The Hike

I was feeling really sick in the morning so I didn’t feel like going anywhere. I am afraid I just cannot eat local yogurts and other dairy products...But at about 9 a.m. I decided that a short hike won’t hurt me. I got dressed and at about 10 I set out taking only a bar of chocolate and two hard-boiled eggs with me. I was walking heavily (I would say that at moments I was even trudging) along the river that runs behind the school but after half an hour I’d became so absorb by the beauties of the surrounding canyon that I completely forgot that I’d been sick :) or rather, I probably just got better. I was taking pictures like crazy. There was a great deal of breathtaking sceneries because the river was partly frozen and looked like fairyland. Originally I planed to walk up the stream for an hour and then just turn over and go back to the village but after an hour I came across an amazing little cave “decorated” with stalactites and stalagmites - they were only made of ice but still it was very fascinating. I had to do quite a lot of exercise trying to get to the cave because there was a steep hill and it was really slippery too. I begun to slip down so I was running like crazy getting nowhere for half a minute. Luckily then I managed to reach a flat spot where I spend another five minutes catching my breath. But, going down from the cave was about something else! It was like skiing - just without skies and snow because there was just gravel :) It was fun but I was happy to be out of it. Well, fortunately I didn’t know what still was to come..I was walking along the river for another two hours when I started to think of climbing one of the surrounding hills. Until that moment I was only taking pictures - of the hills, another hills, those big stalactites and a strange creature with two heads. Well, there were probably two of them but they were that entangled that I just couldn’t tell...I’ll have to analyze the pictures thoroughly and we’ll see - who knows, maybe I discovered a new species (it wouldn’t really surprise me here :). At about 1:30 p.m. I came to the mountain pass (4 600 m above sea level) and I decide not to go on along the river - I can save this hike for winter - and rather to climb the hill in front of me. Well, again the word “hill” is not really apt expression but who cares...I was shuffling up the hill and when I reached the “top” I saw another two of them whichever direction I looked. Here it’s always like this...There wasn’t much to think about because it was 2:30 - high time I’d gone back to the school. I had to pass two another summits and I have to say that even thought they were steep and slippery hills I was walking much more easily than I’d been during any other hike. And I was even at the same altitude - about 4 900 m above sea level. Well, keeping in shape and becoming experienced has paid off and my body is getting used to it. Anyway, back to the never-ending hills with no real summits - in the end there weren’t two but at least ten of them. Yet, I made it and I got to the “summit” with a beautiful view. I’m just not able to describe it, it was just breathtaking. I didn’t let to knock myself sideways by the fact that there was another mountain above me twice that big that the one I just climbed on. I just enjoyed the moment. I’ll make the bigger one next time :) So, and now Yaba-Daba-Doo! I have to get down from here. I’ll have to traverse it to get right to the school. From this moment, I didn’t feel like a human being but more like a mountain goat because I was jumping from stone to stone. After a while I found out that I have to go much lower because there were steep rocks in front of me - that was time for the “skiing” I mentioned above. Yeah! That was pretty cool...poor boots, I’ll have to repair them when I get home (fortunately I took the old ones). I could almost see the village but the “skiing” exhausted me that I looked more like coming back from pub than from hike. I have to finish the last few meters to the school even thought my legs are weak, I told to myself. Lopi was waiting in front of the school (he came to check that I safely made it home) so I tried to do few impressive jumps and I forced myself to run the last 100 meters because I didn’t want to look like sissy in front of him :). I said hi to Lopi, I opened the door, closed them behind me and fainted into the chair for 15 minutes. But the truth is that only an hour later I felt tired but tired in a nice way. Not bad if I realize that today in the mountains I walked more than I usually do at home over a quarter of year. The only bad thing is that there isn’t anyone waiting for me with the dinner ready...

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