JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH

“In spite of the opinions of certain narrow-minded people who would shut up the human race upon this globe, we shall one day travel to the moon, the planets, and the stars with the same facility, rapidity and certainty as we now make the ocean voyage from Liverpool to New York.  Jules Verne as Professor Lidenbrock 1864

The sign outside the abandoned tin mine which stopped production in 1917 read: Dangerous no entry.  It was obviously put there by  narrow-minded people who would shut up the human race upon this globe and anyway as my native language is Afrikaans I did not understand what was written on it! I actually only went there to take some photos of the entrance of the mine and the surrounding area for an Afrikaans post lying in my drafts about how a friend and me “discovered” the mine 23 years ago.

Having taken said photos I decided to poke my camera inside the opening/hole and took a photo. It is literally a hole as it has been filled up. I was dissatisfied with the shot. Now there is an Afrikaans poem about a moth circling a candle and it has this internal discussion saying it won’t be like the other moths, it will only circle the fire from a distance… but eventually it became toast or is it barbecue? I was actually thinking of this poem when I sat there. Well as I am here now I could just as well go inside, just to take a quick peek. I didn’t even have a torch with me as I didn’t plan to go inside, but I would only remain at the entrance which would provide enough light for a few meters. Sliding into the hole my (new) grey t-shirt became a brown t-shirt as I had to force myself in. I took a few photos and then wanted  to kick myself for not bringing a torch. until I remembered that my mobile phone has a torch ! A solitary journey to the center of the earth was born.

Inside the mine it had the feel of a cave and in this photo looking back at the entrance area, it certainly looks like a cave!

Here it is quite evident that these tunnels have been excavated↓

↓Very soon I met this little cute fellow↓

↓I then heard footsteps in the water (not the ideal place to hear footsteps if you are alone). Well that turned out to be this fellow, also cute but certainly more dangerous. It was amazing to find a porcupine in the mine. My mobile phone’s torch switches off  every 3 minutes. The porcupine came towards me and the light went out. I was a bit panicky for a few seconds. Porcupines can cause severe injuries with the  quills or pens (and we all know the pen is mightier than the sword) ↓

↓When I switched the torch on again it was missing (no silly not the torch, the porcupine), but I was relieved to realize it went past me in the dark without touching me and it turned right towards the exit↓

When I went back to the exit I had a problem. The porcupine seemingly didn’t want to go out of the mine. When I came closer it lifted its quills in an aggressive manner.  I was on the third rock from the sun, correction inside that rock and between a rock and a place with hard quills.

There is a lot more to say about the exploration but I owe my Afrikaans friends an Afrikaans post and it will be concluded there. This is an Earth day I will never forget. I like to explore, go hiking or ride mountain bike enjoying the Earth.

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: “To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” Revelations 5:13