riser, just like her mum :)
  • She likes to watch her cartoons either on DVD or on the PC, which is fine, but sometimes she spends too much time doing that. At least she doesn't watch television, in fact none of us do as we gave up our cable TV several years ago.
  • She can be very stubborn about what she wants or doens't want to do or eat.
  • She doesn't like to clean up and put away her toys (who does?), so our living room often looks like a mess. On the other hand, she gets really enthusiastic when all three of us do the cleaning up together! Just the other day we were giving our kitchen a serious clean-up, and Anne Sophie joined in with all her passion!
On Sunday we had a great birthday party for her with many guests, presents, games, lots of food, and a puppet show that I did together with a friend! It was a really simple story about an elephant that went missing from the zoo, but the kids really loved the show, and I am thinking of using it more often for both entertainment and educational purposes!

In just over a week, Anne Sophie is starting to go to school. It's no ordinary school, but a democratic school based on the principle of natural learning. We are all very excited, and I'll keep you informed about the developments!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

August 2011 in Numbers

It's time to give an account of the past month and see what's been achieved:
  • 5h of meditation. It was actually more, but these are the times that I recored in my journal.
  • 8h of spinning
  • 25h33min and 497km of biking (including training, commuting and fun rides with my daughter and wife)
  • Finished reading 1 book: Primo Levi's non-fiction trilogy "If This Is a Man"
  • Had 2 visits from relatives from abroad
All in all a very nice month, notwithstanding exceptionally bad weather!

Monday, August 29, 2011

Time to Learn and Time to Give

This is a place holder, where I would like to describe my meeting with Georgi (Jora) Ivanov as he and his wife and daughter were visiting with us in the last weekend of August.

Jora is an extraordinary fellow. He is a theater actor and director in Brussels, Belgium. We are related, as his sister Natasha is married to my uncle Oleg, my mother's brother. Natasha deserves a post or two by herself. Suffice it to say that she is one of the kindest, warmest, best people I've ever met. She is also mother to my beloved cousin Zhenya.

One of the things that Jora said to me that especially touched me was "There is time to learn and time to give."

Sunday, August 21, 2011

This Week's Accomplishments!

This week (August 15-21) I've done a lot of cycling and meditation:
  • 2h 15min of meditation (including walking meditation, sitting meditation and body scan meditation)
  • 2h of spinning
  • 2h 25min (61km) of cycling training
  • 5h 30min (101km) of just-for-fun cycling with Anne Sophie
I also spent a lot of time with Anne Sophie (played games with her, went with her to the beach, to the playground and to visit friends), and finally finished reading Primo Levi's 600-pages long book.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Biking the Route des Legendes in the Belgian Ardennes

Last Sunday my months of bike training were put to a severe test. With a bunch of Flemish friends I travelled to Remouchamps, south of Liege, Belgium, to bike the Route des Legendes, which is a 100km scenic route consisting of two loops of 70 km and 30 km, with numerous climbs and descents and beautiful views to enjoy.

We had a perfect bicycling weather as we started biking at quarter to 10 in the morning. The first climb, which lasted a couple of kilometers was quite a shock. Although by now, having biked up the Alp d'Huez, the Grossglockner and the Mont Ventoux, I should know what climbing is, nevertheless the first few climbing kilometers are still quite a challenge. But I felt that my training has been paying off big time!

This was followed by many more climbs and descents, with some slopes reaching up to 17%. Initially, we stopped quite often in order to keep our group together. I enjoyed the nice views of the countryside and the neat little villages that we passed by.

The second loop started with a long 5km climb, which felt like it would never end. But overall it was much easier than the first loop.

Back at Remouchamps, we set out for the final, but also the most challenging ascent, that of the infamous La Redoute, in which you climb 161 height meters over the distance of 1.7 km. This means 9.5% on the average, with a maximum of 20%! This was absolutely the most difficult climb I have ever done!



In total I biked 105km (and more than 1500 height meters) in 5h45min. I got home very late and tired, but it was a great day and a great training for the upcoming conquest of Passo dello Stelvio!

Saturday, August 6, 2011

30 Hours of Exercise in July 2011!

Although this past July was quite a rainy month, I managed to do almost 30 hours of sport activities, including:
  1. 9 long training bike rides (450km in 18h 30min)
  2. 4 hours of spinning
  3. 6 hours of strength training
  4. 1 hour of squash
  5. 1 hour of inline hockey
Although my plan was to do 2 spinning hours a week, I only managed to spin once a week instead. Let's see if I can do better in August!

With my wife and daughter back from their holiday, this may be quite a challenge. But I set out to bike with Anne Sophie on my city bike, sometimes accompanied by Luda. This doesn't go quite fast, but still it's a good exercise!

Tomorrow I'm going to bike the 100km Route des Legendes near Remouchamps in the Belgian Ardennes with a few Flemish friends. That should be quite a challenge!

Friday, August 5, 2011

30-Day Meditation Challenge

I've been on and off meditating and wanting to meditate for years. There are many benefits to mediation, which I will not discuss here. Suffice it to say that it can be good for both your physical and mental health and for learning more about yourself.

In order to develop my meditation into a lasting, daily habit, I am embarking on a 30-day meditation challenge and I invite you to join me! The rules are quite simple: meditate at least a few minutes every single day for the coming 30 days. In fact I already did this once last year, and I really enjoyed the challenge, but the habit didn't take root at the time.

Because different people understand different things under meditation, it's up to you to choose your meditation technique. I'll be using non-religious, but Zen-Buddhism-inspired meditation techniques developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn as part of his Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program. In essence, it's about sitting mindfully, following your breath and taking mental note of what's going within your mind and body.

So if you wish, please join me in this endeavor and share your experiences!

To help you start, I've shared a number of guided meditations by Jon Kabat-Zinn:  https://docs.google.com/#folders/folder.0.0B2tp0bSwDZS4ZWM2Y2VkMTItMGRmNy00OTEyLWI3OTAtYWYxNTkxOGE1YjI5
These meditations explain what it's about and guide you in how you can meditate in various ways. Good luck!

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Watching Dutch TV

After not having watched TV for a couple of years, and with my family on a long holiday in Ukraine, I spent a few hours this rainy afternoon watching some Dutch television. I was really impressed by the Dutch major public channels Nederland 1 and 2, which one can watch without any cable subscription, which we deliberately gave up 2 or 3 years ago in order to have some more quality time for ourselves and our little daughter.

So today there were a number of top-quality Dutch and Flemish productions definitely worth watching:
1. The Philosophical Quintet http://www.filosofischkwintet.tv/): a philosophical debate about the rule of law and religious freedom;
2. A programme about Shostakovich and how the realities of life in the USSR were reflected in his music;
3. A documentary about the controversial issues of development help in Africa;
4. A really great film The Bardsongs about the ancient wisdoms of Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam (http://www.bardsongs.com/);
5. A Flemish documentary The Way to Mekka (De weg naar Mekka: http://www.nederland2.nl/programmas/3043-de-weg-naar-mekka) about Islam in the present-day Iran;
6. Beagle Revisited: a wonderful documentary that reconstructs Charles Darwin's 5-year trip, but this time in the course of one year on board of a Dutch clipper Stad Amsterdam: http://beagle.vpro.nl/#/talen/item/12/
And I am still looking forward to the late-night documentary Homeland by the Jewish-Dutch-French film director George Sluizer, in which he follows two Palestinian refugee families: http://www.hollanddoc.nl/kijk-luister/documentaire/h/homeland-.html

So it's good to watch some public television from time to time, just skip the ads in the beginning and the end!

Friday, July 15, 2011

Biking to the Corner of Holland, thinking about my Grandma

After the exceptionally bad weather of the last couple of days with storm and rain pouring in buckets non-stop for more than 24 hours, today's crisp sunny weather was a welcome relief! Because I did some overwork earlier this week, I took the afternoon off and set out on a training bike ride. Due to the pretty hard western wind, I first biked against the wind westwards to Wassenaar and then south-west along the coast to the Hoek van Holland.

Biking in the dunes is sublime. It's good to smell the sea air, the flowers now in full blossom, the occasional pine trees that smell of home and my childhood summers in the woods of White Russia. From the dunes of Meijendel one suddenly emerges into the urban world of Scheveningen with its numerous cafes, hotels, casinos and busy traffic. But quickly, the city is left behind and is replaced by the dunes of Kijkduin. From there, there is a long beautiful ride through the wide, green dunes of Westland, then past the many green-houses to the Hoek van Holland, literally translated as the Corner of Holland. It is indeed an almost right angle formed by the coast and by one of the major arms of the river Maas, which serves as entry to the port of Rotterdam, the largest port in Europe.

I stop to admire the huge cargo ships entering and leaving the port. The waves are pretty big and there are some surfers around waiting for a perfect wave. I start biking back along the same route. It is nice to bike with the wind! I feel like going for a swim, but most of the beaches are too busy for my taste. I finally stop at the beach of Meijendel. There are no people around and I plunge into the sea naked. The water is pretty cold, but I feel invigorated, with every cell of my body alert and alive with wind and waves.

Last 16 km through Wassenaar, Voorschoten, and along the Vliet canal are not so hard. It's 82 km in less than 3.5 hours, not too bad!

Today is my late Grandma Sonja's birthday. It's good to remember her. She would have turned 97, but she died 5 years ago. I was always a bit afraid of her, to tell the truth. I probably thought she was too strict, or actually too distant. I always said "Вы" to her, never "ты" (respectful "you" instead of casual "you").  But at the same time, I liked to visit her, liked her dinners and her compotes. Of course, I came also to visit my Aunt Natasha and my dear cousin Zhenya, who lived together with grandma. Rest in peace, dear grandma.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Biking through the Tulip Land and Beach Meditation

As I wrote earlier this month, I've been training hard to bike up the Stelvio Pass in the north of Italy in early September with a bunch of colleagues.

This week has been pretty busy, so I didn't have much chance to bike. So today I decided to go for a long training ride. I started out around 5:30 PM, right after Maria Sharapova lost her Wimbledon final. I biked past the old chapel of Wilsveen to the mountain bike parcour of SnowWorld in Zoetermeer, and from there past Stompwijk to Zoeterwoude and Vlietland, then along the Vliet to the Lammenschanse Brug in Leiden and then to Warmond, Rijnsburg and Noordwijkerhout. It's a beautiful route through many old towns in the north of South Holland, the heart of Dutch tulip industry. But I get a lot of headwind.

It feels good to bike with the sun and wind and fast flowing low white clouds. I am at about 40 km from home. I cross into the dunes and start cycling with the wind, southwards along the coastline. I stop briefly in Noordwijk. According to the weather service, it is wind force 4 on Beaufort scale, but the sea looks like it's wind force 5. A beautiful view of Zandvoort in the north and Scheveningen in the south! I continue along the coast, flying with the wind in my back. I stop at the beach of the Wassenaarse Slag. There are not so many people on the beach. I sit down in the sand, the sun is glistening on the wave tops. I fee like meditating. I put on a guided mindfulness meditation by Jon Kabat-Zinn and try to follow my breath and mind for some 10 minutes. What a bliss!





Watch this short video of the dunes at Meijendel:

From Biking through the Tulip Land and Beach Meditation


I bike on to Meijendel and than through Wassenaar with its beautiful stately houses, along the royal estate De Horsten, over de Knipbrug bridge and then along the Vliet canal to Leidschendam. The last 2 km to home, and I am tired and cannot bike fast. But it feels good!

It's 78.5 km in a little less than 3.5 hours. The average speed is not so impressive, but with so much wind I don't really care. This is my longest ride this year. I dedicate it to my dear wife Luda, whose birthday is tomorrow and who's now on holiday in Ukraine.

Then a quick look at our Delta-N Tour de France pool cloud application at http://azuretour.cloudapp.net/, and, o wonder, after the first stage, which I didn't even watch, I am on top of the pool!

My friend and colleague Konstantin, who's also been biking, turns up at the door and we share a meal of smoked mackerel, very small Parisian potatoes (krieltjes) with dill and steamed broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini and green beans. As desert we eat a whole bunch of cherries. We talk about food and fish and sour cherries and about our childhood in the now non-existent USSR. We decide to watch an old, good Soviet film about school Доживём до понедельника, but after 20 minutes or so I start falling asleep, so it's time for him to go home and for me to go to bed. What a great day!

Update:
Monday evening (July 4) another training ride in the dunes: 36km in 1h27min. The beach at Meijendel is completely empty, not a single soul! The sun is going down. What a peaceful and serene feeling!





Update 2:
Tuesday evening biked to the beach in Scheveningen with Konstantin. Ended up chilling-out at one of the beach bars on the Zwarte Pad. The ice cream was delicious, but too little :)

Update 3:
Wednesday eveing, again went to Scheveningen, this time with my good friend Jasper Seger. First we went bathing in the sea. There was lots of wind and waves, and pretty cold water, but we had so much fun fighting the waves that we didn't want to get out of the water. Then we relaxed and watched the sunset at the same bar as yesterday! It's good to be able to talk to a good friend for a couple of hours!

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Training for Passo dello Stelvio

In what has become a great sporting tradition at Delta-N, early September 2011 together with a number of colleagues, we are going to bike up the Stelvio Pass in the north of Italy. In the past few years, we did Alpe d'Huez (several times), Les Deux Alpes and Col du Galibier in the French Alps and last year Mont Ventoux in Provence, all of which are frequently featured in Tour de France. Two years ago we went to climb the Grossglockner in Austria, which I reported in this post.

The Stelvio Pass seems to be quite a challenge. It is one of the most famous, most notorious, toughest and  highest passes in Europe, 2758 meters high, 48 hairpin bends. We'll have to climb over 20 km to overcome the altitude difference of some 1800 meters (with an average gradient of about 7.4%). The views are incredibly beautiful, the mountain is incredibly long, steep and uneven.

  

This year I started training in early March. I take part in a spinning group twice a week, bike to work as much as possible (including sometimes 21km to and from AkzoNobel in Sassenheim), and also an occasional training ride in the weekends, not to mention the fun rides with my little daughter.

Last Saturday I did my longest ride so far this year together with my friend, colleague and fellow Russian-speaker Konstantin! I biked about 55 km in total, starting at 8:15 from home to Mariahoeve, where I was joined by Konstantin. From there we biked to Scheveningen and then along the coast, via Meijendel, Wassenaarse Slag and Katwijk all the way to Noordwijk. The sun was shining. We had a pretty strong headwind, but we were delighted at the thought of cycling back with the wind! We stopped in Noordwijk to admire the view of the sea, the beach and the coast line. Scheveningen was visible in the distance. We cycled back downwind, it felt like we were almost flying.

We stopped at the Wassenaarse Slag to get some extra water, and guess whom we met there? Our colleague and boss Roderick! He was biking as well, together with a neighbor of his! So we continued with the four of us, with Konstantin eventually splitting off and going in the direction of Mariahoeve along A44, while the rest of us biked to Voorschoten, crossed the Vliet at the Knipbrug and then across the Vlietlanden along A4 back to Leidschenveen!



It was a great ride with about 2:15 hours of biking time! My plan is to increase training distances gradually to something like 100 km. I am also thinking of a couple of training trips to South Limburg and the Ardennen, so that I can get more climbing experience!

Monday, April 11, 2011

Holiday on Fuerteventura!

The long Dutch winter is over, the days are getting longer, my spirits are getting higher, and I feel an increasing urge to write and share!

So, we just got back from an unforgettable 8-day trip to Fuerteventura, the most eastern, second largest, but one of the least known Canary Islands.

Once again, we travelled at a very short notice: we booked a last-minute package holiday (flight & board), just 2 weeks in advance. It was a ridiculous price of 200 Euro per person, so we didn't have to think twice. I did a thorough preparation by borrowing 4 books and a video about Fuerteventura from the library. I read extensively and was very much intrigued by the island.

It's always exciting to find out whether a place meets your expectations. Fuerteventura turned out nothing we had expected, but nonetheless absolutely fantastic.









Day 1 (March 31):
Leaving the cold, rainy Holland behind, we boarded an early 4.5-hour long charter flight, with Anne Sophie falling asleep almost immediately and having slept through most of the flight. As we approached the destination, we could see the volcanic craters of the neighboring island of Lanzarotte.

As we left the airport, we were met with the warm summer breeze and lots of sun. Our daughter loves buses, and the 40-minute bus ride from the airport to our hotel in Corralejo in the very north of the island was really fun! We saw a landscape we never experienced before: stones, desert, solidified lava, mountains, volcanoes, emerald sea, little vegetation and a lot of wind. Beautiful and foreign!

Our apartment/hotel was quite OK, nothing out of the ordinary, pretty basic, but good enough, with lots of light and beautiful colors, and mostly English tourists. This is low season, so we didn't see great numbers of tourists in Corralejo or elsewhere. We spent the rest of the day wandering in the small traditional center of the former fishing village, and then took a pretty long walk along the western boulevard, with Anne Sophie running around wildly to and fro, trying to climb the lava stones and all kinds of ladders and climbing frames set up along the boulevard. There was wind and beautiful sunset and great view of Lanzarotte and of the small neighboring island of Isla Lobos. We ended up in the centre of the town, eating delicious local tapas (with adorable Canary small wrinkly potatoes and Mojo sauce) and listening to the local musicians.

Day 2 (April 1):
Our rule is to always buy local produce as much as possible. It is usually the most delicious food you can get. Due to the arid climate, not much is grown on Fuerteventura, but the local Majorero goat cheese, tomatoes, lettuce and especially bananas are really good. So these would be the bulk of our breakfast and our take-away sandwiches for lunch. It was Friday and we were planning to go to the neighboring Isla Lobos, but the glass bottom boat was out of operation on that day, so we decided instead to take a long walk along the beach.

We started out pretty early and, as always, we realized too late that our extremely white skins we burning. The only one with good amounts of sun lotion was Anne Sophie, but Luda and me were in for a couple of days of burned skin. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the walk and ended up on a fine beach with lots of kite surfers showing off their mastery of the wind. Anne Sophie enjoyed running away from the approaching waves with her usual lots of laughter and screaming and squealing. Then we played in the sand and got back home pretty tired but very happy!

Day 3 (April 2):
I picked up our rented car early in the morning and we went off to explore the island. We drove to La Oliva (former capital) with a beautiful Canary-style church and went on to see the famous House of the Coronels, impressive and majestic in its colonial beauty, set against desert-like mountainous landscapes. In the House you can learn a lot about the history of the island and about the day-to-day life on the island in the old days. Then we drove through the interior of the island, with moon-like landscapes, gorgeous mountains, windy passes and small villages towards another former capital, Betancuria, a small, picturesque town established by the first Spanish colonizers under the leadership of Jean de Béthencourt. From there we proceeded to the west coast at Ahuj, with black sand beaches, cliffs and caves that can be reached through a narrow path along the cliffs. The sun was already starting to descend and the sea and the waves glistening in the sun were magnificent.

We drove back in the direction of Betancuria and stopped at Vega de Rio Palmas, from where we embarked on a hike along a dry bed of a stream (barranco) towards the tiny white chapel (Ermita de Virgin de la Peña) situated precariously on a side of a beautiful gorge. At the altar hangs a painting showing the discovery of a statue of the saint which now stands at the main church. This statue was brought to the village by Jean de Bethencourt. Shortly afterwards the church was totally destroyed by 'Jaban' the pirate in 1593 but the statue was hidden so well that it was only rediscovered in the 17th century. It was along this stream that Jean de Bethencourt and his army marched upstream in the 15th century.

Pretty tired and hungry after 2.5 hours of walking we got into the car and went looking for a restaurant. The restaurants in Betancuria and La OlivaOliva and Corralejo

Day 4 (April 3):
The next day we decided to explore the volcanoes not far from our base in Corralejo. We drove to Las Lajares and walked about 12 km along a series of bigger and smaller volcanoes, which arose as a result of eruptions some 8000 years ago. We walked past Montana Colorada, up to the perfect crater of Calderon Hondo. This is where Anne Sophie started to show character. When we started climbing up to the edge of the crater, she insisted that she wanted to walk along and not to be carried in the baby carrier. I was quite stunned as she walked all the way up the steep path, with me, of course, holding her firmly by the hand. Anne Sophie had a lot of fun at the viewing platform with lots of squirrels running all around her, while we enjoyed the beautiful view of the crater and of the glowing hills and mountains of the northern part of the island.

On the way down, there were a couple of stone huts, which turned out to be restored dwellings of the early inhabitants of the island. While Anne Sophie was running in and out the rooms of the houses, we learned how the people of the island prepared (quite sophisticatedly) the ground to make it fertile.

We continued to the Bayuyo volcano, but couldn't quite decide which one it was. Only on the way back did we notice the path up to the volcano. Luda decided not to go up to the Volcano and continued back, while the two of us went up. Yet halfway we turned back, because the wind was getting very strong.

We drive to the picturesque coastal village of El Cotillo. We visit the lighthouse and walk on the solid lava, in which small puddles of sea water turn into salt. We end up on a wonderful white beach with a small beach restaurant and delicious fresh Gallo (chicken) fish. Anne Sophie is playing and running around in the sand and shallow sea water.

It was a nice day with a lot of sun and wind!
Day 5 (April 4):
On day 5 we drove all the way to the south of the island with short stops in Antigua, Pajara en La Pared, with the fashionable Morro Jable as our final destination. From there we drove another few kilometers on a gravel road and started on our day trip along the valley of Gran Valle up to the beautifl mountain pass of Degollada de Cofete, which in the old days used to be the only way to the small village of Cofete. As we start climbing up, Anne Sophie asks for a walking stick and walks along. She really enjoys climbing! There's lots of wind at the top of the pass, we can hardly stand upright. But the view on both sides is magnifiscent. If we had more time, we'd go down to Cofete, but it's getting late and we walk down back to the car, with Anne Sophie refusing to get back to her baby carrier. We sing along as we walk and the time flies!

We drive along the beautiful wide white-sand beaches of the East coast and stop in a small coastal village of Tarajalejo for a delicious meal of fish soup and fresh local fish. German tourists are everywhere. We enjoy the small beach, Anne Sophie is playing with a cat and a local boy. Life is wonderful!

Day 6 (April 5):
It's time for a glass-botom boat trip to Isla de Los Lobos! We leave early in the morning with the first boat. For Anne Sophie this is probably her first boat trip. She is secure in my lap. She likes the boat, but is a little cautious. We disembark and head directly towards the volcano of Montana Lobos, the highest point of this small, uninhabited island, which used to be a home to a rare sort of seals. We climb up the volcano along a steep narrow path, with Anne Sophie climbing along, using a walking stick! The view of the island as well as the view of Correlejo and of the remaining half of the crater are magnificent. We walk down, with Anne Sophie's hand firmly in my hand.

We board our glass-bottom boat for a sea trip. We watch the shoals of fish swarming in the clear waters under the boat. There is an opportunity to put on a mask and swim in the sea next to the fish. I grab the chance along with two other young men. It's fantastic!

We return to the Isla de Lobos and spend the rest of our time on the beach of a quiet lagune. There is no one around and we sunbathe and swim naked - wonderful! We take the last boat back to Corralejo and spend the evening in the cosy centre of Corralejo enjoying ice-cream, night-life and live performances by various local artists.

Day 7 (April 6):
We drive a few kilometers to the east of Corralejo, park by the white-sand dunes and walk away from the sea in what looks like a real desert. White sand is everywhere. We climb and slide down the sand dunes. Anne Sophie is enjoying it immensely. What a feeling! I've only been to a desert once, which was in the Judean desert. I liked it there, it had small plants and bushes and so. But this desert is just sand, lots of it, sand everywhere. There are no people around. Only sand, sun and wind. We walk slowly, no rush. Peace.

We walk back to the sea. The wind is so strong that there are no people on the small beach. Luda settles in behind some stones. Anne Sophie and I run from the waves and play in the sand.

We drive to the west-coast town of El Cotillo. There are surfers all around the beach. We choose a restaurant with a view over the far stretching cliffs of the coastline. We see the surfers in the distance struggling with the waves. We eat freshly caught queen fish (at least that's what they call it) and some goat meat. The ice-cream is also delicious. There is a little boy who comes to play with Anne Sophie. They seem to be perfectly al right, even though they don't speak the same language. We meet the mother, who is a Canarian from Tenerife. We talk to some international girls who surf and hang out with surfers. One of them, a Czech girl, is a surfing photographer. She tells me I should try surfing. Maybe! It sounds like lots of fun!

The sun is coming down. Anne Sophie and I climb the roof of a stone barn to bid the sun farewell, our last sunset on Fuerteventura.

Day 8 (April 7):
Everything comes to an end. It was our last day on the island. We drove down to the nameless pass between Valle de Santa Ines and Betancuria. From there we started our last hike: first a steep climb to the cross of Morro de la Cruz and then a picturesque walk along the mountain ridge to Morro de la Fuente Vieja. Along the way we saw many beautiful small flowers, we saw eagles in the sky, and the view of the west coast was majestic. On the way back, Luda decided not to climb up to the cross, but to traverse the mountain along the northern slope. I begged her not to go that way, but she did and so I went along with Anne Sophie in the backpack. I must say at certain points I thought that I can easily fall down and the slopes were quite steep. So slowly, step by step, we managed to get to our car. I was really angry at Luda that she insisted on taking that route. But all's well that ends well. On the way back we visited a local goat cheese factory in Tindaya and bought some cheese for home. We went back to Corralejo, spent a couple of ours on the beach, with Anne Sophie and me building sand castles, delivered our car, boarded the bus to the airport and flew off back to Amsterdam, with Anne Sophie sleeping all the way. We arrived at 3 am and got on the night train to Leiden, where we parked our car.

But our adventures did not end there. The car wouldn't start because the battery went empty (even though I didn't leave any lights on). So we had to wait for about an hour before we got help from the car assistance. We got home at about 6am, and being tired and confused, I left two of our bags outside. Luckily our neighbor was walking out his dog, saw the bags and brought them home. All's well that ends well. It was a fantastic holiday, and we'll surely be back on the Canary Islands!