Trekking Part 3

Trekking part 3 On the longer of the two treks, we encountered one day with the only food offered was oranges, after a day of oranges my stomach was complaining. One evening we were offered bread and tea, we were welcoming of the tea as the bread was a few days old and needed to be dipped in the tea to make it edible. One afternoon we were walking across a dry arid plateau, the heat was beating down from the sun but you could also feel the heat coming up from the rocks, as you breathed in the air was hot. At that point I felt something sharp in my foot, I continued walking as I didn't want to stop in the beating sun, and we found a solitary tree. Stopping under the shade, I took off my shoe and shook it out, a few pieces of twigs and leaves fell out, I put my hand in and cleaned it out. Thinking all was well we carried on, after about 50 metres, I felt it again, we were back out in the direct sun and I didn't want to be awkward so I continued but walking on the inside on my foot not to invite the pricking pain. About ½ kilometre later we came to a ravine lined with trees, I said "I have to take my shoe off again" this time when I took it off and shook it out I looked at the sole, seeing what looked like a stone I proceeded to pull it out. Out came this long thorn, it's no wonder it was painful at nearly an inch long. I kept the offending thorn as a reminder! Many villages we entered were only inhabited by women and children, the men had left to search for work. It didn't feel right to stay in these villages so we welcomed them and moved onto the next village. One village we found the elders sitting under a tree cutting manioc, after greeting them they offered us a meal, which we gratefully received after the day before on oranges. After one elder asked if we could pray for his daughter, she had been having behavioural problems after losing her baby a few days after the birth. He took us to his house and then around the back of his house we found his daughter, she was attached to a large piece of tree truck, which her leg passed through and was padlocked by a chain the other side. She was able to lift the log and move one pace before putting it down to rest. He told us that she had become disruptive in her mental state and had pulled all the straw from the roof of a neighbour's house, therefore she had been placed in this contraption. I was shocked and thought it was such a draconian way of keeping her in place, later my colleague explained that she was lucky to be with a caring family who was there to look after her, some are pushed out of the village to fend for themselves. Perspective! Dry and hot 3 kilometres to cross   Empty villages Vehicle crossing The two treks were an amazing experience to understand the country I live in, to gain an insight into the lives of people and their culture from the perspective of village life not the urban sprawl where we live. Hot sweaty, hard floors, cold bucket showers once in four days and the flies that try to get moisture from around your eyes. It was all worth it for the relationships formed, I hope to get back again next dry season.