May 13 cont...
I paid for my well earned stamp then followed the women down the long path to the carpark, and, as I suspected, the women were finding the path incredibly challenging.
I had no idea where I was or where I was going and all I could think about were my sore feet – sore in an arch support bone kind of way.
I hobbled across the bridge and could see a little shelter that was clearly a bus stop. I walked over the road and got a bun then went back to the shelter.
As I walked in, I was surprised to see the young Henro whom I had been following until we went in different directions.
He spoke very broken ‘TV’ English and was obviously very excited to be able to practice. He even had a notebook that he had written a lot of phrases in. He would run his finger over his writing saying Ano…Umm then ask me strange questions like ‘Do you like to dive?’ and ‘Do you think Henro trail is funny?’. I did my best not to laugh and answered his questions as seriously as I could. After a while, I gave him phrase book to use, showing him the Japanese to English section. He studied it fervently.
He was also going to Temple 46 on the bus, so I asked if I could follow him. He seemed very happy about the idea.
In an ironic twist of fate, the bus went back the way we had come. This meant I was able to see where I had come out onto the road after climbing out of the forest. I stifled my hysterics when I saw, not 20 paces back from where I come out, a wide track a small truck could have driven up. How did I miss that!! Also, as we approached the opposite end of the tunnel, there was clearly a small path right beside it which is obviously where the number of Henro walking toward us came out.
It would have been interesting (and cathartic) to go back and find out where I went so wrong...
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