Monday, 15th March, 2004 I had another bad night's sleep. It was beginning to make me very tired during the day, when I needed all my energy focussed on the trek.  | A small group of people above us were deliberately trying to block the pathway with soil and uprooted trees |  |
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The fifth day followed the river through a deep, and in places, narrow gorge. It was 16 km to a small provincial town called Beni, our next stop. The going was good in places but very difficult in others where landslides had completely buried any memory of the normal path. We crawled across loose slate slopes high above the river then just as quickly were meandering along a wide dusty track. The roar of the river was ever present all day. In one spot there was a small group of people about 50 ft above us, deliberately trying to block the pathway with soil and uprooted trees. I have no idea why. In fact they nearly hit a group who were about 300m ahead of us. Very close to our destination I had to inspect a Basketball court that had recently been built. It was complete apart from the netting on the hoops. By the time we entered the Area Welfare Centre (AWC) compound I had developed a couple of blisters. Day five had definitely been the hardest. However I knew what I had to do next. I borrowed a surgical blade from the medic and sliced open the blisters to remove the liquid inside. I then squeezed antiseptic cream, containing iodine, onto the raw skin.  | | Looking down on Beni the following morning. |
Once I had came back down from the ceiling, I was able to walk normally again. Two of the porters also had treatment for foot problems. Unfortunately I didn't see much of Beni, but I did have a chance to have a beer and relax with my hosts. I also made a call to my wife, who was relieved to hear that all was well. Morale was well and truly restored! Author's Note: although I didn't know it at the time, the AWC would be caught up in a large scale Maoist attack on the Government buildings surrounding it five days later. The AWC was damaged but everyone was safe. I felt relieved that I had missed the attack, albeit by a matter of days. Previous entry | Next entry | 
