I didn’t plan to walk much today, so I only got up at 7 and went for a long coffee in the little village where we spent the night. The start of this stage is one of the most beautiful, because for five kilometres you walk on a paved path along the cliffs, and it offers incredible views. Mother Nature is still the best painter. The morning sky had fifty shades of blue. Pure poetry and a real boost for my soul. But of course, you have to earn such views, so the trail tested me again with 300 steps at the start of this poetic path. Even though I kept stopping to take photos of the amazing nature, I reached the first stop just before eleven. There are very few hostels on this stretch, and today they were all fully booked. So, me and the crew in my head decided to stop for coffee and a snack and make a plan for the day. I told Brko he’d be sitting on the bench today, since he’s done more than enough lately and needs a rest.
I had a longer talk with Almighty because he already messed with me twice on this journey and didn’t stick to our deal. I gave him a chance to prove himself and sent him on a mission to find us a place to sleep. There were still many kilometres ahead and nothing was guaranteed. Then I had a serious talk with Pobalina and Tina. I asked Pobalina if she was ready for the challenge. She said yes, but that she’d still need Tina’s help. Tina’s job is to be smart and make sure I drink enough water, walk in the shade when I see it, rest enough, take my shoes off during every break, eat moderately and most importantly, keep me motivated. That’s what counts on such a long walk. She’s the one who gets me to the finish, even if I end up looking like I’ve just come back from war.
The day was beautiful but hot. Around kilometre forty, Almighty returned from his mission and told me we had a place to sleep, but we’d have to walk a total of fifty-eight kilometres to get there. I congratulated him on a job well done and told him the walking would be easier now that I knew we had a bed waiting. I asked if he happened to mention who all was coming. He said no. Excellent, I said, because otherwise we wouldn’t have gotten a spot.
Berlin guy immediately chimed in and asked if I was ashamed of him. I told him yes, since he did a lot of shitty stuff during his time. That gave Almighty the perfect chance to list all the good things he’s done in the world. Berlin exploded and asked where the hell he was when he went crazy and killed so many innocent people. At that moment I was on Brko’s side and jumped into the debate, saying, yeah, where the fuck were you when this idiot was doing stupid, pointless, horrible shit. And don’t even try telling me you had something more important to do. Basically, that day was just one big mindfuck, and we all enjoyed it in our own weird way.
This stage wouldn’t have been hard, but the last twenty kilometres had two more climbs. They weren’t anything special on their own, but after forty kilometres in the heat it felt like I was dealing with a bipolar breakdown and had to negotiate with Almighty. I told him I’d do anything for him if he just made the hill stop, promised I’d be good, and fed him all kinds of white lies, just to end the suffering.
When we were going uphill, we cried, not tears of joy. But when we reached the top, we immediately started jumping and dancing with happiness. I had no idea Berlin was such a good dancer, and he even has a nice smile when he’s in the mood. Clearly this walk is doing wonders for his soul.
In the final ten kilometres, we had an amazing view of the town we were heading to, and adrenaline joined us for the last stretch. The brain kicked into high gear, in the best way. But after kilometre fifty-five, adrenaline went its own way and pain took over. The last three kilometres were more painful than the previous fifty-five.
When we finally reached the hostel, we were dead tired and overheated. The hostel was huge, and the receptionist showed me the bathroom, the lounge, and finally where I’d sleep. It wasn’t a presidential suite. Just old, squeaky bunk beds that made noise if you so much as breathed. The room was big and packed with at least twenty other hikers. Since I arrived late, I quickly showered and went to sleep. But as soon as I lay down, the sunstroke kicked in. My body was burning, and I was shaking. I passed out immediately but woke up at 23:30 because I couldn’t breathe. The air in the room was suffocating. Someone had closed the window. I didn’t want to complain, so I decided to go sleep on the couch in the lounge where the air was fresh and no one else was around. The couch was ancient, probably from Brko’s time. It smelled weird and I didn’t even want to imagine what all had happened on it. I was afraid the bedbugs would show up again and I’d have another shitstorm. So, I said a bedtime prayer and fell asleep.
