[post of
Saturday 18th of August 2012]
Today we
wake up fresh and relaxed, ready to plan our next stage in the best and easiest
way possible. The first part of it is relatively easy depending in how good you
are to avoid traffic. The second is nearly impossible considering the layout of
these green islands.
Yesterday we
were late due to the long chat with Father Aguilar, but today we decide to go
on with our visit to Nagasaki, and we are going to see the part of the city where
the atomic bomb exploded. Standing there we don’t even think about the radiations
or the devastating effect of the explosion over the whole city. You look around
and see people quietly walking through the park. Some of them leave cans of drink
or bottles of water for the souls of the nearly 150,000 people who passed over
on that day. As we head to the centre of the conflagration, we see a mother taking
a picture of her children smiling beside one of the tombstones. A tragedy that
shouldn’t have happened because Japan had already surrendered, as Father Aguilar
reminded us yesterday, and the only thing left was to settle the terms of the
peace negotiations. Nevertheless, a tragedy that may well happen again, we
think. Indeed, as far as science develops and the hearts of mankind don’t
develop as well, this kind of accident/incident are likely to happen again.
We leave
Nagasaki with contrasting feelings, and we go back to the highway with bitter-sweet
mood. The few km to get out from Nagasaki, and the highway seem endless… but
once outside the chaotic traffic of the big city, the greenery surrounds us
again.
The hot
temperature presses us and pushes our determination to the edges. Every bit of
up-hill is a torture... and that’s this stage was listed as a “short and even”
one in our notes! Finally we get up one of the last hills of today, and the Bay
of Omura opens up in front of us, which is where we’ll spend the night for now.
No comments:
Post a Comment