Hike to Igoi

I knew we would make it to the top. I just didn't know how the journey from the starting point through the end would be. We had bounced up and down in the two vehicles that were driving us as far as possible towards the village of Igoi. We got to a bridge that was slanted and not connected to our side of it. It was evident that we would start walking from there. We got our things out of the cars, over the bridge, and by the river. We waited for a while and a few people came to help us get our things across the river... and then we waited for a few hours more.

When we got a few more people to walk with us and to help us carry things, I wanted to carry my backpack for as long as I could. The first bit of the hike was through thick mud and vines at our feet. There weren't many trees as cover, but for this hike, we got going early enough that it wasn't blazing. There were times when the mud would cling to our shoes/boots and for the other two expat girls in our group, some of the women would cut mud off of their shoes. I figured the mud would eventually come off when we got into the jungle. I don't remember how long it took, but I was asked about four different times if I wanted to give my pack to someone else. I said "no" for four times, and then, at one point, I just stopped and gave it away.

We eventually made it into the jungle and, shortly after, to a river that we walked through and then had a break. They said this was the halfway mark, but I doubt it. From there on, it was pretty much up. Like, straight up. At some points, we were almost climbing on the side of the mountain. One misstep could mean that we ended up 50 feet below. At one point, one of the interns had asked how much longer we had. Someone replied, "Em klostu liklik." Directly translated, this means "its pretty close." But culturally, this could mean, "if we keep walking like this, we should get there today." To the interns, this meant around 30 minutes. About 40 minutes later, we came to a spot where the trees opened up and we could see more of the mountains ahead. One of the nationals pointed to a house almost on top of the mountain we were beside of and said, "we'll be going by that house and then be at Igoi." My interns were not happy and I decided that even I could've done without that knowledge. From then on, the interns learned about the cultural difference of "klostu liklik" and "klostu tru" (really close).

After about 6 or 7 hours from where we began hiking, we made it to the top of the mountain. As we all laid on our backs on the ground, one of the interns got some energy and chased kids around. When we had chilled out on the grass for a while, we eventually made it up to the house we were to stay in, checked on the water and battery situation, pumped water some up to the top of the house, sorted things, and started dinner. We wound down, found huge geckos, and eventually went to sleep on our first night (at least the interns' first night) in Igoi.