Kreta Moja, Rangi Mbili

Kutoka juu sana ya sehemu ya kati ya kisiwa, Polly alitazama chini ndani ya kreta moja kubwa mno, yenye zaidi ya miaka elfu ishirini na mbili na pana vya kutosha kubeba mji mdogo, maziwa mawili na mashamba kadhaa ndani ya ukingo wake. Ukanda mwembamba wa ardhi ulivuka katikati, na kila upande wake maji yalikuwa na rangi tofauti kabisa, ziwa moja buluu iliyokolea, lingine kijani kinachong'aa, kana kwamba mtu alimimina bahari mbili tofauti katika bakuli moja.

From high above the interior, Polly looked down into a single enormous crater, more than twenty-two thousand years old and wide enough to hold a small town, two lakes, and several farms inside its rim. A thin strip of land crossed the middle, and on either side of it the water was a completely different color, one lake a deep blue, the other a vivid green, as if someone had poured two different oceans into the same bowl.

Maziwa hayo mawili si tofauti kikweli. Mfereji mwembamba chini ya daraja la ardhi unayaunganisha, kwa hiyo maji yenyewe ni mwili mmoja. Kinachobadilika ni kila kitu kinachoyazunguka. Ziwa la buluu lina kina zaidi na huakisi tu anga wazi, wakati ziwa la kijani lipo karibu na miteremko iliyofunikwa na mimea pamoja na mwani mdogo sana, vitu ambavyo hupaka maji yake rangi ya kijani iliyokolea badala yake.

The two lakes are not really separate. A narrow channel under the land bridge connects them, so the water itself is one body. What changes is everything around it. The blue lake is deeper and simply reflects the open sky, while the green lake sits closer to plant-covered slopes and tiny algae, both of which tint its water a rich green instead.

Polly aliruka chini kando ya ukanda wa ardhi unaogawa rangi hizo mbili, karibu vya kutosha kuona mashua za wavuvi zikipumzika ufuoni upande mmoja na ng'ombe wakichunga kwenye vilima vifupi juu ya upande mwingine. Ukungu mzito uliingia kutoka baharini na kutulia ndani ya ukingo wa kreta, ukificha kwanza ziwa la kijani, kisha lile la buluu, hadi kubaki daraja pekee kati yao likionekana.

Polly flew low along the land bridge that splits the two colors, close enough to see fishing boats resting on one shore and grazing cattle on the low hills above the other. Thick fog rolled in off the ocean and settled inside the crater rim, hiding first the green lake, then the blue, until only the bridge between them stayed visible.

Alitua juu ya ukuta wa zamani wa mawe wa sehemu ya kutazamia na akasubiri ukungu uinuke tena, bila haraka hata kidogo. Ulipopungua hatimaye, maziwa yote mawili yalitokea kwa pamoja, buluu na kijani, pale pale alipoyaacha.

She perched on the old stone wall of a lookout point and waited for the fog to lift again, in no hurry at all. When it finally thinned, both lakes reappeared at once, blue and green, exactly where she had left them.