New Humans

Exhausted, filthy, and completely and utterly hiked out, Amanda, Machete and I make our way down the only street in Chi Phat. It is the hottest day we've had, and I am near totally fried. I have had longer hikes, and I've had hotter days, and longer hikes on hotter days, but for whatever reason by the time we get to the CBET visitor center, I am so tired that all I can manage to do is rip off my shoes, drop my pack and sit in the first chair I see.

A few days in the woods will make you appreciate the real luxuries – like chairs. Amanda sinks into the chair across from me, and we lock eyes for a moment. She looks as tired as I feel. Amusement tickles behind our eyes, but we don't laugh. Laughing would take energy.

Perhaps an hour and a half later, we manage to stumble back to our guesthouse, which despite being around half a kilometer up the road, feels like about five miles. Being gentlemanly, I let Amanda shower first.

Shower is a relative term. There is a giant tub of water and a bucket. I debate just climbing into the tub, but don't want to dirty up the water for whoever uses this place after us. Heh. Dirty up the water. I'm nine-tenths of the way sure that the tub is collected rainwater, and there's a layer of dirt at the bottom I'm careful not to disturb as I scoop the water into the bucket and dump it over me.

Its one selling point is that it is ice cold. I've no idea how the Cambodians managed it, but the water is cold enough to make me shiver and swear. But it's a good kind of pain. That, combined with the soap and shampoo, is enough to make me feel almost human again.

Which is part of why we do these things – things like take round-the-world trips, climb mountains, and hike through jungles filled with leeches. They hurt. They're painful. They're exhausting. But they are accomplishments – acknowledgements of your labors. Scrubbing dirt and sweat off your body is more than performing maintenance and making yourself feel good. It's a physical acknowledgement that you have pushed your limits. The ablutions after trial let you know that, yes, you are human, and that you have grown, and that it was a painful process, as growing always is. But it was worth it.

It always is.

I scrub the dirt and stink and sweat away, and reveal the new human underneath.

- Doug