Same old place, same time, before sunset.
I went to the hill with the intention to portray the full moon rising between the stone pinnacles. Something that I had calculated months ago.
It had been raining all day (new Murphy’s Law: the photographer who requires clear sky gets a storm) but by 21h, I was in the eye of the hurricane. A haven of peace and respite from clouds that I expected to last long enough for my goal.
I got there, as the sun, the sky and clouds kept a crazy discussion abut the property landscape. Nobody won, but gradually the sun got tired and the storm turned back, waiting for the right time to come back and claim what he believed his.
Then, as I climbed the last stretch of the hill and raised my head I saw it. Those eyes staring at me, that majestic posture and those endless horns. Yes, a goat, how could it be otherwise.
We looked each other for a while, until she noticed the presence of Phoenix, and with a loud whistle, she turned around and left.
I started to follow but for the missing goat another figure appeared, this one in the shape of a woman, watching me from the top of the hill. “You scared me,” he said. She was firm in the landscape and after verifying that Phoenix was harmless, she got relaxed. The conversation did not last long, because I wanted to see the big goat again before the appearance of the moon. As I continued toward the cliff she was still and glazing at the sunset.
I went to the edge, scanning the landscape for that big animal, but suddenly and without realizing, the moon made its appearance. Huge and yellow, it rose slowly but steadily through the sinuous forms of the mountain. In one of the pinnacles, the silhouette of a person betrayed that I was not the only one enjoying the show.
Gradually the darkness took the sky while the moon intensely illuminated the landscape. The woman suddenly reappeared at my side. Behind her the lightning followed each other. It was a rather bizarre occasion, because for a while, goat, sunset, storm and moon shared the landscape while I did not know where to focus.
The woman suddenly became interested in the moon and about what I was doing up there. She got used to Phoenix and we finally started up a conversation as the moon started rising to the top of the larger rock, as the dot on an “i”.
She accompanied me during the descent, in the middle of the night, with the only light from moonlight and the noisy silence of the night. Then she told me about the forest, her places, the secrets that only you know when you really know the place, she told me about its rivers, caves and rocks as if it was her home.
Sometimes we remained silent and the forest heartbeat became audible. I realized that my senses got sharpened. I could hear perfectly the sound of flapping wings of bats and the musicality of the tiny raindrops falling on the stone walls. In the distance, two goats clashed horns and when we got to the car, an owl sang for us for a log time. We had reached the end of the tour.
We said goodbye to each other and she left. I stayed a little longer. I gave some water to Phoenix and I changed my hiking boots for more comfortable shoes. I waited a few minutes, but silence reigned. There was no singing owl, no more flying bats and no more water drops.
I left with the moon and at the zenith, illuminating the night and I, on my way home, I could not stop thinking about the Magic Mountain, goats, UFOs and witches.
Could it be that the forest spirit had appeared to me?
NOTES:
- Goats found in Montserrat are ibex (Southeastern Spanish Ibex), introduced in 1995.
- The area is frequented by UFO phenomenon enthusiasts , that form groups and monthly sighseing groups.
- There is a belief in witchcraft also. It’s said that there were meetings and Sabaths in this “holy” mountain, against the action of the Benedictines.
- If you wander through the area and go further from established roads, it is possible to find rocks, stones and bones on the floor, drawing strange shapes.
- I’ve been visiting the area from long time ago. I’m glad I found only goats.