Journey to Fuji-san (XIV)

Posted by Alfredo J. Martiz J. (Panama City, Panama) on 1 September 2007 in People & Portrait.

This is the farther we could see when we were going down from Fuji-san, we decided to take the Gotemba path because it is supposed to be easier.
What was difficult during this part of the journey was walking without seeing what was ahead of us, the slope was somehow gentle I think, the surface was soft.
In the beginning of this path I was going fast, I could slide but as we kept walking, that turned into something unpleasant, it is really difficult for your knees... but everything was fine, by this time I was feeling much better and from out of nowhere I had extra strenght.

Imagine yourself walking with this fog for hours, going down a mountain, trying not to get away from the guiding ropes and every 200 m seeing signs showing you a direction but you can't see what lies ahead. You reach a crossing and you stand there, looking at the sign and trying to understand where to go, a huge question mark is drawn in your face, you ask someone that is going up (really crazy) which direction and how much to get there and the person replies: "go straight and approximately 25 minutes" (translated from japanese).
You continue walking, you see almost nothing, then a small portion of what lies ahead is revealed to you, you just stop and stand there watching an endless path, you think When am I going to finish walking? When am I going to get home? I wan to sleep... you continue walking and then you reach a place where you have signs leading to Souvenir shops, Restaurants, Ice Cream, Delicious Food, etc. on both sides of the path... you wonder what is this place, am I hallucinating, where is the Ice Cream?, I want.
Without noticing, a structure appears to your left... after all the time walking through a deserted and foggy scenery, the first idea that comes to you is just a question, followed by other questions: Is this real? or is this some sort of fictional Oasis? Am I dreaming all this?... you get near a bench and you touch, you sense something real... someone comes to you and invites you to get inside the building, the structure is made of wood, the interior is warm, you feel the smell of Ramen, you take a rest.

Fuji-San. August 18th, 2007.
-Previously in the Journey to Fuji-san- Around 6:43 - Alfredo made a photo of the crater of Fuji-san.
Around 8:30 (Time to be confirmed) - We started our way down from the top of Fuji-san

10:30 - Time when I made this photo.

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