Scaling the Maluti Mountains
Lumela homies! Kate Hollern here, I would like to start off todays blog with a huge happy Father's Day! Today, a group of 14 students and 1 alumni decided to take up Rosenberg's offer to go on a day long hike to the top of the tallest mountain we can see from our compound. And he was not kidding when he said it would take all day. Departing around 745am, we marched out the compound with high spirits and the mere directions of "just head towards the cell tower then turn right". As a quick side note, trails are not a thing in Lesotho, so we really had to become one with the mountain. We quickly started picking up on little tricks to help us out. First, we finally discovered what plants have been covering our legs in "pokey things" when we accidently walked through a field full of them. Lesson learned. Next, we discovered seeing animal poop was an encouraging sign that we were going the right way, as herd boys walk alongside their animals. Last, we quickly made friends with a gentleman who lived at the top of the mountain as he guided us to the easiest "path" to get down the mountain and left us with his words of wisdom, "just zig zag down". After a lot of zigging and zagging--and a lot of wondering if we would ever get off the mountain--we fortunately ran into a group of kids. A young girl, whom I grew to know as Louie, quickly grabbed my hand and started guiding me down the mountain. This consisted of finding simple paths for me to use, moving loose rocks, breaking branches to clear the path, and providing a positive light that we may indeed, make it down the mountain. I can say with full honesty, that those children taking the time to come help us saved us about an hour of struggling down that mountain. Once we reached the road, we trecked back four miles to the compound where we arrived back around 4 pm. About 12 miles and a lot of blisters later; we are about to sleep like babies. Today was both literally and figuratively breathtaking, and we all had a blast getting to stand atop the highest mountain we can see. Sala hantle for now:)