anoisette

last week i got this book out from the library to find out information about yakushima, which i hope to visit this summer. the boy ended up finding a nearby hike in ashiya that enticed us with reported sightings of boars in the mountains. i was a bit intimidated by the hike being 4 hours going up and down mt. rokko and was rather reluctant to go. but eventually, i was convinced. and i’m glad i went, we saw feral cats, a crazy 8 inch long centipede, boars, a lovely view of ashiya and osaka, and had an interesting encounter with a group of 20 senior citizen hikers. we were at a part where we had to scale up some steep rocks, there was a chain bolted to the rocks to help people go up. we saw a couple of people at the top ready to come down, so we figured we would wait for them to come down first. we stepped off to the side of the trail in anticipation of letting them pass. the first man came down and apologized, and then stood nearby waiting for the next two ladies to make their way down. as the second lady came down, she also apologized. the man apologized again. and then he said in english “20 people coming”. the boy and i looked at each other. 20 people! alright, we were going to be waiting for a while. surely enough people kept trickling on down, and as each one passed us, they each said “sumimasen” or “arigato”. as they all filed passed us, decked out in hiking gear (hiking boots, hiking pants with cargo pockets, hats, backpacks, and towels around their necks) i started feeling very self conscious about my own lack of gear, i was just wearing sneakers and a skirt, hardly appropriate hiking gear. in fact, one man waiting for the rest of the group pointed in surprise at my sneakers and said something in japanese to the person next to him. anyway, i’m glad i did the hike yesterday. sure my legs felt like jelly by the end but i survived. i have to say that living in kobe is great. in the morning i went for a run down by the sea, and in the afternoon, hiked up mt. rokko. there aren’t many places in the world where you’ve got such easy access to both sea and mountains.