sábado, agosto 26, 2006

The Survival Trip

After working in the hotel during the week, my team had a new challenge to face: a 3 days survival trip, in the mountains, and 50 kilometres to go. I was tired, it`s true, but I like to walk in the middle of the Nature. For example, that is what I usually do in the archipelago of Azores, in Portugal. I and my friends love camping, so we put some clothes and food in our backpack and we go in search for some adventure. Life tastes differently when we are completely by our own!
We left the school on Friday, 12 a.m., together with the April team and Tomasz, our leader for the weekend. We started walking through the mountains, but each one had different rhythms, so some had to wait for the others.
At some point, my back started to hurt a lot because of my heavy bag, so I had to stop many times. My motivation was going down and the trip seemed not to have an end…
Meanwhile, Lenka was not feeling well also because her boots were not good for her feet. However, she tried to continue, but, after some hours, she decided to go back to the school. At that time, her socks were already covered, on the back, with blood. So, we said goodbye to Lenka and we continued our trip. We had to walk five kilometres more and it was almost 7 p.m..
It was time to do our last effort of the day, but luck was not on our side. We had to find a certain lake, but we got lost. So, we put our bags down and Tomasz, with the help of Roman, tried to find out which was the way. Finally, they came back with a conclusion: we have to turn around. And so we did.
By the time we arrived to the lake, it was already 10 p.m. I and the girls put some worm clothes and the boys did a fire camp and cooked soup, beans and sausages. I was tired and sleepy, so I ate soup with some bread and laid down on my sleeping bag. I had two pairs of trousers, a t-shirt, a sweat-shirt, two pair of socks, gloves, scarf, round cap and a jacket. Even so, I couldn`t sleep with the cold! In a way, time seemed not to pass by and, in other way, I seemed not to find some time to fall asleep. I was desperate, but then the morning came. For the first time in my life I had slept with the stars and I “survived”! However, I knew that I had to return home with Raquel, Sandra and Jenny, who where going to Trondheim, on Sunday. And I was not the only one to want to go. Roman and Petr also decided to leave, so, in the end, only four people stayed: Tomasz, Peter, Andrzje and Mantas.
When we arrived to the meeting point, where someone would pick us up, it was 12.30 a.m. I fell asleep on the bench and I just woke up when I heard the engine of the car. It was Sissel! The problem was that there was no space for everyone in the van. So, Roman and Petr left their luggage there and walked back to the school. By the time we got to Hornjo I was already dreaming with a hot shower and a bed! There`s no place like home!
The survival trip could have been much nicer if it was not only a question of doing kilometres. There was no time to stop and enjoy the landscape, for example. It was just walk, walk and walk, like robots, which is not very nice for who have worked, all week, in the hotel. The pressure of getting to the lake, made us lose our motivation and, in the end, it was nothing special. I felt that we were putting a lot of effort without getting any joy from that. I am not a person who gives up, generally speaking, but if I add the pain on my back and the cold I felt during the night, I can say that I don`t regret the decision I have made.

posted by Naty Bett @ 7:09 PM