An Aerial Perspective on a January Week

Spent most of this week in mid-January looking down. From the air, the island's coastline is a sharp line between green land and deep blue water. You can see the layout of the towns and harbors clearly, how they fit between the mountains and the sea. The weather was a mix of sun and clouds, with the clouds often sitting right on top of the mountain ridges.

The perspective shifts dramatically as you move inland. The mountains are incredibly steep and lush, folded into deep valleys. In one, a waterfall cut a thin white line down the cliffs. Higher up, the landscape changed entirely, becoming a wide, volcanic crater of red and brown earth under a wide-open sky. It felt completely separate from the green slopes just below. We were flying in and out of thick cloud banks for most of it, only getting partial glimpses of the coast.

After being up in the air, the evenings felt very grounded. The routine was to just watch the sun go down over the water. The light would catch the surface of the ocean, and the palm trees and the distant island would become dark silhouettes against the sky.