September 30th, 2007, 5 Comments »
At least, we certainly can’t find them on Gozo. I’ve looked in every bookstore I could find, and though they have a breadth of English magazines, including some computer ones, there’s no sign of Wired (of course, I’ve had that problem in Vancouver, too). Not surprisingly, there are also no NHL season preview and hockey pool magazines around, either.
The same goes for the Twizzlers, and licorice products in general (James and Monique, this doesn’t get you off the hook–we need to stockpile!). I can’t speak with the same certainty about the hand sanitizer, but our searches thus far have come up empty.
Many thanks to our latest guest who delivered them from the Great White North.
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September 29th, 2007, 9 Comments »
While my parents were visiting last month, they spotted fishermen loading palm fronds into their small fishing boats before heading out. They later asked me what they used them for. I had no idea.
Today, coincidentally, I learned why they need the palm fronds. Can you guess?
UPDATE: Filmgoerjuan did not guess, but he found the correct answer nonetheless. The fish in the photo is called a lampuki. From Wikipedia:
Fishermen cut and gather the larger, lower fronds from palm trees which they then weave into large flat rafts. The rafts are pulled out to sea with small boats. During midday lampuki school underneath the rafts, seeking the shade. The fishermen use large mesh nets to catch the schooling lampuki. The fishing method has not changed significantly since Roman times.
Here’s a Geocities page with some photos of fishermen weaving the rafts together.
That said, I also really like Heather’s idea about pirate hats. “Arrrr! Where be the lampuki?”
9 Comments »
September 28th, 2007, 3 Comments »
As I mentioned, we’ve had a couple of days of rain here in Malta. The first was an intense over-night thunderstorm. The next morning I snapped a couple of photos. The first is of the sodden fields behind our house:
And this is the rain in our pool. I took it while strategically folded under the patio table, to keep my camera relatively dry. I’m pretty happy with how this one turned out:
3 Comments »
September 26th, 2007, 16 Comments »
I had a difficult time finding a reliable source for this information, either on the Web or from sundry government agencies. I finally got an answer from a police officer in Rabat who sounded convincing, so we’re going with what he says. I thought I’d post it, as I imagine there are web searchers in the same boat.
What if you want to stay in Malta longer than three months (the standard length of a tourist visa), but don’t have a working visa or want to apply for a permanent residency visa? You have two strategies:
- Every time you leave the country and re-enter, you automatically get a fresh three months of tourist visa. This is a reasonably common immigration practice. I gather there’s an accommodation industry on the Nicaragua side of the Costa Rica-Nicaragua border dedicated to this phenomenon.
- You can apply at a police station for an extension. I have a friend who did this ‘several times’–I’m not sure how many times it’s possible to do this. On Gozo, you need to go to the police station in Rabat (aka Victoria, if you prefer). Don’t go to the station on Republic Street. You want the station on the road to Marsalforn, about two blocks from the traffic circle. It’s on the left, and has big red garage doors
UPDATE: Coincidentally, I just read Leif Pettersen’s article about Malta, and left a comment advocating that he visit Gozo for a different taste of the country. He left his home in Italy because he’s American, and needed to renew his 90-day tourist visa:
As I’ve mentioned previously, homeless Americans residing in Europe that have failed to convince Michelle Hunziker to marry them for EU citizenship are put in the position of always keeping one eye on the clock as their 90 day visa limitations inexorably run down. Though the last time I entered Italy the immigration officer failed to/forgot to/couldn’t be bothered to stamp my passport, meaning I might have easily over-stayed my 90 days with no one being the wiser, I deemed it necessary to do a border hop and, at least symbolically, renew my privilege to stay in the country.
16 Comments »
September 24th, 2007, 1 Comment »
The very public battle between environmentalists (in the form of BirdLife Malta–they’ve got a pretty slick website) and Maltese hunters (represented by the Federation for Hunting and, er, Conservation) has fascinated me for months. I’ve written before about the tradition of hunting in Malta, and how it’s coming into increased conflict with tourism, a greener ethos and European Union regulations.
The main problem is that the hunters are shamelessly indiscriminate in which birds they shoot. They’re only legally permitted to shoot two species–turtle doves and quails. Instead, they blaze away at the many migratory (and sometimes endangered) birds that stop off on Malta. The evidence of transgressions is incontrovertible, and regularly appears on the front page of the papers.
Recently, a group of German birdwatchers came to visit the island and monitor the recently opened autumn hunt, legally and in consultation with local authorities. They got plenty of local press, and the hunters didn’t handle the extra attention well:
A PR Nightmare
Boy, am I glad I’m not handling the PR for the hunters. That’d be a nightmare. They’re totally incompetent at self-regulation, and their only excuse (which gets less compelling every time they use it) is that the illegal hunting is isolated to a few individuals.
I’ve said this before, but the hunters need to play the environmental card. They need to become the Ducks Unlimited of Malta, and work with environmental agencies to preserve ‘green’ (it’s often more brown than green here) space and, therefore, their hobby. And, obviously, they need to stop shooting the wrong kinds of birds.
I’m no expert, but it seems to me that the hunters are getting dragged inexorably into the 21st century of a developed nation. Malta is the densest country in Europe, and there’s a decreasing amount of space and tolerance for indiscriminate shooting.
The current government seems to be all about tourism and technology innovation. European tourists have little patience for hunting, or for potentially getting shot while wandering around the countryside. Tellingly, the government shut down the spring hunting season after just two weeks.
This afternoon I’m going to make a donation to BirdLife Malta, and see if they need any volunteer help. Think locally, and all that.
1 Comment »
September 19th, 2007, 1 Comment »
We’re having breakfast on our back patio this morning, and I smell something odd. I say to Julie, “what’s that smell? It’s a bit like rotting fruit.” We speculate that possibly the gardener next door is using some fancy composting. I don’t for a moment consider that Gozo is full of vineyards.
See, it wasn’t the smell of rotting fruit. It was the smell of fermenting fruit.
Like so many Maltese farmers (of the full-on and hobby types) seem to, our neighbours a couple of doors down are making wine.
I’m often surprised at the variety of wines that come from Gozo–an island the size of North Pender Island, with a population of 28,000. There’s at least twenty in the shop (this photo from Rabat’s market shows 18). Plus, the house wines in restaurants are often unavailable from the shops–they’re sold directly from the farmer to the restaurant.
1 Comment »
September 19th, 2007, 2 Comments »
I’ve been meaning to reference this editorial written about the baroque and hilariously dated regulations (PDF) for Maltese movie theatres. Some laws that are still on the books:
- “A trained fireman licensed by the Commissioner of Police, or in his absence a member of the Police Force detailed to act as such by the Commissioner of Police, shall be in attendance at all the performances.” Man, that’s a lot of free movies for firemen and police officers.
- “The exit and emergency exit lanterns shall be illuminated by means of candles or paraffin lamps, the lanterns to be made entirely of non-combustible material.”
- “Cinematographs shall close not later than twelve midnight.” That’s impractical timing, but I mostly include it for the awesome term ‘cinematographs’.
- “It is prohibited to introduce dogs into the auditorium or to keep or allow to be kept any dog therein.” That one’s still applicable, but I gather parrots, hamsters and ocelots are okay?
Here’s the most important one: “an interval shall in no case be held during the showing of the main feature film without the written permission of the Commissioner of Police.” This implies that intervals ought to be the exception, not the rule. And I doubt that theatres really have written permission for intervals in every movie. I’ve complained about the absurd intermissions in Maltese cinemas before. As it turns out, the law’s on my side.
2 Comments »
September 16th, 2007, 3 Comments »
While snorkeling yesterday, I saw the most remarkable thing I’ve seen underwater:
It’s a Cassiopea jellyfish. That’s not my photo, but the one I saw looked very similar. It’s strikingly large–the one I saw was probably a foot in diameter. Its undulating motion was hypnotizing. Two interesting facts about this species: juvenile fish often make take temporary shelter among its tentacles–you can see some sand smelt (I think) doing this in another photo. The other fact comes from Wikipedia:
Sometimes this jellyfish is picked up by a crab (Dorippe frascone) and carried on its back. The crab uses the jellyfish to defend itself against possible predators.
I’ve become addicted to the Facebook version of Scrabble, Scrabulous. After playing a word, the app loaded new letters into my tray. Entirely at random, look what it spelled:
What’re the odds? And when is Hasbro going to sue whoever made that Facebook app?
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