Here's the before photo:
The during (early stage before the novelty had worn off):
And there is no after because 1.) It was raining too hard to take out my camera 2.) My hands were covered in dried mud 3.) My bag was equally covered in mud and 4.) I was soaked.
But let me back up. We all met up at coast and found our guide. We set off around noon, noon-thirty ish. The first few steps were in extremely soft mud. I promptly got stuck and fell over. I learned how to walk- with your weight on the balls of your feet and quickly or you get suctioned in- which was great and all, until we hit the first gully. Got stuck again. Fell over. THE MUD WENT ON FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER AND EVER. We were in the very back of the group so everything was super churned up and impossible to move through. Rachael started having an asthma attack (not that I was doing much better) and so she, her adviser Ztolt and I turned back with another guide.
Supposedly 'easier,' the alternative route was still killer. We were finally out of the squeltching mud and on hard packed sand which made thing much easier, but our guide was a mud-Nazi and set a ridiculous pace. It was pretty though- when I wasn't cursing the weather or the guide or my poor aching hips. There were little mini rivers that we had to cross- one was up to my waist. That was pretty awesome. We didn't actually move back toward the coast initially, instead making our way parallel to land. As we went on the weather got worse and worse. I don't have a wind breaker here, so there was nothing I could do about the rain and my shawl didn't prevent much either. Siiigh.
Finally we started heading back toward the coast, having to travel through some mud again. Step by step we started walking over ground that was more land than sand and water. We climbed up on one of the huge dikes and walked along it. Another guide joined us and was as merry and chipper as if it was sunny and he wasn't drenched with cold rain. He showed me a plant that can be eaten along the dike. It was sweet! And green/dirt tasting- thus I loved it.
And then suddenly we were on land. It was so strange- on one side was mud and ocean and on the other green (GREEN) rolling hills and sheep. We climbed over several fences, herding the sheep before us, and made it down to the road. Right before our descent to the road I looked back at the ocean and realized that once I was at the bottom I'd actually be lower than the water. We all climbed in the station wagon the extra guide had brought to rescue us and headed back to the ferry.
Towards the end I was actually enjoying myself. And the very end bit on the land was breathtaking. Getting out of the car I realized I hurt in places I didn't know existed- who knew we had so many mud muscles? Rachael, Ztolt and I changed into dry clothes and then had some soup and coffee in the restaurant. A lovely ending to an ...interesting day. But to go wadlopen again? I'd have to do a lot of forgetting to volunteer for such torture.
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