This and That from Here and There: Another day, another hike (or two)

May 4

◦ 7:30 breakfast - caldo with a chicken leg, rice, yucca and papa china as optional sides. I choked it down. We all shared a thought after breakfast, sang a few hymns and were on our way again.

◦ Two hour or so hike back to San José and then on to Miraflores, mainly uphill this time. Thanks be to Johnny for carrying my backpack the whole way to San José!!!

Author's Note:

I probably could have made it if I had had to carry my backpack, but I don't know when!

That's Johnny in back with my backpack (blue) and also Olinda's (black). Obviously, he's a bit more accustomed to this kind of trek than I am!

More cows

:-)

And there's San José.

We were the most interesting thing these school children had seen in a while, apparently.

That's the "town" of Miraflores that you can see off in the distance.

◦ Lunch with Elser Pérez at a (the only?) restaurant in Miraflores (basically a garage complete with motorcycles and the tables for patrons). The menu choices were gallina (chicken), chancho (pork) and cuy (guinea pig). I gladly voted for chancho! (Don Sergio from Bagua and don Segundo from La Flor joined us for lunch.)

◦ Bathroom visit before leaving town (refer to pictures)

The market is on in full swing today. Plus there's some sort of a cattle sale going on, so town is crowded.

One of the horse parking lots is off to the right.

The first building that you can see on the right is where Élser has his store. He sells veterinary supplies.

That little building that you can see in the back (furthest to the right) is the restroom, I later learned.

The market as seen from the restaurant where we had lunch

Although it says, "refer to pictures" in my journal entry regarding my bathroom visit in Miraflores, this picture can in no way even begin to convey the desperation one must truly feel for such facilities in order to be willing to make the journey to the outhouse. Remember what I mentioned about the cattle sale and the horse parking lot? And lots of rain?

Perhaps the state of my boots will help tell the story. The distance traveled was not all that great, just deep in some places. And slippery. I was very serious about avoiding a fall in this particular field.

Élser had given me the key to the bathroom. After arriving, I decided that such a tool was completely unnecessary. Anybody who would choose to traipse across that stretch of ground in order to get to a cramped outhouse with a dirty pit toilet that stinks and has no paper, deserves to be able to enter without having a key.

This seemed to be the main store in town. We stopped in before lunch. They stock quite a variety of items in a very small space. If you're not judging aesthetics, it's a pretty nice little store.

That's the best shot I got of the restaurant, as we were heading out of town.

Rain, rain, go away. We've got another hike to make.

Various horses waiting for their owners

◦ Van took us to a certain point, and we hiked the rest of the way to La Flor (? hours). (Argh! Another question mark. Perhaps this would have been slightly under a two hour hike?) Our backpacks went on horseback, fortunately, and Elvia also rode instead of walking after I turned down the offer of hoofing it via horse instead of foot. After a short distance, Jairo carried my purse, so I was completely free of cargo, and it was wonderful! The route was quite muddy and precarious in places, but we all made it fine.

Unloading the van for the hiking portion of the trip

We'll go "up thataway."

Olinda didn't have a costal for her backpack, so she improvised by wrapping it up in her pink rain poncho.

Elvia's ready to travel.

Putting our luggage in large sacks for loading on the packhorse

Elvia's horse did some pretty fancy stepping not long after she mounted, making me exceedingly glad that I was not the one astride.

I felt rather sorry for the horse that got chosen to be the beast of burden, but I guess they're used to it.

The horses took a different trail than we walkers did, so we didn't see Elvia or don Segundo again until we arrived at our destination.

There goes Jairo with my purse!

Where we're going is "way back over there."

I forget the name of this fruit that don Segundo found along the way. It was quite tasty if I remember correctly. I never cease to be amazed at how often I'm introduced to yet another new fruit.

I didn't count how many hills we climbed, how many barbed wire fences we went through, how many times I wished my lungs would expand just a little bit more or how many times I slipped in the mud, but we finally arrived at our destination: the home of don Segundo and Sra. Rosalia's. At one point, something like 45 minutes or so before we reached home, Olinda had told me, "It's just over this next hill." We finished going down the hill we were on and up the next one... and down it, and up and over the next one, and... up and down... Turns out, she had the wrong hill.

To be perfectly honest, I really enjoyed the hikes. The scenery was beautiful. It was wonderful not to be in a dirty bus trying not to watch dirty movies. It was invigorating to breath the fresh air and enjoy the company of fellow-workers and friends. Very often, I thought, "How many people pay lots of money to go on 'adventure hikes' and I'm getting to do all of this for free!" Well, I didn't have to pay money, anyway. :-)

Is it easier to go uphill or downhill?

My lungs prefer going downhill. My legs prefer going up. So, no matter what stretch we were on, some part of my body was happy. :-)

Despite my enjoyment of the journey, reaching the destination was always a definite highlight.

This is the room that Palmira and Elvia shared.

The door to their room

◦ Arrived at don Segundo and Sra. Rosalia's just in time for the killing of the pig. I didn't exactly watch, but you couldn't escape the sound!

I'm standing outside the door to Palmira and Elvia's room. Don Segundo and Sra. Rosalia's living quarters are upstairs. The kitchen is through that door to the left. The pig butchering is about to take place where you can kind of see those people in the background. The little building that you may be able to make out in the back is the outhouse.

Lots of pretty flowers

The horse crew finally made it.

I really would not have been interested in trying to carry a small child along that path of slippery stone, but Elvia made it look like no big deal.

Both doors here lead to the kitchen (the double doors and the door behind Olinda and her little friend).

The pig is dead. I think they're smoking the hair off of the hide here.

A better picture of the outhouse

Looking from the outhouse back toward the house

A few flower shots

My little corner

I'm standing next to Olinda's bed to take the picture.

The living room (where Special Meeting will be held on Sunday) is on the other side of that curtain.

The living room

Palmira and Elvia's room is on the other side of that curtain.

So, the two guest rooms are basically just sectioned off areas of the living room.

Looking toward Olinda's and my room

Bringing the pig closer to the wash area to clean and cut it up

◦ Heated water for a wonderful bucket shower. The outside wall of the shower only came up to about my shoulders, but the only thing on that side (at that moment) was beautiful scenery and a few cows. I stubbed my toes good on some chipped wood on the way to the shower. Just my luck to hike for hours with no injuries and then hurt myself on the way to the shower!

◦ When you have to go what is essentially the pig pen in order to get to the toilet, you should definitely take the few extra seconds to put on your boots instead of going in you flip flops with the hopes that you won't fall in. Lesson learned. May you ever benefit from my poor choice.

◦ Pig cutting still going on. Turns out there were eleven piglets inside. The little boys are fascinated!

◦ My body is beginning to hurt! I think I should sleep well tonight!!!

◦ Tamales for supper - don Segundo & Sra. Rosalia, Grabiel & Marleni (daughter of don S & Sra. R) with their three boys, Dicson, Jairo, Palmira and me