A Country within a Country: Lesotho

Went to Lesotho for a Human Growth and Development fieldtrip- as to it's actual application to the class I have no idea, but it was awesome. Basically, Lesotho is a tiny little country within South Africa; however, it's independent from the country of South Africa. It is about a two hour drive from Pietermaritzburg, but is completely worth it. The drive to enter losotho is extremely steep. It is the third steepest pass in the world and we had to go up it in a four wheel drive jeep- somehow, I doubt that Baba Philiip (our driver) would have managed to make it up the mountain in the APU van. There were five turns to the pass- 1. suicide corner: because often cars breaks will stop working once they reach the bottom and give out. Awesome, right? not. 2. Whisky corner: because this is where drivers will take a shot to get the courage to make it up the mountain. 3. Reverse: because this corner requires that the people sitting in the back must tell them how much space is between them and the cliff when going around the corner. Awesome, right? 4. Ice: because this corner is often covered in ice after a cold night. 5. Amen: because you've made it to the top. Hopefully.

I was glad that I was able to get two new stamps in my passport by entering a new country and it was definitely a unique experience. If anything I would say there were more sheep than people. The community there was defined by people living in huts, thousands of sheep and a local pub (the highest pub in the world btdubs). We then got to ride horses- which started out amazing! My horse's name was Bartholemule- and he was a bad ass. We were literally riding horses for about five hours, and at one point I really expected to see Frodo and the fellowship walking along the ridge of the mountain. However, the trip took a steep decline when the weather turned from cool to absolutely freezing. It was hailing so hard that I thought my fingers were going to fall off from hypothermia. But... besides that it was so much fun! Well... for pretty much everyone but Zach whose horse simply decided to stop walking. Seeing him just pulling on the reigns and it was not budging. - side note, my reigns were made out of rope, how friggin legit is that? But anyway, our guide wanted us to continue going along the ridge but in that weather it just wasn't going to happen. Our translation of us wanting to turn back resorted us to the use of spanish as a way to communicate "frio!" and hand motions that included shivers and continually saying "lodge" and pointing back to the direction we came from. However, us and the guide soon came to a consensus to turn back around and we started heading back.

The journey back was great. Well... that was until I feel off my horse. Yep, I fell off my horse. Mid gallop. And mid epic racing moment with Mitch and shelli- then, "wooop and snap!" there goes my saddle and I go tumbling off. Luckily I didn't fall on any rocks or anything and had no broken bone. However, I do wish that someone could have video taped it because I feel like it would have been an epic fall to witness. So, after that I was quite content just trotting back to the pub- which looked like a legit old medieval pub.

After retiring to our beds for the evening we could see the milky way like no other. The stars were so bright and simply fantastic and it was such a great reminder of how great and power God truly is. It was such a clear night and the stars just lit up the night sky so beautifully. The next day we headed back down the mountain and back to civilization; however, that trip is one I will never forget.