The Eternal Flame

After travelling for almost a couple of months

our cozy little cabin feels a little like a home.  I am not sure whether it’s the fact that we can cook our own meals or that the cabin is independent of other guests, or that we have a couch and washing machine but it is nice to have a place to call home for a week.  I have to say I am starting to miss ours a little.  Speaking of washing machines, I was so happy to have one available to us.  Surprisingly it hasn’t been all that bad doing laundry in the sink but it is nice to get a lot done in a short period of time without the need to scrub,  With it being so hot here it takes no time at all to dry anything we put out which has been nice.  As I am normally a morning person who likes to get a lot done I sometimes find the leisurely mornings a bit of a challenge. .There is not much to do around the cabin itself so I find myself at times thinking of the projects I want to get done around our house when we get home.    I am sure this will change once we actually get there.

Being in Cirali is wonderful.  It is nice to get away from the crowds of people which we have seen in many of the places we’ve been to. It has been so nice to get on the old bikes and go for a leisurely ride into town passing by orchards and various pensions.  It feels quaint and like something out of a movie.  As part of our normal routine we spent some time at the beach today floating in the water.  The water is so warm that you could spend hours in there without getting cold.  The only unfortunate thing about this is, us fair skinned Canadians tend to get burnt during this process. 

Perhaps the highlight of our day was the trip we took up to Chimera to see the eternal flame.  We headed out in the early evening with the camera, water and headlamps in our bike baskets.  The ride there was a little up and down and somewhat dusty as vehicles drove by.  The ride did not take long and we were at the trailhead.  We parked the bikes hoping they would be there when we returned otherwise we would have a bit of a walk in the dark to get home.  After paying our entrance fee we were told it was only about 1 km to the flames. 

We proceeded to walk up the trail while thinking it was still crazy hot out even though it was almost 9 pm.  It was a nice walk through a pine forest that eventually led to a rocky field with some ruins and what looked like a number of campfires burning.  Of course these were not campfires but methane gas emerging out of the rock that was burning.

Apparently these gases have been venting and burning for over a thousand years!  So I guess this is where it gets its name as the eternal flame.  Some people actually bring

marshmallows up and try to roast them.  Not sure that would taste too good.  A few ruins were at the site although there was really nothing there to tell you what they were.  We enjoyed watching the flames and just looking out into the night while Kevin spent some time playing with the camera.  After having a nice rest at the top it was time to head back down.  As we were leaving someone spotted a scorpion which was not a welcome discovery to Jenna.  A little further down Kevin spotted another one, then a cricket and then some other crazy bugs.  Now Jenna really wanted to get back down!  Since Kevin and Alyssa were interested in finding more bugs I kept hiking back with Jenna. 

The ride back was a bit of adventure and perhaps not Jenna’s fondest memory.  By this time she is tired, done with bugs and we end up taking a different route back.  We ended up on some back roads and in spots it was basically sand.  With it being pitch black even with headlamps it was hard to really see and Jenna went for a tumble off her bike not once but twice. Thankfully there were no major injuries! Needless to say Jenna could not wait for us to find the road to the beach which ultimately led us to our cabin.  In the end it all worked out okay and we were pretty much ready for bed after a fun adventure.  

The glow of the flames up the hillside.

Our little friend on one of the rocks people were sitting on.