Day 9 - Hike & Language Lessons (7/3/11)

To begin the day we started off with a language lesson in Sesotho which is the native language for Lesotho. It is for sure information overload, but I am trying super hard to remember and use the wording properly. It's so funny how every time we were walking towards someone (which I might add was totally rare) you could hear everyone on our group quietly spoke the phrases so as not to incorrectly address the new company. Here is a small spoonful of what we did, try it out for yourself:

Proper introductions:
Lumela - doom eh la (hello) + add the kind of person you met
Dumelang- duh me long (hello to plural people) PLURAL
Ntate- en tat eh (hello to a man)
Me- meh (hello to woman)
Abuti- ah booti (hello to boy)
Ausi - ahh oo si (hello to girl)

Today was by far one of the best hikes I've taken with the exception of the Poland hike that I took back in 2007. Today was a 5 hour, 1,000 ft up, 4 1/2 mile hike. Now when you think hike, you could possibly imagine paths, or perhaps trimmed paths, maybe even signs that direct you towards to end. This was NOTHING like that :) Try a weaving through a mess of matted grass that kind of looks like a path and about a million loose little rocks that are all ankle breakers. In addition, there are such large rocks that most steps up the hill are easily 2 ft per step. It's a killer, but so rewarding after finishing up the day.






The sights were beautiful and so colorful that no picture does it justice. This is a picture of me at the top of the hill and me and my friend Erica below. These are straight off of my camera so sorry the pictures are kind of stinky, but it gives you an idea. It was such a beautiful day :) I did find that after sitting for a little bit that the ol' knees/legs were a little sore. I can't even begin to tell you how every vertical step we took to get up that hill was seriously at least a 2ft if not higher step up which took a lot out of you. How rewarding to have completed that victory though!!

In case I didn't mention this in an earlier post, the food has been incredible here and way better than I expected. I've eaten some great fish, tons of sushi (in more rural areas), chicken dishes with brown sauce and onions, and pastries that are kiiiillllllllleer. Lots of lemon flavored breads with custard - yummy!

Weird to think that tomorrow I am not celebrating the 4th of July with fireworks and friends. I guess our plan is to grab a few drinks and sit around the fire together. Should be fun, but it's not like being home with family.


- With all my thanks :)

Location:Morija Hills, Morija Guest House