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"How Far Is It?" of Geocaching and Emplacement in Athens, Greece

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“How far is it?” only 65 m to the geocache, but unexpectedly, a major obstacle stood in our Julien Cossette way. On the other side of the street, behind a fence and a large grey retention wall, a cliff 860 m unfolded before our eyes –a mixture of On a warm afternoon of late June orangish rock formations, dry bushes, and 2013, my friend Alexis and I were leaving a heaps of olive trees. I was winded, and my foreign embassy in Athens, Greece. My GPS back and forehead were drenched in sweat. I device in hand, I was pondering the was hesitant to tell Alexis about the bad possibility of searching for a few geocaches news. She had been oblivious of the GPS before returning home. Alexis, in response directions and therefore she was not aware to an invitation to join me in the activity, of the remaining distance. We stopped in the inquired about the distance separating us shade of a wall to rest. It felt like my blood from my goal. As I determined the closest was boiling in my veins. In the unforgiving container to be Attiko Alsos 860 m "down Athenian heat, any shelter from the sun, the road," I naively reassured her that we even if it was just as hot, was a relief. could be there and back in no more than 10– Thirsty, I drew a water bottle out of my bag, 15 minutes. Turning right on the street, and offered some to Alexis, who was sitting however, we realized yet again the reality of on some steps in the shadow of a wall. I told the topography of Athens: far from being her about my GPS-informed estimate of the 860 m "down the road," the GPS compass geocache location, jokingly laughing at was pointing instead towards the top of a similar obstacles experienced on other steep hill. Proceeding in that direction, we occasions. Perhaps dramatizing this slowly walked up the street, navigating with excursion, we shared our past hiking a necessary agility the narrow and ravaged experiences around the world, as we were sidewalks invaded by tree branches, evaluating our options. Unwilling to walk scooters, and other obstacles, while further away from the subway station to find simultaneously aiming for the route offering a way to the container, she offered to wait the most shade. At an intersection, as we for me while I went for the geocache, but were waiting for an opportunity to safely since I did not know how long it would take, cross the road, we noticed a tall piece of art we agreed to part ways. She went back standing in the middle of a traffic circle, not towards the apartment, while I headed on far from us on our right. We were a little my left towards yet another steep road that dispirited by how slow the distance seemed to lead to the summit. separating us from the geocache seemed to decrease, however, so we ignored our In the end, 860 m turned out to be no curiosity and the desire to appreciate it more mere linear walk in the park. If I ultimately closely. The heat had made us sluggish, and found the geocache on top of the hill about we were self-conscious of each single twenty minutes later, wisely camouflaged movement of our bodies. So, instead, we under a small rock, it had been at the braced ourselves for the last steep climb, expense of several water breaks, much which we assumed would be the last stretch walking on a number of paths, and of this physically challenging stroll. precarious scrambling on uneven rock formations. In retrospect, this excursion 65 m cannot be epitomized by the finding of the At the top of the street, I took geocache Attiko Alsos, which was instead another look at my GPS device. There were only one element of the journey. In the 79 process, I discovered multiple breath-taking activities such as geocaching, possible. In views of the city and a beautiful park, and I the following months and years, geocaching had the opportunity to explore a new developed into a highly popular world-wide neighbourhood off the touristic beaten path. community of participants engaging in this Joined by Alexis, affective and sensory outdoor activity that significantly resembles memories were forged, both in ourselves and treasure hunting. It consists of hiding and the spaces we moved through. We laughed hunting for (usually small) containers, called and grumbled. We recalled past memories “geocaches” or “caches,” placed by other and learned more about each other. We were participants at specific geographic winded, thirsty, and warm. We enjoyed the coordinates posted online. Upon finding a cooling effect of shadows and water. We felt geocache, players are asked to authenticate our calves and thighs tense as we hiked up their discovery by signing the logbook, and the street. We negotiated our direct they may even exchange small artefacts if environment. We enjoyed the view, felt the space is available. They are also encouraged pain of a wiping tree branch, smelled to post a note on the website confirming flowers, and heard the roaring sound of the their finding and, ideally, describing their few automobiles driving past us in that adventures. Today, following the creation of otherwise deserted mid-afternoon a free personal geocaching account online, atmosphere. virtually anyone equipped with a GPS can hide or attempt to find a geocache.2 Unacquainted territories became meaningful places. Geotechnologies are increasingly prominent and accessible. Hand-held N 45° 17.460 W 122° 24.800 devices, such as mobile phones, can track On May 2, 2000, the US government one’s movement and locate one’s abolished “selective availability,” an geographic position with an unsettling intentional accuracy limitation applied to precision. With the emergence of such Global Positioning Systems (GPS), a mapping apparatuses, GPS-informed decision that resulted in a dramatic instant activities and practices have proliferated. improvement to the precision of this Such technologies and their diverse technology (Editors & Staff of applications redefine our engagement with Geocaching.com 2009:8–12).1 As Internet space/place in new ways and present rich forums populated by GPS aficionados ethnographic contexts that anthropologists celebrated the news, a certain Dave Ulmer need to attend to. In this case, geocaching posted online shortly after a brief description presents an example of interest. and the geographical coordinates N 45° Undertheorized in the anthropological 17.460 W 122° 24.800, challenging his literature, the intricacies and possibilities peers to find a container he had hidden and afforded by the game and its practice offer to share their experiences. It became researchers a plethora of topics to explore. effectively the first official geocache ever. In this article, I will engage By making public the access to several ethnographically with some of those satellites, the government had made precise possibilities, specifically in the context of geolocalization, and thus GPS-related 2 In order to obtain the GPS coordinates of one 1 For more information on selective availability, see geocache, a user is required to complete a free http://www.gps.gov/systems/gps/ registration on the official geocaching website. See modernization/sa/ (accessed April 26, 2014). www.geocaching.com (accessed April 26, 2014). 80 my practice of geocaching in Athens, term fieldwork with limited possibilities of Greece. I will ask how specific places, movement outside the Greek capital, previously unknown, become meaningful to studying geocaching excursions with a geocachers through their activities in that particular interest in the body, movement, community. As such, this essay will seek to and the senses inevitably presented some answer Feld and Basso’s (1996) call, in their constraints. edited volume Senses of Place, to “explore in close detail cultural processes and For one thing, while conceiving my practices through which places are rendered project, I realized that most interactions meaningful – through which, one might say, between geocachers happen online. Other places are actively sensed” (7). In particular, asynchronous interactions are usually a special attention will be devoted to the re- mediated through the medium of hidden embodiment of abstract two-dimensional containers –especially logs and objects left maps and geographical coordinates, and its behind as traces of passage– but rare seems role in place-making. By following my own to be the encounters with unacquainted autobiographical journey through multiple geocachers “on the ground.” This is sites –a methodology I will carefully especially the case, perhaps, in places like unpack– I will explore how people’s Athens where the density of geocaches (and perceptions and experiences of a city as a geocachers) appears lower, so that such an place can be influenced by, and constructed occurrence did not happen to me once 4 through, the practices of geocaching and the during my research. For a short-term sensations and affects they can derive from research, I came to the conclusion that it. In this light, the form of sensory relying on the contingency of such attunement necessary to wayfare across the unplanned meetings would have been risky. sensuous materiality of particular sites and While community geocaching events are to find the geocaches will also be central to held daily throughout the world, none (that I my examination. The paper will add, in part, to the argument that geographic apparatuses involves taking a picture and/or answering relevant may be thought of as cultural technologies, questions about a particular site), and one was a multi-cache (involving more than one location and/or as are the processes and practices by which container, which eventually lead to a final container we use, evaluate, and ultimately translate which has the logbook).
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