Graves by the side of the road

At pace, we trekked ten kilometres, before Salous instructed that we make camp at a ramshackle village. The village was small and desolate, standing alone on a black hill in the shadows of a eucalyptus wood. It was just a closely grouped quad of tumbledown sheds with makeshift wooden doors, adjacent to a high pasture of lush grass. Lifestock wandered freely around the compound and in the school yard before dinner, I counted five different types of animal ambling close to the tents: horses, cows, pigs, alpacas and chickens. But the animals were no trouble, in fact they seemed docile and timeless as if nothing worried them. They had grown to resemble their surroundings; remote and natural, tame and unhurried, but touched with an intrinsic pessimism.

There was just enough light to wash in the stream before dinner, but as I picked my way across the rocks and marshy ground behind the school house, I stumbled across two lovers preparing for the final assault on each other. There was no mistaking those fleshy white limbs entangled among the rocks and bracken. Having seen me, they shamelessly continued - mistakenly taking my worldliness and discretion for granted. For the price of a bottle of beer, I promised not to disclose their identities, a deal that one day I may choose to re-negotiate.

Campsite in the schoolyard

Dinner was a marvel. The vegetable soup and pasta was followed by fish, rice and green salad. The porters cleared the pots and pans, so we drifted around the camp-fire telling jokes and stories, not used to having time on our hands. Time to think could be self-defeating. Already some of the guys had complained of stiff backs, necks and legs, so I took it upon myself to roll up my sleeves and massage their aching limbs.

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