Wales Part 4

Visit to Tregaron Cute little pub Fire->warming up Cozy tables, chairs with cushions Warm food Good conversation Feels timeless Can imagine 1848 inhabitans sitting around the fire talking & enjoying a pint Kind of dark inside->stones, dark wood, still cozy Raining outside, but warm & inviting inside Tiny town, not much going on, mainly houses Very friendly people Butcher going about his business Landlady at Talbot->proud about elephant dig Made it on TV! Wants to share, talk about it, make sure we know about the elephant Shows us where the stone is Bartenders Speaking Welsh Friendly, welcoming Joking with each other Rhiannon Shopkeeper Helpful, warm, friendly Older Most people seem older, been there all their lives Some younger generation, but very few Church graveyard with lots of gravestones Older stones->sense of history Some in Welsh, can’t read them but can kind of understand the gist of it Raining so much! Quaint typically UK houses Sheep pastures going up the hill Pretty place, sometimes blue sky Lots of pub looking places Lots of banks! Pretty stream Crazy country roads make it hard to get to/out of Town square, statue of Henry Richard 1848 important Very quiet, not busy at all Only sounds quiet talking, birds, rain, cars-no planes, different from America Can sort of hear river/stream Man with his dog, not on leash, well behaved Talbot Hotel sort of center of town “Where is Tregaron? Outside the Talbot.” Trip to Skanda Vale Very quiet, picturesque place, I really like the view over the mountains Can hear the bells, call to worship? The woods are nice, not a lot of people around, mainly just animals, the monk (?) leading us around is wearing typically British wear, trousers, jumper, wellies, not at all what I expected from an ashram Buildings are kind of modern looking, none of them really look like Hindu temples, except for the shrine, very different from what Western religions are used to expecting at their places of worship So many animals, donkeys, deer, turkeys, llamas/alpacas, peacocks, ducks, geese, rabbits, fish etc. Elephant is so big! The pen is kind of small though, glad they’re making her a much larger area to live in Seems to have a good relationship with her handlers, they definitely talk about her with affection, have both been working with her for years, youngest one says he grew up with her so has to have some sort of bond with Vali Moves around in her space a lot, moves more and quicker than I’d expect, lot of trunk movement and blowing noises, shuffling back and forth and swaying from side to side, obviously interested in the newcomers, can’t hear much movement though because she’s very silent Walking with the elephant is an experience as you can barely hear her behind or ahead of you, some trunk noises, but feet are padded and muffle any footsteps, some noise of leaves and eating, but otherwise silent, no trumpeting or loud vocalizations, maybe most elephant communication is between other elephants and is too low for humans to hear Went to Tregaron (the town our play is based in) last week. It's a tiny town and there's really nothing there. The only thing that puts Tregaron on the map is the local legend. In 1889, a traveling menagerie came through Tregaron with a young elephant. She drank from the river that was downstream from the lead mine, got sick, and died. She was buried behind the Talbot, which is the local tavern, and became the local legend. As time went by, people forgot where she was actually buried. They had an archeological dig last year, but couldn't find her, so now she's pretty much just lost. We went to Skanda Vale today, which is an ashram (In South-west Wales of all places), where the only elephant in Wales is housed. We got to go on a walk with the elephant, which was really cool, as she was literally 10 feet from us. We went to puja (worship) and ate lunch with them, and then saw the rest of the animals they keep there. They have rabbits, koi, peacocks, all sorts of birds, sheep, llamas, donkeys, deer, and the elephant. Rehearsals will get pretty intense from here on out, so blogging might lag a bit.