At the office...
There was much dragging of feet and sweating as we made our way down the hill. I was particularly burnt out, having skipped breakfast for a protein bar, thinking no WAY would we hike twice in a short week.
Wrong.
We'd descended for a mile down particularly steep terrain, after three hours of hiking. Finally we made it to a dirt road that was mostly level, with the exception of one massive ditch down the center. I was following behind Chondo and Ben, watching their feet, content with our pace. Then, for absolutely no reason, Chondo stumbled toward the ONE ditch, and slowly fell toward it, mumbling profanities as he gradually slunk into it. Ben and I just watched, out of what may have started as compassion, but just morphed into curiosity...
"Shitshitshit," he muttered, rolling down into the crevasse.
Doubling over ourselves laughing at him, we pulled him out and tried to ask him if he was okay. I was giggling so hard, I don't think I even used words, I just kinda sputtered out, "hrm umma bab?"
A few moments later, descending again, Perez slipped on the only 4 inch patch of mud in the entire valley, and slid ungracefully into the rocks, landing hard. Ben, immediately behind him, laughed out, "Are you okay...", but before he finished, slipped down some sand and skid down the hill on his backside.
Me, being the eloquent friend I am, intended to lend a comforting word. But, instead, I cackled like a chicken, laughing so hard that I had to fight to keep my balance.
Fast forward but two more minutes, and the three of us in the back witness a most fantastic feat. Perez, still shaky from the prior fall, slipped on more rocks below us, and flew (with decidedly anti-gravitational grace) into a tree at the bottom of the hill. Such was his momentum that he actually couldn't free himself for quite a while, a fact that the three of us in the back enjoyed immensely as his expense.
The chuckles that accompanied the rest of our hike almost made me forget how hard we'd just worked, and that I really just wanted a nap...
Wrong.
We'd descended for a mile down particularly steep terrain, after three hours of hiking. Finally we made it to a dirt road that was mostly level, with the exception of one massive ditch down the center. I was following behind Chondo and Ben, watching their feet, content with our pace. Then, for absolutely no reason, Chondo stumbled toward the ONE ditch, and slowly fell toward it, mumbling profanities as he gradually slunk into it. Ben and I just watched, out of what may have started as compassion, but just morphed into curiosity...
"Shitshitshit," he muttered, rolling down into the crevasse.
Doubling over ourselves laughing at him, we pulled him out and tried to ask him if he was okay. I was giggling so hard, I don't think I even used words, I just kinda sputtered out, "hrm umma bab?"
A few moments later, descending again, Perez slipped on the only 4 inch patch of mud in the entire valley, and slid ungracefully into the rocks, landing hard. Ben, immediately behind him, laughed out, "Are you okay...", but before he finished, slipped down some sand and skid down the hill on his backside.
Me, being the eloquent friend I am, intended to lend a comforting word. But, instead, I cackled like a chicken, laughing so hard that I had to fight to keep my balance.
Fast forward but two more minutes, and the three of us in the back witness a most fantastic feat. Perez, still shaky from the prior fall, slipped on more rocks below us, and flew (with decidedly anti-gravitational grace) into a tree at the bottom of the hill. Such was his momentum that he actually couldn't free himself for quite a while, a fact that the three of us in the back enjoyed immensely as his expense.
The chuckles that accompanied the rest of our hike almost made me forget how hard we'd just worked, and that I really just wanted a nap...