The giant snake of the desert

Arizona (Jan 19, 2005)

As much as flying can be sometimes complicated by technical problems or weather conditions, there is always the magic of seeing Earth from above. If you fly high enough, the landscape become like a map, all its features printed, painted like in those ancient maps made on parchment. It’s like seeing with the eyes of the gods, and familiar features are transformed in new shapes of mythical proportions. If the weather is clear, I can spend the whole duration of a coast-to-coast flight fantasizing about the geography changing outside my window. I can see a dry river, and think about the giant snake that left his impression on the dust of the desert, before hiding behind the last ridge at the end of the world, like its companions in Nazca did many centuries ago.