Nine Islands, Three Plates

Polly came in low over black volcanic rock, where green fields ran to the cliff edge and mist slid across rounded hills inland. This was São Miguel, the largest of the nine Azores islands, alone in the North Atlantic. Salt air mixed with wet earth and cut grass.

Polly je nizko priletela nad črno vulkansko skalo, kjer so se zelena polja raztezala do roba pečin, v notranjosti pa je megla drsela čez zaobljene griče. To je bil São Miguel, največji od devetih azorskih otokov, sam sredi severnega Atlantika. Slan zrak se je mešal z vonjem po mokri zemlji in pokošeni travi.

The island exists because of a seam far below the ocean floor, where three great plates grind slowly against each other. North America pulls one way, Europe another, and Africa presses from the south. Heat rises through the cracks where they meet. Every island here was built from fire and cooling rock.

Otok obstaja zaradi šiva globoko pod dnom oceana, kjer se tri velike plošče počasi drgnejo druga ob drugo. Severna Amerika vleče v eno smer, Evropa v drugo, Afrika pa pritiska z juga. Tam, kjer se srečajo, se skozi razpoke dviga vročina. Vsak otok tukaj je nastal iz ognja in ohlajene kamnine.

Almost every field on São Miguel is edged by a hedge of hydrangeas, blue, violet, and sometimes soft pink, so thick they look painted onto the land. Farmers brought the plants from Asia in the nineteenth century just to mark field borders. The volcanic soil, rich in minerals, turns their petals an even deeper blue.

Skoraj vsako polje na São Miguelu obroblja živa meja iz hortenzij, modrih, vijoličnih in včasih nežno rožnatih, tako gostih, da so videti kot naslikane na zemljo. Kmetje so rastline v devetnajstem stoletju pripeljali iz Azije samo zato, da bi označili meje polj. Vulkanska prst, bogata z minerali, obarva njihove cvetove še globlje modro.

Further inland, green hills folded around quiet basins Polly could not see from the coast. Steam rose faintly from somewhere among them, thin white threads against the grey sky, and she turned toward the high ground.

Bolj v notranjosti so se zeleni griči gubali okoli tihih kotanj, ki jih Polly z obale ni videla. Nekje med njimi se je rahlo dvigala para, tanke bele niti proti sivemu nebu, in obrnila se je proti višavju.