Trekking, Day 3 : The Jungle

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The morning light highlighted the jungle’s foliage. Each flora, brightly reflected their feeling towards each other’s beauty - pure envy. The effects were mesmerizing. Birds crooned mystical melodies. Their silhouettes blended with those of the leaves. You only needed to listen to the rhythm of their song to know they were somewhere high up in the shade of the trees. It was soothing.

The roots of trees stretched and encroached upon the earth and created natural steps which aided us in our ascents and descents on the mounds which emerged on the jungle floor. Every direction boasted of thin trees which stretched and grasped upwards like sleepy fairies stretching their lichen cloaked arms towards heaven upon their awakening.

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We strolled through short earthen walls blanketed by greenery cascading down it’s sides. A few of the foliage rebelliously defied gravity and stuck straight out of the mounds. They lightly grazed us, as though they watched us and grasped at us to confirm for themselves whether Santi and I were real.

Cool air refreshed my lungs as we ambled along and slowly descended the earthen stone laid stairs next to the flow of clear mountain water. It flowed along side of us as we descended and then below us as we crossed over a short stone laid bridge. Another waterfall appeared among a swathe of greenery and greeted me with it’s revitalizing murmur. A few more of these natural spectacles gurgled nearby. Nature’s showroom, highlighting waterfalls, which were serenely displayed beyond each passing curve. We rounded another corner and were greeted by the striking glow of hundreds of Nepal”s famed national flower, rhodendrums. They blushed in the sunlight arresting us with their undeniable beauty and gleamed like multifacted rubies which glistened in the sun as they delicately clung onto the more affluent sleepy fairies’ outstretched arms.

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The tranquil symphony of the waterfalls smoothly murmured in the background. Mother Nature’s sweet lullabye meant to calm the mind and the soul into a near dormant state as we ambled through her realm. If it were up to me, I’d crawl onto a flat rock, lay there and allow the magic to coax me into a heavenly nap but we continued our ascent, leaving the jungle, the realm of the sleepy fairies, until it became a memory.

A few hours later, I lay under the warmth of my thick wooly blankets with my hands tucked beneath my pillow remembering the mystical realm. Somewhere out there, sleepy fairies outstretched their lichen covered arms to the evening stars as the waterfall’s symphony lulled them into a dormant state, forever half sleeping, forever half awake.

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Memory returned the soft murmur of waterfalls’ lullaby and sweetly calmed first my mind then my heart and finally my soul. The world darkened as my eyes began to close. For a few seconds I discovered the secret of the sleepy fairies as the lullabye suspended me between memories and dreams. Upon it’s discovery I slowly let go, allowing the lullaby and soothing recollection of the mystical realm to slowly fade as I, finally, drifted off into my heavenly slumber.