Slowly but steady (Day 30 of the World Trip)

04.10.2019

The day started off great. There was oatmeal for breakfast!!!

The first half hour was spent walking downhill in the rain on slippery unpaved paths along the river. We had to walk slowly and carefully to avoid slipping and had to concentrate. Unfortunately, this caused me to constantly black out and well... Once we reached the bottom, there was a small shelter where I sat down because I couldn't go any further :( I was physically and mentally close to giving up.

Right at that moment, Rischab naturally came and asked if everything was okay. Again, he offered mules but again, I declined. Maybe there was a bit of pride involved, although I wouldn't prioritize that over reason. When you're sick, you have to take it easy. And if you've barely eaten anything except two packets of cookies in the past three days, you should be cautious. But the idea of sitting on a mule, where it's wobbly and I don't know... I just didn't want to.

So the only option was to walk. We still had 12 km ahead of us through tough terrain. Jonas wasn't 100% fit yet, but to make the thought of what was coming easier for me, he took all the contents of my backpack and stuffed it into his. Together, we slowly moved forward. This time, we were the last in the group, but that was completely okay. At a small shop, Jonas got chocolate cookies

The path seemed to never end. It was mostly downhill, but there were countless small inclines and each one was pure torture. We were in the tunnel, step by step through the rain, the donkey poop, the mud, the streams, hoping that it would eventually end :D :D

We realized how dangerous the path could be when we got stuck in a traffic jam because a hiker ahead of us had fallen. Mules were rearranged so that the fallen hiker could be transported, meaning he had to endure the remaining 7-8 km on the mule, then go on a Jeep tour to Sankri and from there on roads to a village/city with medical facilities :O

A few hours later, when the next monsoon-like downpour came, we let out our frustration and listed everything that sucks and how little we feel like doing various things. It went on until I had to laugh, but laughing was exhausting and that was also stupid and I don't know. After 6 hours and completely losing morale, we returned to the starting point. Of course, the last 100 meters had to go up a steep and narrow staircase covered in mule droppings.

We were welcomed with a heavy rain shower and told to take shelter in a shed that smelled like food and campfire. No way! ;-) We stayed in the rain, completely soaked in our rain capes, fed up, and waited for the Jeep that would take us back to Sankri through the horror route.

When it finally came, Jonas and I were allowed to sit in the front (along with the driver and another guy, of course ;-) ). Four people were sitting in the back, two were sitting in the trunk with the luggage, and a few more people climbed on and sat on the roof. Yup. That's transportation in India :)

Maybe we were too exhausted or maybe we're toughened up by now, but the return journey wasn't that bad. Loud Indian music blasted from the speakers and Jonas had fun filming the absurd route^^

We arrived in Sankri faster than expected, where this time the light in our room didn't work, but the boiler did not (well, "work" is relative). We picked up our luggage that we left at the hotel and met our cook one last time. I don't think I've praised him enough here. Jonas and I both liked him a lot :) He always looked out for us in the kitchen tent at night and took care of us, and the next day he got the cookies and yeah. He was really great!! He even cooked separate dishes without onions for us twice

The positive thing about the resort was that Ashka made sure that the caretakers removed all the spiders this time! Unfortunately, our bathroom was completely dirty, especially the toilet, but hey. After the past few days, we didn't care at all :D Once the disinfectant came out, we cleaned everything. Done. Then just getting into bed and dozing off...

In the evening, we had dinner again, of course. Jonas tried chicken, but unfortunately, it ended up over the railing :p I had three spoonfuls of rice until I felt sick and yeah. Then we finally went to sleep - without a shower, but after 5 days, that didn't matter. Quick wash with cold water and done^^