Hiking anywhere in Afghanistan probably wouldn’t be on the top of a security officer’s list of things to do… but I couldn’t resist the offer to go hiking and rock climbing with my ACAP translator and some of his friends. I have loved rock climbing in California and across Europe – so I thought this would be a cool way to expand my climbing experiences!
We left at 5.30am. This was a shock to the system because Erica and I had been up until midnight, signing karaoke with the Italian PRT soldiers. Erica was sick so she stayed in bed…. So I was left hiking with a group of six Afghan men.
The first thing I noticed was the large gun that was strapped to one of the men’s backs…. That made me a little more nervous about the risk of a Taliban or bandit attack. But I soon forgot about these concerns. The hike was stunning. And it was tough – these guys are clearly as crazy as I am and were attempting to scale all sorts of vertical cliffs. They made a small effort at safety by having one rope that we wrapped around our waist as we climbed. The guy at the top then held this rope (with his bare hands). Not exactly sure what would have happened if any of us had fallen!
We hiked for 4 hours up to an incredible vista. Then we started shooting the gun. Now that was fun!! I fell on my back from the kick-back from the shot and caused a lot of laughter. Then we ate naan bread, drank tea, talked about Islam and Sufism. We ended our hike at a Sufi shrine at the bottom of the mountains. An incredible morning!
We left at 5.30am. This was a shock to the system because Erica and I had been up until midnight, signing karaoke with the Italian PRT soldiers. Erica was sick so she stayed in bed…. So I was left hiking with a group of six Afghan men.
The first thing I noticed was the large gun that was strapped to one of the men’s backs…. That made me a little more nervous about the risk of a Taliban or bandit attack. But I soon forgot about these concerns. The hike was stunning. And it was tough – these guys are clearly as crazy as I am and were attempting to scale all sorts of vertical cliffs. They made a small effort at safety by having one rope that we wrapped around our waist as we climbed. The guy at the top then held this rope (with his bare hands). Not exactly sure what would have happened if any of us had fallen!
We hiked for 4 hours up to an incredible vista. Then we started shooting the gun. Now that was fun!! I fell on my back from the kick-back from the shot and caused a lot of laughter. Then we ate naan bread, drank tea, talked about Islam and Sufism. We ended our hike at a Sufi shrine at the bottom of the mountains. An incredible morning!
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