slightly adventurous
So, Lulu and I decided to go and be slightly adventurous today and by ´slightly´I mean COMPLETELY and by 'adventurous' I mean LOST AS F*CK.
It all started out innocent enough last night in the bar where we went to see a local guy play some local flavor and we were chatting to the girl who runs the tourism office. Nice enough girl, but she had this weird blinking thing going on that distracted the crap out of us while she carried on her conversation. I'm talking like blinking 5 times more than a normal person!
Anyway, she recommended we go and check out the lake and mentioned that from where we are staying there's a path that runs down to the lake and from there we could join part of a loop that would take us back to Suchitoto - the town we're in (we're still in El Salvador at the moment). Cool, we thought. 'Do we need a guide?'
'No, no, no. It's easy enough.'
That lying bitch.
So we head on down to the lake after breakfast and it's a nice enough wander... nice views of the lake, a cool suspension bridge where Lulu quickly reproached me for bouncing up and down, and some nice fishermen who informed us that only 20 minutes away there was a dock where we could catch a lancha (boat) back to Suchitoto. So off we go thinking it's going to be a breeze.
WRONG!
The trail was horrendous - I've only hiked on one that was less strenuous and that was a Yak trail in Northern Pakistan - and Lulu nearly slipped into the murky water more than once. And, me being the chivalrous dude that I be, tried to help her down a couple of steep sections and was rewarded w/ a thousand ant bites on my feet and ankles. In retrospect, it would probably be pretty funny. "Come on Lulu, I'll help you down. Ouch! Hurry! Ouch! Come on, come on, come on. Ouch! Please hurry! I'm in a fucking ant hill! Ouch! Please. Ouch!" At the time, though, it f'n sucked.
And as if all that wasn't bad enough... suddenly after the 20 minutes we'd already been walking w/out site of any dock the trail simply ends. There we are. No trail to continue on, a barbed wire fence in front, a cliff to the left and the bottomless muck of the lake to our right. So we did what anybody would do - we bushwhacked to where we heard voices.
Lucky us, some farmers were carrying their TOO, TOO HEAVY loads (80 lbs., maybe?) down to their boat hidden in the reeds just a stone's throw from the place where we had decided to just stop walking and flag down the next boat that came by - whenever that may be. These guys were cool - they paddled us all the way across the lake to where we wanted to be and didn't even want to accept the paltry offering of greenbacks we forced into their calloused farmer's hands.
Quick, but hearty, hike back up the hill to the town and a shower and change of clothes later we feel almost human again.
No more 'adventures' for us. From now on we're using a guide to take us where we think we want to go on our own (and not trusting any hyper-blinking tourism "professionals").
At least, until the next time we're feeling 'adventurous' of course!
It all started out innocent enough last night in the bar where we went to see a local guy play some local flavor and we were chatting to the girl who runs the tourism office. Nice enough girl, but she had this weird blinking thing going on that distracted the crap out of us while she carried on her conversation. I'm talking like blinking 5 times more than a normal person!
Anyway, she recommended we go and check out the lake and mentioned that from where we are staying there's a path that runs down to the lake and from there we could join part of a loop that would take us back to Suchitoto - the town we're in (we're still in El Salvador at the moment). Cool, we thought. 'Do we need a guide?'
'No, no, no. It's easy enough.'
That lying bitch.
So we head on down to the lake after breakfast and it's a nice enough wander... nice views of the lake, a cool suspension bridge where Lulu quickly reproached me for bouncing up and down, and some nice fishermen who informed us that only 20 minutes away there was a dock where we could catch a lancha (boat) back to Suchitoto. So off we go thinking it's going to be a breeze.
WRONG!
The trail was horrendous - I've only hiked on one that was less strenuous and that was a Yak trail in Northern Pakistan - and Lulu nearly slipped into the murky water more than once. And, me being the chivalrous dude that I be, tried to help her down a couple of steep sections and was rewarded w/ a thousand ant bites on my feet and ankles. In retrospect, it would probably be pretty funny. "Come on Lulu, I'll help you down. Ouch! Hurry! Ouch! Come on, come on, come on. Ouch! Please hurry! I'm in a fucking ant hill! Ouch! Please. Ouch!" At the time, though, it f'n sucked.
And as if all that wasn't bad enough... suddenly after the 20 minutes we'd already been walking w/out site of any dock the trail simply ends. There we are. No trail to continue on, a barbed wire fence in front, a cliff to the left and the bottomless muck of the lake to our right. So we did what anybody would do - we bushwhacked to where we heard voices.
Lucky us, some farmers were carrying their TOO, TOO HEAVY loads (80 lbs., maybe?) down to their boat hidden in the reeds just a stone's throw from the place where we had decided to just stop walking and flag down the next boat that came by - whenever that may be. These guys were cool - they paddled us all the way across the lake to where we wanted to be and didn't even want to accept the paltry offering of greenbacks we forced into their calloused farmer's hands.
Quick, but hearty, hike back up the hill to the town and a shower and change of clothes later we feel almost human again.
No more 'adventures' for us. From now on we're using a guide to take us where we think we want to go on our own (and not trusting any hyper-blinking tourism "professionals").
At least, until the next time we're feeling 'adventurous' of course!
posted by Aeon at 2:54 PM
1 Comments:
I hope in retrospect it was as funny as the way you told it on the blog. Cheers, Rock, say hello to Lulu for us, and adventure on! - Marcus and Patricia
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