Wolf-watching in Zamora

The other day my uncle invited me to go wolf watching to Zamora as a birthday present. The next day after my kayak training I took the bus to Madrid where my grandfather would collect me. When I arrived I went to have lunch with my grandparents and after lunch my uncle and my cousin came for me. So off we went to Zamora.

We arrived late at night to the little village where we were staying and soon found our hotel. The next morning we got up at half past seven and went outside to wait for our guide.
As soon as we were all ready we started off for the wolves. Our guide went in his car and we went behind with ours. There was a moment in which our guide slowed down a bit and then continued. When we got there he told us he had slowed down because there was a wolf in front of him and he was waiting for it to get of the road. And we had passed by with out even realising !!!

The viewing place was about seven hundred meters from a spot where carrion (a dead donkey) had been set out for the wolves. Some of the people that were already there told us that they had just been watching some wolf cubs in that same place just before we came. We waited in the cold with our telescopes, and suddenly realized that some blokes had parked there cars just in front of the place where the wolves were expected to appear. So our guide went to them and told them off for being so close. After waiting and waiting our guide thought that they wouldn't come out. So we went to try somewhere else.

The new place had views over fields that at the end of a forest. There we waited and waited and still we saw no sign of wolves. The only thing we did hear and see were deer. It was the deer mating season and there were lots around. So the time came to go back to the hotel and have breakfast.

Later on our guide took us for a little walk outside the village and explained a bit about the wolves there: habitat, food, breeding, population, etc. We also saw wolf footprints and droppings.

After the walk we went back to the village and had lunch. Just before we went I played football with my cousin and had a last look around the village.

It was time to go. I had had a lovely time and I wanted to stay longer, but at least I knew I'd be back for more.

These are some of the photographs I took on the walk.

How to keep a Hamster

My hamster was given to me about two years ago. And thanks to him, experience, and research I've discovered this:

Hamsters are quite solitary mammals. They need to chew on stuff constantly to stop their teeth from growing and suffocating them. If they don't have anything to chew on they will chew on metal bars, plastic, fingers or whatever comes close.

They have a very short lifespan, from two to two and a half years. They don't like living in pairs, sometimes they can hurt each other or even kill each other.

Their menu is composed mainly by seeds, fruit and vegetables, although they shouldn't eat anything acid like orange or kiwi. If their food is varied and their health is good they can live up to three or four years (but this is rare). Having babies will shorten their lifespan. But if they do, the babies should be removed as soon as they are independent or otherwise they will start fighting for the same territory.

This is a very very short video of my hamster eating lettuce.

Hellboy

Yesterday I went to the cinema with a friend. We wanted to watch Batman but it was only on at five o'clock and it was already eight. So at the end we agreed to watch Hellboy. Most people had seen the first one and told me it was very good but I hadn't watched it because the cover didn't convince me.

The film was great. It had lots of action, a good script, and a good story.

Hellboy is a big red tough guy that was made in an experiment. Now he works for an agency that is trying to stop a king elf from uniting a deadly metal army that will destroy the humans.
Hellboy and his three companions have to find clues about the wicked elf's evil plan and stop him.

The only thing the elf needs is the three parts of a crown that his father had made along with the metal army. These three pieces together would activate the army and would bring chaos to humanity.

Rating: 90% -> 100%

The hideaway

Two years ago some friends and I found a place in the woods and we made it our special meeting place. We had some chairs and a table and a little stream down the middle. It was going perfectly until some other kids broke it to pieces. After that it all started to go all wrong. The meeting place was what kept us all together. So we started looking for a new one. We looked hard but found none, so we gave up. We stopped looking and we each did our own thing.

One day one of my friends and I were having a walk thinking about the idea my friend's dad had given us. He said that they used to have a hideaway inside a bramble bush. He also said they had cut out the inside of the bush and made it hollow so they could be inside. We were walking alongside a bramble bush and we went through a little passage and looked to the right. Our eyes met and I knew we were both thinking the same thing. It was the perfect spot for a new meeting place. If we only had the patience to perfect it it would be excellent. So we went back and told the others.

The next day the work began.

My brother and I took some pruning scissors and started cutting. Two hours later we were already half way through. The branches we cut, we used as a little dam to hold the water in the stream. We also used the dam as a bridge.

The following day we finished the clearing and cleaned it all up. That same afternoon we brought some tree stumps and lay them around. A week later we found some cut up branches and set them up in different places.

We enjoyed it until summer ended. After that we couldn't go weekly so the bush grew and covered it all up.

This summer we cleared it all up again and set up a basket with nuts for the birds and animals. I also planted some lawn. And its all looking excellent.

That's how we made our new woodland hideaway.

Morocco: Toilets

In my family toilets are an important matter.
In Morocco toilets were slightly different from the ones at home:
The toilets didn't have paper, instead there was a very well-used bucket. One had to squat instead of sit. It was impossible to flush the toilet for the was no flushing mechanism, instead there was a little tap to fill the bucket.
In Arabic countries as I soon found out toilets are used like so:
Step 1- You fill the bucket up with water.
Step 2- You squat and hope for the best.
Step 3- You wet your left hand in the bucket and clean your bottom with that same hand.
Step 4-You rinse your hand with the water from the bucket.
Step 5-Throw the water into the pit, and watch how the pit tries to cope with all the stuff you've put in it.

Eureka ! ! !

And in Arabic countries don't forget: never use your left to shake hands.

Morocco: Fossils

I love fossils! On our way to the dessert we stopped in Erfoud, a town well known for its marble industry which produces a black marble containing fossils. The morning we were leaving we decided to visit one of the fossil workshops.
The shop was impressive. The walls and the shelves were littered with carved stones containing fossils. The man in the shop explained to us that they find the chunks of marble rock and then they polish the rock until it has a smooth surface so they can make it into sinks or plates or whatever they want. Apart from that they also carved them individually.

At first some of the fossils seemed to impressive to be real. But then the man explained that the fossils were originally all jumbled up one on top of the other, and that they separated them to leave the best ones on the rock. The photograph at the top has my shoe next to the fossil so you can compare the size. And the photo at the bottom is one of the working tables in which they chiseled the fossils.

Morocco: The Journey

Part of our trip to Morocco mainly consisted in driving. Our journey started in Ceuta. From Ceuta we went to Chefchaouen. The countryside there was more like Spain, and wasn't so hot. From Chefchaouen we went to Fes. That was a long hot ride with very arid scenery.We spent a flew nights at a campsite just outside Fes, and after that we headed to the Middle Atlas. We got lost a few times but at the end we fount a little hotel in a berber village next to the cedar forest. The next day we drove though the cedar forest all day and we camped in the middle of the forest.
Our next stop was Middelt. We stayed two nights in Middelt and then we continued south to the High Atlas. After that we passed the High Atlas we stopped in Ergh Chebbi, the desert. And that was as far south as we went. From Erg Chebbi we went to Meknes and visited the ruins of the ancient Roman town of Volubilis. Then we went to the coastal village of Asilah which was full of Spanish tourists and after that we went back to Ceuta. This is a photograph of a herd of camels surrounding my car.

Morocco: Desert

The Erg Chebbi dunes are a patch of sand twenty two km long and five km wide that stretch along the Southeast of Morocco, fifteen kilometers from Argelia.
This was probably one of the highlights of our trip to Morocco.
We got there, it was late afternoon, but it was still hot. We got out of the car and started heading for the dunes.
We walked along the dunes, and took photographs. The dunes really are just as you see them in films but its actually very special being there. There were kilometers and kilometers of sand just waiting to be trodden on but unfortunately we didn't explore much. As you can see in the photo I took it was cloudy so we couldn't see the sunset. But the feeling of being there in that evaporated sea was something I'll hopefully never forget.

The whale tour

After Morocco we took a whale tour in the Strait of Gibraltar.This was one of the photographs I took of the killer whales. The Strait is a very special place for marine life because the currents between the Mediterranean sea and the Atlantic sea mix and the are lots of nutrients in the water. This attracts lots fish. And fish attract bigger fish. And bigger fish attract dolphins and whales. And whales attract tourists. So that's why we went there, to see whales. The first whales we saw were Pilot whales. They were quite easy going.
After that we saw some Bottle nosed dolphins just behind them, they were amazing. They jumped and splashed and they did what a dolphin is supposed to do. We stayed with the dolphins quite a lot of time, and after that the serious whale hunt began:
We headed to the Moroccan coast were the Moroccan fishermen were fishing for tuna. Tuna is the killer whale's specialty. So what they do is they wait for the fishermen to catch the tuna and eat it up before they pull up the line. This was probably one of the highlights of our journey.
There they were, a pack of twelve killer whales just in front of our boat. We saw them for at least fifteen minutes .Until it was time to go. I had a very nice time on the whale tour, and I hope I can do it again some time.

Morocco: Chefchaouen

Chefchaouen was our first stop in Morocco. Chefcaouen is a village in the Rif mountains (Morocco). It's home to about 36000 people and attractive to tourists. It has an old casbah which was used to fight the Portuguese.This is one of the photographs I took when I went there . In 1920 it was invaded by the Spanish and given back to Morocco in Morocco's independence day 1956. I liked the town very much. The Medina was the prettiest part of all. And what impressed me most was to see children working to earn money for their family.
I didn't enjoy the tea or the couscous. But the rest of the food was all fine.
I also noticed the people used donkeys to carry things around and that is something that doesn't happen any more in Spain because they have been substituted by modern technology.

A visit to the Warner Bros Theme Park

The other day I went to the Warner Theme Park with some friends. Warner Bros Theme Park is an adventure park in which you can ride on roller coasters, river rapids, watch shows and basically enjoy yourself.

The Theme Park's Symbol.

We arrived at eleven o clock to the Central Square. From then on we planed our day. First my friends took me to the Superman roller coaster. Before the ride I was really scared but after I went on it once, it didn't scare me at all, in fact it went so quick I didn't know when I was upside down or not. I even liked it so much I rode on it three times in total. After that we went to the Batman Roller coaster, that was quite fun too. It was a bit shorter than the Superman but a lot faster.

The next thing we did was go to the waterfalls. They took us in a little boat through a twisty long river and then the boat went down a slope at 70 km/h and got us all wet.

Superman Roller Coaster

Fortunately we had our swimming trunks on and they didn't take a lot of time to dry.

When we got dry we went to visit all the village decorations. They are very realistic and original, I specially like the Old West village.

By this time It was about three o clock so we went to have lunch. We ate a very good pizza at the Boulevard.

After that we went to watch a show in the middle of an artificial lake. That was quite good.

Now it started to get really hot so we went to the River Rapids which were very wet and enjoyable. Then we went to the Batman simulator which was very dizzy and unpleasant. And after that, we decided to watch the Batman Show in "Gotham City". That was exciting.

Later in the afternoon I got dizzy in the Turning Tea Cups and after that we went on the rickety rackety Wild West roller coaster which was very bumpy and not as amazing as the other ones.

Just before we were about to leave we all had some drinks and I bought an enormous Superman tea cup.

And that was the end of that.

I really enjoyed the Warner Bros Theme Park and I hope I go back some time.

Giant Squids and Hancok

Dissected Squid

A giant squid was found in some fishermens' net in the western coast of Australia. Scientists have killed it to dissect it in public. This was supposed to be so people could raise questions in public and so scientists could find out more about these enormous strange creatures. This one they found was the second biggest squid ever found. It was twelve meters long and it weighed 248 kg.

Hancock

I went to the cinema with my friends the other day and we saw this film. It surprised me a lot. It was a very good film. It's all about a man with powers who saves the city his own way, he always causes unnecessary damage so nobody likes him. As he's all alone and guilty he drinks, that makes his reputation worse. One day he saves a man from a car crash. The man wants to reward him so he starts a plan so Hancock can be a good hero, but lots of difficulties are going to get in the way.

Hancok is a very good film that mixes humor, action and drama.

Rating: 89%->100%

Warhammer

I like painting Warhammer in my free time. Warhammer is a complicated fiction game in which you play with little plastic or metal figures which you paint your self.

The figures belong to different "species" of Warhammer and they're usually quite gory. I specially enjoy painting them, but I don't enjoy playing so much.

The species I like most are Skeletons and Dark Elves. The figures are really small and difficult to paint, but before you start to paint you've got to stick the pieces together and you can combine uniforms as you like. Its all part of the fun.

The figures are quite expensive for what they are, but in my opinion they are worth buying.

Even more expensive is the battlefield, which I prefer to make myself. This one in the photograph I made out of papier mache, small sticks, pieces of polystyrene foam and sand.

Hulk

I've just come back from the cinema from seeing Hulk 2. It's a good film. In my opinion better than the first part. Its got superb special effects, good script, excellent story and loads of action. If you liked the first one you will like this one even more.
I specially like the persecution at the beginning.
What I also like about the film is that the end promises a third film, in which I think the doctor is going to have something to do with all of it. If you like action this is what you need.
(They've been specially careful to try not to burst the pants)

-Rating out of 100% ->87%

Happy Holidays

We're planning to go to Morocco this summer, visiting the Atlas mountains and maybe even seeing apes in the cedar forests.

My summer holidays are not any normal holidays. Most kids in Spain would go to the beach one week and relax in the sand, but not me. My holidays normally include more risk and adventure. I'm not saying I don't like it, because I actually do and I've got quite used to it, but I wouldn't mind trying a couple of relaxing weeks on the beach just for once.

I do realize it's a privilege to have holidays like mine: walking up mountains, paddling down rapids, traveling through Europe with a van and two tents or driving though the Atlas Mountains but I could try having normal holidays. Even if they aren't so successful they would help me to get an other point of view.

White Cubs

Three lion cubs are being looked after in a safari park in Germany after their mother rejected them for being white and not like the rest.
Albino animals are quite rare, and they are white because the melanin in their skin doesn't have color. The only problem is that it doesn't camouflage them. There are only about three hundred white lions in the world.
These three lion cubs were the survivors after the mother left them alone. Luckily for the zoo, the lion cubs are attracting a lots of visitors, and with hope the three cubs will come along nicely.

Sanfermines

Today was the last day of the San Fermin festival. The Sanfermines is a very well known tradition in Spain and it takes part in Pamplona. This tradition of running the bulls started in XVI century and has kept up until now. It takes part between the seventh and the fourteenth of July. I like watching the Sanfermines but I don't like watching the bullfighting after it, because its a very cruel sport. People also get drunk during the festival.
Originally the sanfermines were only run by the pamplonenses but now lots of people without experience run too, this causes lots of injuries because the bulls get nervous and try to attack people.

This is a good example of a normal running of the bulls:

Slugs and mammoths

Slugs

Scientists have discovered a new species of slug in Wales (UK). It's not brown like normal species, it's white. And it doesn't have eyes. It's thought it eats earthworms instead of leaves like other slugs. It's been named Ghost slug.


Mammoths

A mammoth exhibition has opened in Japan. Mammoths became extinct thousands of years ago but these were found frozen and that's why they've kept so long. Mammoths lived in Africa, Asia and Europe in the Ice-Age and now elephants are their closest relatives. In the exhibition there was a young one year old female and a forty year adult.

Seal killing is not a sport !

Seal killing is a horrible thing. Thousands of hooded seals and harp seals are being killed every year in Canada and in Norway for their fur. But the problem is, that like every animal that's killed for his fur, they are bashed to death with clubs and other illegal weapons. This is a brutal way to kill a defenseless animal. And now people are making business out of it: taking tourists to kill the animals just for fun, like a sport. In 2003 350000 seals where killed. And each year that number is going t0 be repeated. Almost 42% of the seals are skinned wile they are still alive. Some of the cause of seal killing is also because some fishermen say they bring lots of parasites and take their fish. This horrible truth is the worlds largest mammal kill.

Kayaking

I belong to a kayaking club. Kayaking is a good sport and uses about 70% of your muscles. Daily training helps you to feel good physically and mentally. My club is very competitive and all the team members train very hard to achieve good results. I've now been in the club for five years and I'm enjoying it a lot. We're very lucky because we have a very good trainer, and he's even been named as Spain's best trainer of the year.

I also like to train in the river because it's surrounded by wildlife. Lot's of people don't appreciate this, but if they did they would realise what a special sport this is.

My pet frogs

Last Friday I caught some frogs in a pond near my house. They are baby Marsh frogs and, as you can see, they are excellent hunters. I'm keeping them in a large plastic box which imitates their their natural habitat. They are quite young so they have colour variations and don't all look the same. Some of the younger ones stick to the small invertebrate diet wile the bigger ones prefer to eat flies, moths and small insects in general.

Here is a video I made so you can see them feeding on an ant I gave them: you will see how the frog first tastes its prey and then eats it.



This method of keeping a little pond is a good one because it creates a micro-habitat that works the same way as the real one, though you must be careful not to put in too many predators like frogs otherwise the food-chain would be unstable and fail.

Swooping and jumping

I found this video by chance and I really like it. I specially like the bit where they walk up the wall and do a somersault. It's a pity there are no training centers like theirs where I live, because think that if I got the chance of doing it I would. I suppose they have to train a lot to be able do it in the street. I think they all have a lot of talent and I'm sure they can make a good use of it, although there are lots of people with hidden talents that don't get to use them. I've really liked this video and I hope you do too.

Creepy Crawlies

Why do people hate creepy crawlies? They're just species like any other. And they don't do any harm at all. I personally quite like them: They all have a mission in the life cycle, some of them even benefit us like spiders ( eating mosquitoes), they don't do us any harm, and some of them help to decompose what nobody wants to eat. After all if it wasn't for them we wouldn't exist.
I think people just don't like how the look or how they move or even how easily they sneak up on you with out you knowing. But after all they are good guys.

(Please object if you feel you should).

Prince Caspian

I saw this film today in the cinema, it's not a bad film but the end was quite unsatisfactory.Even though, I think the first one was much better. I think I liked the first one more because the film lies mainly in the principal characters. But in this one the Caspian guy just messes it all up. He doesn't really need to be there, The story could be just fine with out him. I would of expected a story about Susan, Piter, Edmund and Lucy living their one adventure. But after all I have to admit that it was well made, and I enjoyed it

My prize picky

This is a picture I took for the photograph competition in Talavera. And guess what... I won the second prize. I got quite a surprise. I really didn't think I'd win anything, though I have to admit I only did it for the prize.
I personally think that the composition is good. And you don't usually get a light surface when the clouds are blocking the sun. That is what I think makes the photograph interesting. And getting the three eyes of the bridge was quite clever too if you don't mind me saying so. Whoever reads this please comment, I'd like to know other points of view.

Football, singing birds and black rhinos

Spain wins Europe's football cup

Yesterday Spain won Europe's football cup against Germany. It was a tight match and both teams did as much as they could. The final scores were Spain 1 - 0 Germany. The only goal was scored by Fernando Torres in a desperate act, as he leaped over a German player.


Birds are singing themselves sick

Birds in British cities are having to sing louder so they can be heard on top of other city noises such as traffic. This is damaging their voices and ears. Some of them are even singing at night when there is less sound, and this too brings consequences, because it attracts predators.

More African Black Rhinos

The African Black Rhino population is rising, even though they are still endangered, there numbers have risen from 1,000 to 4,180.