Arbat - Hazard Mehr — Company of Many

Hotel fieldnotes, Monday 10 May 2021

The precision and routine that we have developed when it comes to the readying of our packs feels like a small act of resistance, or at least balancing, against the opaque and questions-filled process that is the authorization for these hikes. Will this-or-that figure of command be present in his office (honestly, it is always a he), conveniently welcoming and kind, willing to sign these-and-those permission slips for us to continue? No idea. But I do know the exact number of socks I am willing to go with - or more accurately, go without - relative to the weight I can handle on the next excursion.

“These paper pushers are supposed to start at 9am, but they prefer to have their breakfast at the office, leisurely. So that nobody can get started on their work before 10”, Srood told us exasperatedly as we sidestepped another personal secretary in an under-aired work station, beating the officials to the door to announce our own presence, shout our own polite demands into the void of bureaucracy.

But at least tomorrow morning, when we wake at 5am to beat the sun in its ascent, we know we can make all the progress that our bodies can handle.

May 13, 2021

Under a hot early sun, no need for our muscles to warm up - we cover the fist kilometers of a seemingly continuous climb. Even though it looks like the line of it may be flattening down, our knees learn otherwise. On this road dozens of locusts choose to cross for greener pastures. It is neigh on impossible to avoid all of them as they jump up, completely unexpectedly. I’m certain I end up kicking a few of them, and crunching a few more. Whenever they hop, their bodies seem to contort in mid-air, revealing their bright-yellow underbellies. As we cross several plains overgrown with tall grass, I can clearly hear their tiny paws as they land on leaves and the slender branches of low shrubs.

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