Camp: Day 5

The end is nigh!

And not a moment too soon; I feel like I've been reliving tho horror by blogging about it, but at least I got rid of all thoughts of: "Gee, it wasn't actually SO bad, maybe I should go again next year..."

We woke up bright and early, as usual, and once again attempted to cook int the middle of the veld, before strapping on our packs for the last time, and setting off over a "small" mountain. (Note: No mountain is EVER small. It may LOOK small, but really, it's just an illusion.) Within an hour we could see a dirt road - our first sign of civilisation in five days. I nearly wept with joy.

Then I saw how long the road was, and how far we had to walk to the place where the bus was meeting us, and I nearly wept in frustration.

Looking back on it, we REALLY over-reacted. Two of the instructors got picked up in bakkies to get there faster, and we spent the rest of the hike despising them even more for leaving us to walk. It really wasn't even that far, and at least it was on a relatively flat, dirt road.

When we finally arrived at The Spot, we really couldn't believe it. The next two hours spent waiting for the bus consisted of splitting up our last remains of food, which was actually quite a bit, and exclaiming, "It's OVER! I can't BELIEVE it's OVER!" followed by, "When will the $#%@ing bus arrive?! I wanna go HOME!" (understand that our language at this point was atrocious, and it took me weeks to correct various swear words with "f...udge," "cr...ayons," and "ohhh sh...oelaces"). When the bus finally did arrive, it took all of my self control not to go all barbarian on that thing, and instead stood open-mouthed at the sight of the amazing thing that would somehow transport me home.

Needless to say, the bus ride was veeeerrrryyyy long, and really, being stuck in a confined space with a group of girls who hadn't seen soap in five days was NOT pleasant. But we made it (obviously).

When I saw my parents, I was speechless. Until my dad took out his iPhone and tried to take a picture of me, then I burst into tears (partly at the sight of a cellphone, partly at the sight of someone who acually loved and cared about me, but mostly out of really NOT wanting a picture of me - looking super attractive in my hiking boots, muddy shorts and Mr. Price t-shirt - on Facebook. So I was bundled into the car and driven home, and then rewarded with a Mac Donald's Quarter Pounder Deluxe, large fries AND a large Coke - which I feel I totally deserved.

The sympathy lasted about two days, but my moaning is still continuing, and my family and friends are probably about to kill me in the hopes that I'll shut up about it.

And I know this blog was soooooo long and tedious, I totally won't blame you if you don't read the whole thing, it was more of a therapy session for me than it was entertainment for you.

Feel free to leave your comments below!