7:00am Saturday morning (1:00am Eastern Standard Time). Carol's silouette is towering over my floor-bound bed. My head is pounding from caffeine withdrawal. The time has come... to go... wadlopen.
What is this strange word, you ask? Well, being a newfound expert on the passtime, I will enlighten you. Wadlopen is also known as mudflat hiking, and it involves waiting until the tide is low and then trudging through mud and often high waters until your heart is content. People sometimes go and do hikes all the way to islands off the northern coast of the Netherlands and these hikes can be as long as 26 km!
When Carol first proposed the activity to me, I was immediately on board. However, when she, I, and her parents arrived to the meeting spot that morning, none of us knew what to expect, and a few party members were second-guessing the decision. After a well-needed cup o' joe though, our go-get-em attitudes kicked in and we decided to go for it. So we started our 7 km (baby version of wadlopen, but still admirable!) hike across the ocean floor...
Although Carol later admitted having doubts early in the hike, I felt the opposite. Once my shoe sunk into the squishy mud for the first time, I was hooked. Looking back, I don't know why I ever doubted my enjoyment of this activity. Running around in mud and water has always been a favorite passtime of mine. In fact, the whole thing was somehow very reminiscent of my hike in the narrows of Zion National Park that I took with my dad a while back. There is something about playing around in mud and water that makes me feel one with nature, I suppose. Like that hike, the memory of my wadlopen experience will stay with me for a very long time.
Importantly, the hike provided time for Carol and I to continue to bond, and plan a 5 year reunion for the group that went to Honduras together. It was becoming quite clear that our travel compatibility extends beyond small villages in Central America to Europe and presumably other locations. Although we are still in the brainstorming stages, consider this your warning Hondos, save that money and the date! 2011 reunion baby!
2 comments:
I'm there!
-tiff
Playing in mud and water!! That's so my kind of fun, I wish I could have been there, it would blow all my playing in the Waterford rain experiences out of the water. I have also decided that I will try to work the word Wadlopen into my vocabulary in some way, even if inappropriate to the situation, I just want to say the word.
Love reading the updates!
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