Going camping is one of my favorite hobbies. It gives me a sense of relief from the pressure one gets from the everyday routine. So, I made plans to go to the countryside. I packed some supplies: matches, knife, fork, spoon, plate, plastic glass and some food. The following day, I left from home early in the morning, and I headed to the bus station, which is around two miles from my place.
It was a sunny and warm summer day and it looked as if it was going to be like that for the rest of the day. I did not check the weather forecast for that day, yet I knew that the rainy season was about to come soon. I imagined myself hiking and drinking spring water, which is abundant at the place, where I´m thinking on going. With these thoughts in mind, I left my home and headed towards the bus station.
Two hours later, I was hiking through the mountains, slopes and hills. I spotted the right place to set my camping tent. It was a slightly inclined hill, without trees, or bushes around. I began setting my camping site. After 15 minutes of light work, I had finished the task, and was ready to continue with the arrangement of the fire site which required a few rocks piled up in a small circumference, so as to keep the fire from spreading and causing a fire.
I raised my sight to the sky and noticed that there were some dark clouds forming up, and I could feel the speed of the wind increasing by the way at how my hair was being agitated. That did not discourage me at all. I was going to continue following the plans for that day.
“They will dissipate.” I thought, knowing that it had not rained at all in the previous days.
A few minutes after, the sky was completely filled with dark clouds, and all of a sudden, the first drops of water began to hit the ground. I got inside my camping tent, hoping that the rain would stop soon. It didn´t, and by now, I could feel the currents of water sliding underneath my tent. The change of weather made me start shivering with cold.
I placed all my extra clothes on the tent´s floor to ease the cold. The rain began to make place to lightning and thunder, which sounded across the sky like supersonic airplanes. One of them stroke so tremendously, that I feared it had hit my tent. Apparently the rain wasn´t going to stop for that day. I cuddled myself on the floor, feeling the cold water running heavily under me and my tent. I fell asleep soon.
The next day, I was woken up by a ray of sunlight, which penetrated through a little hole on the tent, and landed straight over my face. I was hungry, so I got out of the tent; stretched my muscles; blinked my eyes several times; trying to completely become aware of the surroundings. There was mud and water all over the place and not a single tree trunk was dry to make fire, because all of them were completely wet.
“What a disgrace” I reflected, with regret.
“No problem” I thought, with solace.
I decided to eat the food, which didn´t needed to be cooked, and which I had brought with me, in the form of two cans. I opened one, and ate with delight. After the meal, I went to a small cavern, not too far from there, where the water gets filtrated naturally and drops fall down, similar to the ones which form stalactites in other caverns. I placed a water recipient and waited for five minutes, before it got filled up. I drank some water, and then, put the recipient again for another round.
When I got back to my tent, I noticed dark clouds forming above in the sky, signaling another rainy day. I went inside the tent and waited, until I heard the first three or four drops of water hitting the tent, which gradually were growing in quantity, until I wasn´t able to count them. I took out a novel, which I had taken with me “Le Tour Du Monde en Quatre Vingts Jours” by Jules Verne, who´s one of my favorite authors. I read a few pages, but then I thought.
“Why don´t I write my own stories! And I began to write this one, trying to put the best of my knowledge about writing in it.
The daylight had given place to the dark of the night, and the thunder and lightning were as earsplitting as yesterday. The fear of being hit by a strike had diminished in me, given the fact that I had a lightning conductor, in the form of an electricity tower, 200 meters from my camping site. The only fear was that my own stamina was decreasing due to the lack of food. I had taken some candies, so I started tasting the sweet flavor of one of them, hoping that this thunderstorm would end soon, to my bewilderment! it continued raining and thundering for the rest of the night.
The ordeal continued until the following day. I had to endure the same set of circumstances as the previous day. To me, this wasn´t what I had expected, and I thought about the first human beings, who before fire was discovered had to eat raw food; withstand the coldest temperatures, packed inside a dark cavern, and somehow survived, so I considered myself fortunate and grateful for the natural quality of adaptation that we, humans, possess.
I headed to the cavern to get the supply of water for that day, and as I was walking towards the place, a group of five dogs made their appearance in this story. They were small in size, not as the regular dogs that you see in your neighborhood, but they showed me the size of their fangs, and their wild gaze, which was comparable to that of a group of hyenas getting ready to attack and make their meal out of this starving and unlucky hiking guy. They started to encircle me, and gazing at me with animal hatred.
“Leave him alone!” Someone cried from behind.
The dogs started moving their tail, gazing towards the direction of the stranger.
“These are my dogs.” He said.
“I´m a shepherd and these dogs help me keep the cows from getting too far from this area.
¨Where are you going?” He inquired calmly
"I´m camping at a few meters from here, and I´m going to the cavern to get some water; my matches got wet and I haven´t been able to make a fire to cook anything.¨ I stated.
“Come with me.“ He ordered kindly.
I followed him to a clear area where there was something roasting directly over a fire.
“It´s corn.¨ he said amicably.
¨Do you like corn?” he inquired.
“Yes I do” I replied looking at the roasted corn ears.
He gave me one, and invited me to sit down over the grass.
I ate the corn ear as hurriedly as I could, thinking that after this one, there were more awaiting to be eaten. He told me that I had nothing to be afraid of the dogs, that they were trained to prevent the cattle for spreading apart, and that they just reacted as they would with any stranger in that area. He wished me good luck and told me that if I wanted more corn ears, I could snatch some from the crop.
I continued to the cavern; obtained my supply of water and returned to the camping site. On my way back, I stopped and snatched some corn ears. When I got to the tent, the clouds were about to drop a heavy bombardment of water, that by this time, were too familiar to me. I got into the tent and decided to spend the time writing.
The next day I packed up and returned home, hoping to someday come back once more. I was pleased to have had the chance to experience these three days in austerity out in the country. It gave me a lifetime lesson.
It was a sunny and warm summer day and it looked as if it was going to be like that for the rest of the day. I did not check the weather forecast for that day, yet I knew that the rainy season was about to come soon. I imagined myself hiking and drinking spring water, which is abundant at the place, where I´m thinking on going. With these thoughts in mind, I left my home and headed towards the bus station.
Two hours later, I was hiking through the mountains, slopes and hills. I spotted the right place to set my camping tent. It was a slightly inclined hill, without trees, or bushes around. I began setting my camping site. After 15 minutes of light work, I had finished the task, and was ready to continue with the arrangement of the fire site which required a few rocks piled up in a small circumference, so as to keep the fire from spreading and causing a fire.
I raised my sight to the sky and noticed that there were some dark clouds forming up, and I could feel the speed of the wind increasing by the way at how my hair was being agitated. That did not discourage me at all. I was going to continue following the plans for that day.
“They will dissipate.” I thought, knowing that it had not rained at all in the previous days.
A few minutes after, the sky was completely filled with dark clouds, and all of a sudden, the first drops of water began to hit the ground. I got inside my camping tent, hoping that the rain would stop soon. It didn´t, and by now, I could feel the currents of water sliding underneath my tent. The change of weather made me start shivering with cold.
I placed all my extra clothes on the tent´s floor to ease the cold. The rain began to make place to lightning and thunder, which sounded across the sky like supersonic airplanes. One of them stroke so tremendously, that I feared it had hit my tent. Apparently the rain wasn´t going to stop for that day. I cuddled myself on the floor, feeling the cold water running heavily under me and my tent. I fell asleep soon.
The next day, I was woken up by a ray of sunlight, which penetrated through a little hole on the tent, and landed straight over my face. I was hungry, so I got out of the tent; stretched my muscles; blinked my eyes several times; trying to completely become aware of the surroundings. There was mud and water all over the place and not a single tree trunk was dry to make fire, because all of them were completely wet.
“What a disgrace” I reflected, with regret.
“No problem” I thought, with solace.
I decided to eat the food, which didn´t needed to be cooked, and which I had brought with me, in the form of two cans. I opened one, and ate with delight. After the meal, I went to a small cavern, not too far from there, where the water gets filtrated naturally and drops fall down, similar to the ones which form stalactites in other caverns. I placed a water recipient and waited for five minutes, before it got filled up. I drank some water, and then, put the recipient again for another round.
When I got back to my tent, I noticed dark clouds forming above in the sky, signaling another rainy day. I went inside the tent and waited, until I heard the first three or four drops of water hitting the tent, which gradually were growing in quantity, until I wasn´t able to count them. I took out a novel, which I had taken with me “Le Tour Du Monde en Quatre Vingts Jours” by Jules Verne, who´s one of my favorite authors. I read a few pages, but then I thought.
“Why don´t I write my own stories! And I began to write this one, trying to put the best of my knowledge about writing in it.
The daylight had given place to the dark of the night, and the thunder and lightning were as earsplitting as yesterday. The fear of being hit by a strike had diminished in me, given the fact that I had a lightning conductor, in the form of an electricity tower, 200 meters from my camping site. The only fear was that my own stamina was decreasing due to the lack of food. I had taken some candies, so I started tasting the sweet flavor of one of them, hoping that this thunderstorm would end soon, to my bewilderment! it continued raining and thundering for the rest of the night.
The ordeal continued until the following day. I had to endure the same set of circumstances as the previous day. To me, this wasn´t what I had expected, and I thought about the first human beings, who before fire was discovered had to eat raw food; withstand the coldest temperatures, packed inside a dark cavern, and somehow survived, so I considered myself fortunate and grateful for the natural quality of adaptation that we, humans, possess.
I headed to the cavern to get the supply of water for that day, and as I was walking towards the place, a group of five dogs made their appearance in this story. They were small in size, not as the regular dogs that you see in your neighborhood, but they showed me the size of their fangs, and their wild gaze, which was comparable to that of a group of hyenas getting ready to attack and make their meal out of this starving and unlucky hiking guy. They started to encircle me, and gazing at me with animal hatred.
“Leave him alone!” Someone cried from behind.
The dogs started moving their tail, gazing towards the direction of the stranger.
“These are my dogs.” He said.
“I´m a shepherd and these dogs help me keep the cows from getting too far from this area.
¨Where are you going?” He inquired calmly
"I´m camping at a few meters from here, and I´m going to the cavern to get some water; my matches got wet and I haven´t been able to make a fire to cook anything.¨ I stated.
“Come with me.“ He ordered kindly.
I followed him to a clear area where there was something roasting directly over a fire.
“It´s corn.¨ he said amicably.
¨Do you like corn?” he inquired.
“Yes I do” I replied looking at the roasted corn ears.
He gave me one, and invited me to sit down over the grass.
I ate the corn ear as hurriedly as I could, thinking that after this one, there were more awaiting to be eaten. He told me that I had nothing to be afraid of the dogs, that they were trained to prevent the cattle for spreading apart, and that they just reacted as they would with any stranger in that area. He wished me good luck and told me that if I wanted more corn ears, I could snatch some from the crop.
I continued to the cavern; obtained my supply of water and returned to the camping site. On my way back, I stopped and snatched some corn ears. When I got to the tent, the clouds were about to drop a heavy bombardment of water, that by this time, were too familiar to me. I got into the tent and decided to spend the time writing.
The next day I packed up and returned home, hoping to someday come back once more. I was pleased to have had the chance to experience these three days in austerity out in the country. It gave me a lifetime lesson.
