I had a dream last night that Jeff, Ben, and I caught a chopper to the top of a mountain. I couldn't have imagined that dream coming true until we were sitting at the helipad watching a UN helicopter appear in a valley between two massive mountains. We heard the sounds before we saw the machine--my heart was pounding louder than the props!
We packed our bags and followed a Pakistani officer to his Jeep out in the street. He instructed us to throw our bags in the back and get in (not before a couple of pictures of course!) We were off--a five minute ride to the helipad which happened to be a clearing between a whole bunch of rocks on somewhat level ground. When we arrived, there was game of Cricket going on--Cricket is huge in Pakistan. There were also piles of supplies--bent pipe, rolls of foam, tin, bars--everything that we would need to make several shelters.
If only we knew where we were going (Not that it mattered I guess).
After an hour of waiting and hoping that a chopper would come we heard the soft rhythm of blades echoing through the valley. It was actually coming to get us! According to our director, it wasn't always the case. Sometimes he could count on the UN, other times he couldn't. He was on a day-to-day, flight-by-flight regiment with them. This particular day, we just happend to get lucky!
Instead of us jumping on the first chopper that landed, we waited and watched as several locals began to fill the cargo bay with supplies. Being that the wind was usually high up in the mountains, there were only a certain number of pipes, foams, tin sheets, and bars that were allowed on each flight. After they had it full, they would it up and sent it back up the mountain. This happened twice--by the time the second load was in the air, it was already 2:00pm. Were we going to make it up the mountain that day? Questionable at best.
While we were hoping and praying that another chopper would come, Jeff realized that he hadn't grabbed the stove that we had bartered hard for and gotten in Manserah. He asked us to watch his stuff as he was going to head back to the base to get it. If we bought it, we were going to use it! He caught a taxi and headed back while Ben and I continued to watch the horizon for the helicopter to come back.
Here's the thing. We had to get to the top of the mountain that day because the team of three that was currently up there needed to get back down to catch a flight back to America. The reason we were selected and sent was because we needed to get any information from them that would help us for our stay. We were talking about this very thing, wondering if we should go if Jeff wasn't back yet when we heard the chopper returning.
Decision time: Do we leave our leader here and go (providing a good transition with the team already on the mountain) or do we stay without certainty that there would be another one that day?
We went--easy decision. However--we did stall the pilots (much to their angst) for an additional five minutes.
The door closed--no Jeff. It was just Ben and I and our two other teammates that joined us at the helipad: Sean and Josh. The adventure was soon to officially begin.
We had no idea where we were going, what we would find when we got there, or how long we would be staying. None of that mattered--we were on our way--the helicopter had left the ground.
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