how they lived way up there. Our room had electricity. They had bathrooms and a so called shower. I decided to skip the shower and just wash up. I was very dusty from the dirt.
We ordered our dinner to eat about 6:30, but it wasn't until 7:00 that we ate. It seemed to take a long time to cook each meal. I had fried rice, a full plate. I wanted chicken in it, but they didn't have any. I also ordered a spring roll. It didn't come until after I was done with the rice. I thought they forgot it. When they brought it out I was quite surprised. It was so big. I expected it to be a mini version of an egg roll. By the time I ate everything I was stuffed. I just went back to the room and read.
April 22, 2003
Three years ago today Laurie and I met on the AT in Hot Springs at the post office. Look how far we have come since then.
We started hiking without breakfast. I don't think Nar wanted to eat there. We got going about 6:45. It was hot and all the hiking is exposed. We stopped for breakfast. I can't explain what this hiking is like, but it goes through all these little villages. It is like their main road and that's how everyone travels, by foot or by horse. We saw a lot of mule and horse packs going through. They had bells on so you could hear them coming. Some of them are carrying bags of stuff and some aren't. We also saw people bringing their "buffalos" through. They don't look like the buffalos that I know.
We stopped for lunch. We both ordered pizza. We asked Nar what kind of cheese they have. He said yak cheese. It tasted different, but it was OK.
We talked to Nar about a few things. One was about the kids in the village and if they go to school. He said if they are poor, they do not. They need to have money to go to school. Another reason is that they may need to have the kids help with the farm. When we go through the villages it seems like the people just sit around talking, waiting for the crops to grow and for people to buy something from their stores. It just seems like a long and lonely life. They have each other to talk to, but I would think that could only last for so long. And what do they talk about? Can't talk about books, movies, TV, or what is going on in the world. I don't think they know.
The villages are pretty dirty. The homes are sometimes one room. They are very dark with no windows. Sometimes they have a shop front with their home in back. Chicken, roosters walk all around and the water buffalo just roam around the village.
We saw some kids playing games. Some of the games they play were jacks with rocks and marbles with rocks. Some kids were lucky because they had real marbles. I also saw a board game that kind of looked like parchessi, but I don't know if it is. I feel like every kid should come here and then maybe they would be grateful for all that they have.
As we were walking we heard a blast and then another. It went for about three minutes of explosives. We could even see it. They were blasting the side of the mountain to make a road, but only for foot travel. There were some girls from Israel. They said if they were at home and heard that they would have been on the ground. They would have thought they were bombs.
The day was going well, then wham, I stepped wrong and then I was on the ground. I felt like I heard a snap in my ankles. It was painful, but I got up as soon as I could to see if I could walk. It was sore, but I felt OK to walk. Luckily we didn't have much futher to go. Well, we might have gone longer if I hadn't hurt myself. When we got to a place to stay I soaked my ankle. It is swollen, but I don't think it is that bad. We will see tomorrow.
We checked into our place for the night. I soaked my foot in cold water hoping it would help.
For dinner I had potato soup and fried macaroni. It was good. One meal that almost reminded me of food back home.
We met a couple from San Francisco. We had a nice chat with them. There is a porch right outside my window. We also have a view of the waterfall. Speaking of views, I have had a view of some very high mountains. It was hazy, but they still were incredible.
April 23, 2003
Last night was a very bad night. This may not be suitable for all readers. I read last night before bed. I think I went to sleep about 9:45. I had a hard time sleeping because people were talking and they were burning something that made me feel sick. There was also this noise that sounded like a dog barking, but it was non-stop, so Laurie and I thought it might be something else. I ended up getting my ear plugs out. Then about midnight I had to go to the bathroom. Really go. I hobbled down the stairs because of my ankle, wondering if I would make it in time. I came very close to not making it and I had very explosive diarrhea. It was awful and since we have the eastern toilets it was quite messy.
So I had a tough time sleeping and had to get up early enough to start hiking. We skipped breakfast which was a good thing. I still have diarrhea and I didn't know what food would do this. When we stopped I had coconut cookies which seems OK. I have pills for diarrhea, but I wanted to save them for when it is really bad. My ankle was swollen and purple, along with other parts of my body. I taped it up with a bandana and duct tape. At first I was cautious and it did hurt. I took 3 pills and it seemed to feel better.
It was a hot day for hiking and I was grateful for any wind or shade that we got. Most of the time we followed a river and it was very pretty. We had to cross a couple of bridges and I was very impressed how sturdy they were. They were more sturdy than the ones in New Zealand.
We seem to be going through less villages. We are getting higher, at least I hope so. We seem to go down right after we climb up.
We saw a man grinding dried corn on this small grist mill. The corn would fall into the cup and two rocks would be turning and it made it into a flour like substand. It smelled like popcorn.
