The whole gang was at lunch, LDD had been there for an hour (ending his hike for the day??), Uta soon appeared and joined us, the Frenchies were no doubt discussing options in dealing with North Korea or home remedies for STDs and even Carrot Top and his charges popped in, looking a little hung over. Uta got a picture of Tim and me, as she didn't want a pic of the annoying American snoring machine. One thing I haven't mentioned, the oft encountered floor toilet. Many rifugios have ground, porcelain toilets. Yep, a nice hole to aim at, fine for most men at most times, but a tremendous quad workout at others. Sorry, didn't get any pics. In my mind, the next scenic overlook we hit was one of the best.
Followed by one of the worst
Shortly after this, we encountered a British couple and Ghenghis the Springer, a retired working dog with his own Facebook page and an owner who likes really short shorts. Then, the dreaded encounter with chatty, let me practice my English, Italian guy. He made various points - he only had hazelnuts and cheese (looking for handout), the States are not lucky enough to have a variety of cheese options (guess he's not familiar with CM or Whole Foods or the import business and that every Italian soldier has a pic of a different American actress????). We actually changed our route to escape. During this stretch, there were many monuments to those that perished on the trail (gulp).
Soon after, we descended toward our lodging for the night. It was warm, so beers were enjoyed in the shadows of the mountains. Siena and Marco were there, the Canadians reappeared with their new Irish buddy and of course the Frenchies Filibuster was in full force as they pulled in. Fun was starting Vazzoler, as the fake Italian Tom Green told us our reservation had lapsed since we didn't confirm. Luckily, we still had room and were given LUSH accommodations. The food was really good, the wine flowed and we enjoyed our evening.
Day 6 started with the drying up of our cash supply, as RiVazz didn't take credit cards. Oops. Guess we needed that extra 300E. They had terrible wireless, 1960s board games and beer, but couldn't take credit cards?? We gave them all we had and promised to wire the rest (right). On the trail, we discussed our dilemma with an American couple, but after he lectured us on not being prepared, we decided buying Euros from him would be done only after knocking over the next 7-11 we passed. At lunch, we tried for a cash advance, but that was shot down faster my fashion choices. LDD showed up, hiking about twice as much as we had, already!!! He was nice enough to sell us Euros for American $$, but only about $100, despite being Canadian. We at least had bus money.
We also encountered the amazing Chamois, mountain deer. While we struggle to just hike across the skree fields of rock torn from the mountains over time, the Chamois could jumped down 30 feet in the air, maintain their footing and run straight downhill at about 25 mph. Wish we had video.
The afternoon was a very tough hike. About 500 meters down, followed by 800 meters up to our last rifugio. Although it did have one shower, which the Frenchies shared while Tim waited outside for them, it was another "rustic" location. I doubt they did much, as they never stopped talking. We drank and dined with Siena and Marco. Pasta aglio e olio was awesome, as was hot cobbler. They had something labeled cumin schnapps that the fake Italian Dave Grohl planned on letting us sample. But, they were short staffed and had a few more people then expected, so he was busy helping cobble together a dinner menu that seemed to evolve before our very eyes.
Lights out at 10, literally, then the last day on the trail. Random cool scenery pics:
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