Today was an adventurous day. First we decided to go to the highest peak in Kashima, where Shinko´s parents own some land. The land in that area used to be cultivated but it was more than 50 years ago. Now it is a jungle. The plan was that we would go up there and be back in an hour or so but it took 5 hours or more. Petri had never gone all the way there before so we had to guess where to go. And since nobody had cultivated the land on the way up for so long it was covered with trees and weed and a lot of thick bushes with thorns. After a long struggle we finally got up there but then I realized I had lost my turtle-neck sweater somewhere on the way. Anyway, on the top we found a tree without leaves (so that we could see between the branches fortunately). When we climbed it we could see around the whole island and also the neighbouring islands. It was really a breathtaking sight and a great reward for the horrible hike. We could actually see Shinko´s parents´ house from there. After some relaxing and sun-bathing and monkeying around in the tree we climbed down and headed back down the same way we came up, to get the sweater on the way. Or so we thought. We encountered several places we recogized, but between them I think we made some new routes. We never found the turtle-neck but I think i was worth the trouble. There is no way I am going back up there just to get the sweater.

When we got back we relaxed and reloaded the batteries of our cameras for our next adventure - a barbecue on a beach on the opposite side of the island. We started off quite late and the sun was already setting. The way down to the beach was quite small and there were some slippery stones so it was difficult at some times but we never fell. When we got to the beach it was already quite dark. But we could see enough to gather some bamboo and other driftwood as firewood. Before lightening the fire we laid back and watched the night sky. We coud see the stars quite clearly, and also a lot of stars behind. I wish I could remember the star constellations better. And we saw one light that didn´t seem to be a star and we wondered if it could be the space station Mir. But it shouldn´t be there now. Hmm. Anyway, the bamboo burns quite quickly, and what is more sometimes it makes loud bangs. Probably because of some gas that builds up within airtight spaces. We shared a couple of beers and talked about this and that for some while, adding wood to the fire when needed. Suddenly, in the middle of a conversation, a really loud bang went off and we both jumped back a bit. After getting ourselves together I made an observation that the rocks near us were wet. They weren´t before were they? No they weren´t. Wasn´t the water closing in really fast? Yes it was! We moved the fire up a bit but the tide was so fast that we just walked up to the top of the beach and finished our beers there instead. Fortunately we didn´t bring anything to barbecue - only some sandwiches, so we thought we´d eat them on our way back as an award for getting up the slope in the dark. I had my digital camera and Petri had his digital video camera so we used the displays to lighten our way. It worked fine actually. 

When we got back Anni had "helped" Shiko unpack some boxes, so there were stuff all over the place. But Anni had already fell asleep halfway under the kotatsu table. Sound asleep, she didn´t wake up by the sound of us talking about the pictures we had taken today.