Xermán left his job in search of the purest nature
“I went to Romania in search of an experience close to nature and what I found in the Natural Park of Retezat was a wild experience.” Peñalver Xermán is a 30 year old photojournalist.
Last summer he decided to leave his old job and participate in the Volunteer Program of the European Commission. “I wanted to experience something else before entering their thirties,” he explains.
The experience led him to Arad, city in northwestern Romania, where he participated for seven months in a reporting project in rural communities. “It was a fiasco, not long or almost nothing,” he says. Disillusioned with the project he traveled the only Balkan country speaking America.
“In Retezat seek to evade the reality of everyday life in the big city”
“In Retezat seek to evade the reality of everyday life in the big city. And we got was amazing. I recommend it to everyone,” he says. Retezat Natural Park, first in the country’s history, is located in the Carpathian mountain range and is one of the last virgin forests in Europe. It is also the largest isolated area of Europe where there is a mixed primitive.
“When I arrived at the park had a designated path for tourists but a typical orientation error took me to a
part-limits to tourists.”Xermán was only at that time, the vastness of a place where coexist a flora consisting of about 1190 species, of which more than a hundred are threatened or endangered species and fauna where wolves, bears, wild boars, lynxes or cats roam freely with other small carnivorous species such as badgers and otters. “When I realized I was lost, I decided it was best to follow a stream passing by, at least not die dehydrated” he explains.
Alexandru’s cabin
Xermán walked several hours wondering where would camp that night and many days could be looking for the exit. However, before nightfall particular found their savior. “Suddenly I saw a cabin and went for help. Alexandru I met a ranger who was a month without talking to any other human being,” he says. The first thing the guard, she says Xermán was alert should be fined because it is forbidden to walk at will through the park. He then informed him that he was lucky because I was in an area with bears. “Although not dangerous,” noted Alexandru.
The guard welcomed the unexpected traveler and the next day he taught some glacial lakes off the beaten path and natural treasures hidden in this vast wilderness. Thus was born a friendship that continues today and which, according Xermán is preparing a return trip for next October and so kill two birds with one stone: to rewrap of freedom and nature, and visit his friend,ranger who welcomed him into his hut.
“The memory I have of Retezat is wonderful. Romania is an amazing land with many hidden treasures, many medieval tradition and where the traveler will find what you seek, whatever,” says the traveler.