Wed 20 Feb 2013 Trek to the hills

Both Terry and David didn't get any sleep last night and thanked John for his generosity in passing on his cold virus.

Major Lil turned up at 8:30 and after loading the roof of the Zeep with our luggage we set off picking up Maya, Sabi and the Chairman of the management committee. So 9 of us headed off by 9:45 David (the smallest) sitting beside the driver with Mike, John and I in the next seats with our rucksacks and cameras and the other 4 in the back.

The journey was to take 2.5 hours!!! We started off along the main highway. Don't need any speed bumps here, there are enough holes in the roads which requires drivers to regularly swerve. There are more hairpin bends here than in Switzerland and they overtake by peeping their horn and moving out passing even on blind bends.

At 11:00 Lil said we were going to turn off the main road onto a rough track. For 30 minutes we crossed streams and drove along rutted tracks until we stopped for a comfort break at the foot of the hill. The toilet was though the cow shed which had a cow on the left and a skittish calf on the right. In addition the floor was a bit slippery!! Terry was the first casualty when returning through the cowshed he caught his arm and grazed it on a piece of wood when the calf jumped up.

At 11:45 we set off again from about 3000 feet to go up the hill. The road was horrendous with large boulders and John was a useful buffer for Mike and I. We bounced around for another hour and a half and at one point 5 had to get out as the Zeep was too heavy for the climb.

We then got out and started walking up to the village which took another one hour and was a 900 feet climb. Terry found it hard going as it was up steps virtually all the way, but we got there to get greeted the local band, dancers and the whole village. Just as we approached the entry to the school it started to rain. After a short delay the carried on with the welcome ceremony and entice David, Mike and Terry to dance with them. We left Maya and Sabi setting up the network and went to find our home for the next 6 nights. There is a living room which is being used by Lil and another as a bedroom then accessed from the outside are 2 bedrooms and a bathroom. Entry to each of these is via a door no bigger than 4'6"!!! Mike and John are sleeping in one room with Terry and David in the other Mike already has on a balaclava with a beanie on top of that. Toilet is outside so that will be an obstacle course in the night.

There are are no lights, relying on lanterns and torches. Good that we packed sleeping bags although may be an issue to get out of in the middle of the night.

Tomorrow we start our work at the school. David and Terry are still suffering with the old and chesty cough and are hoping they can get some sleep tonight.

We ate tonight at our house in the village. It consisted of:
Lamb offal
Curried cauliflower
Radish salad
Poppadoms
Prawn Crackers
Bombay Mix
Mutton
Daal and baht (lentils and rice)