burned earth - tierra quemada

when my friend robert told me about the burning season i couldn't quite imagine what they meant, up in the north i understand. the thais burn down big parts of their landscape every year during the dry-season in order to obtain new soil for mushrooms and maybe some herbs. i did a 2-day trek into the mountains near chang mai and couldn't believe that i wouldn't be able to see further than 200 meters, walk on burned soil and do rafting on a river which had so little water, that we got stuck every few meters. i am wondering, if the water-festival during these days has something to do with the low water-reserves as well. the thais are celebrating the year 2552 and therefore they spill lots of water at each other during daylight for a week. of course they love to make tourists wet, so i bought a basket to give them a little pay back ;)

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cuando mi amigo robert me comento sobre la saison secca no me podia imaginar mucho, estando en el norte del pais entiendo perfectamente. los thais queman partes grandes de su paisaje cada anyo para obtener cetas y herbas. cuando hize un trek en las montanyas vecinas a chang may no me podia creer que no veia mas que 200 metros, andaba sobre cenicas y el bote de rafting se estancaba cada dos por tres porque el rio no tenia suficientemente agua. igual tiene algo que ver con las fiestas del agua, los thais clebran el anyo 2552 y para ello se echan cubos llenos de agua encima durante una semana. por supuesto les encanta ir a por los turistas asi que me compre un cubo para darles canya tambien :)