Hiking the Glenn Highway through Alaska. Published in Asphalt Pilgrims.
Paul Salopek
Every hundred miles Salopek pauses to record the landscape and a person he meets, assembling a global snapshot of humankind. Milestones reflect straight-line distances, but his walked distances are generally much longer. More on these waypoints here.
Every hundred miles Salopek pauses to record the landscape and a person he meets, assembling a global snapshot of humankind. Milestones reflect straight-line distances, but his walked distances are generally much longer. More on these waypoints here.
We were halfway up the Red Sea, trailing bits of hay in our wake.
The ship was a floating barnyard. It was delivering 8,000 sheep and 855 camels from Djibouti to Jeddah. An anti-ark: the animals were bound for slaughter. Enamel paint. The thrum of the big diesel. The ammonia reek of the pens. And, now and then, caught on the breath of the wind, the silver whistles of canaries — birds singing their hearts out.
It was the morose engineer. He sat at his post at night playing songbird recordings over and over on his computer. He said it reminded him of a better world.
A wraparound soundscape at this Milestone
This Milestone’s location on a map
Photos of the ground under Paul’s feet and the sky above at this Milestone
A brief question and answer with the first person Paul meets at this Milestone
Jamal Osili
Chief engineer, Age 56
Who are you?
I am chief engineer.
Where do you come from?
Island Arwad. Near Tartus. Syria. Same as captain.
Where are you going?
No more. No more. No more. This—sea—finished. (Claps hands.) Halas!
Small shop. Maybe. In Tartus. You see? (Turns on laptop computer. Plays amateur Web videos of birds singing in what appear to be songbird competitions in Russia, Syria and Algeria.) You see? You see? Beautiful. Very good! Fwee-fwee-fwee. Like that. Many languages. The birds speak. Beautiful bird. Beautiful.
A video showing the landscape around this Milestone
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