a Day in Wales

Saturday the entire group took a coach for a day in Wales (Cymru in Welsh)! Having some portion of Welsh heritage (however this may be measured) it was really exciting to be in the country. We went to two medieval castles and an abbey, and a little town called Abergyvenny. The ride there was reminiscent of driving through the countryside of France and Nicaragua, though entirely different. The fields and hills are so green and covered with sheep and cows, spotted with small brick houses, and the driving was a bit of a ride. In Wales, the coach driver took us down really narrow, single-lane streets that were designated for both ways of traffic, so that upon reaching a corner the driver would honk the coach horn as a warning. In addition, the hedges were so high that we were unable to see where we were going (in Nicaragua, the driving consists of two lanes, but much honking at passing into the other lane as one pleases so that the flow of traffic goes at ones own pace)!

The first visit was Tintern Abbey (Abaty Tyndyrn), a Cistercian foundation built over a period from the 12th century to the 16th. And this was an isolated establishment where monks would devote themselves to god and keep care of the sick (there was an infirmary). The abbey was magnificent in size with impressive architecture. The castles and the abbey were all located in Monmouthshire, bordering England in the south. The abbey was surrounded by hills of deep green...can I mention again this vibrant color? What grand vocabulary! Next we stopped at Cheptow castle, built over a period starting in 1067 to the 17th century! It is a pretty extensive castle that rests on the edge of a cliff looking over the water and constructed for battle. The enjoyment of Welsh history through architectural remains was exemplified by the good humor Sir Goodrich, the noble. After convincing the entire BSC group to sport chain-mail and woven headdresses as good sirs and fair maidens, the party arrived at the royal castle of Raglan, and a ceremony was held in the court for the knighting of sir Megg and Sir Casey. The knights and ladies explored the remains of the exquisite castle via imaginary steeds and trotting to the sounds of coconuts. I thought it was a great way to embellish in one's surroundings.

We ended up in Abergyvenny, which was nice but I was left wondering what Monmouth could have offered, considering that it was the original plan of action to go there. The best part of the day however was when Megg spotted the White Horse of Uffington out the window. We were on the was back to Wadham when she spotted it off in the distance, a white chalk figure carved into the grass from the Bronze Age. And it was indeed the Uffington horse. Turns out there are several other white horses in England (realizing thankfully that the one featured in the latest Robin Hood was representing one of the others), the one located on the hills of Uffington is the oldest in the country. So that was really neat, I think our group will still attempt to see it on foot and up close, but now at least I can say that I saw it with my own eyes.

Today the group went to the Pitt-Rivers Museum: a free museum of anthropology and archaeology. It is just a few blocks from Wadham and it was great! Outside was a new exhibit "Ghost Forest,"brought to us by Angela Palmer; a number of gigantic tree stumps and roots from Ghana, Africa. The trees come from forests exploited for commercial use, but each tree also has a special meaning, name and purpose whether in nature, utilitarian or spiritually. Inside I also got to see some of the Aboriginal Australian landscape paintings that I had written about in an anthropology paper. Also exhibits on primates, dinosaurs, cultural materials and objects such as shrunken heads, painted eggs from Romania and the Czech Republic and the Dodo bird!