Anyone that follows us much knows that we are not speed hikers or even push ourselves terribly hard on the trail. Our pace can best be described as “somewhat slower than a snail with plenty of rest breaks.” Today will be the 7th in a row without a zero day–not our usual MO (modus operandi for non-English speakers meaning we are doing something different from our norm, i.e. hiking more than 6 days in a row). In order for me to make this possible with the boss-ma’am, this was going to have to be an easy day. Thankfully, Switzerland cooperated.
The trail started out easy enough doing a little bit of walking through towns and along the road. We saw no one. The Swiss were definitely NOT interested in interacting with outsiders. As we came into one little village, a woman must not have checked her monitors before heading outside because she seemed genuinely shocked that she came face to face with us. After her initial shock wore off, she said “au revoir” and scampered back inside. At another point, I was looking in a huge picture window of a house off the side of the trail and I will swear to my dying day that I saw someone take a dive under the table to avoid being seen. As we walked past the house, there was a completely set table outside the back door with food and steaming coffee on the table, yet no signs of movement at all. I even stopped a few minutes to see if they would come out with us standing on the road; they wouldn’t. I waited long enough for the coffee to get cold–I’ll get my revenge in small ways.
The walk was level to slightly downhill all morning with minimal views of Mont Blanc massif. There were some good looking alps in the distance, but no real views of the one we were circumnavigating because we were just too close to its base. Even though we walked through several towns with plenty of evidence that people actually did reside in them, we saw no one other than the woman we startled and the table jumper/hider. Needless to say, we didn’t find anyplace to get a cup of coffee to relax a bit.
Other than the twilight feeling of walking through recently deserted (as in the last 5 minutes) towns, it was a pleasant walk along the glacial wash coming off of the mountain. After about 3 hours, we found an open cafe/bar on the side of the highway. We decided to go ahead and grab a bite for lunch rather than cook something. We sat at a table out front with our feet, literally, on the highway. We were served a nice plate of spaghetti and a Coke (a $10 meal at Denny’s) for the bargain price of 45 Euros.
All morning as we were walking, we saw beautiful chalets which I knew were well out of our price range. Other than the friendliness of the people, they made us feel further welcome by trying to rip us off at every opportunity. We’ve only been in Switzerland about 18 hours at this point and have spent almost 150 Euros for a bed to sleep in and a plate of almost warm spaghetti. They are obviously trying to keep the riff-raff out of their country and it’s is very apparent to me that I am target #1 on their list.
I know my place in modern society–I don’t have one. I never set the rules for the corporate owned society we live in, nor have I agreed to play by those rules. Corporations do not like those who rock the boat. Hence, why we walk. There is not a single person reading this blog that is not more successful than I am. Do not forget for a moment that we are homeless, furnitureless, carless, and comfortless. I have embraced minimalism for two reasons: I don’t like the rules of the game and I am lazy. As we are walking through this country that doesn’t want me there for anything other than the little bit of money that can extract from me, I am getting more and more depressed. Pam doesn’t get bothered by this kind of stuff but she never hesitates to agree with me when I say that I am lazy.
I want out of Switzerland. The sooner the better. This is the nicest place I have ever been that I can’t wait to get away from. I feel ripped off at every turn and completely inadequate as a human being because I am not rich enough to be wanted here. Switzerland has become the image of everything I despise in modern society. It’s clean, beautiful, and they don’t want outsiders (unless you are filthy rich) and then you are welcome until your money runs out.
If you would like the experience of visiting Switzerland, I have a little task you can perform which will give you the same feeling and save the price of a plane ticket. Go to the bank and withdraw $1,000–preferable all ones (we want the experience to last). Go out back at your house and build a bonfire. Once it’s roaring well, start throwing the ones in until they are all burning–this should take about 10 minutes if the fire is right. Welcome to Switzerland.
Want to spend another day, head back to the bank for another $1,000. It’s very important that you remember one thing–we are traveling cheap. If you want nice accommodations and real food, get $3,000 per day for the fire. Let’s say you want to spend a week here going first class. You can send me a check for $10,000 for the money I have saved you with this little demo. You will only be out a total of $31,000 with the money you send me and what you have burned–I have saved you at least $20,000 and you will have the same glowing feeling you get from actually visiting here. It’s what I do, suffer so you don’t have to. If you need an address for the check, email me.
After lunch, we started to climb a bit. It wasn’t too hard of a climb, well less than 2000′ over the course of 3 miles. As soon as we got into the climb, we noticed sculptures carved into tree stumps. We got up to a nice view of the valley and saw a beautiful picnic table and water trough. This was right above a house on the side of the mountain. I saw an old man out back of the house, and I suspect him of being the artist. About the same distance after the house, the sculptures stopped. They were true works of art and love.
We also couldn’t help thinking of our Friday night wine club from days gone by. Switzerland does have a mascot for nature awareness–Charlotte la Marmotte. She dresses just like one of our members, a chef hat, flower in her hair, and a mushroom in her mouth, the main difference being our Charlotte requires a bottle of wine first while Switzerland’s Charlotte dresses this way sober.
When we got to Champex, we fell in love with a place that we can’t afford and doesn’t want us. It was a small village on the side of an alpine lake with charm oozing out it’s every pore. Who wouldn’t be willing to spend 8 Euros for a 250 ml glass of beer to enjoy this view. Compared to last night, this really was a bargain. We decided to rent a hotel room with our own bathroom and balcony for only 10 Euros more than we spent last night. We splurged for a culinary pizza in the hotel restaurant. I kept my lighter and a wad of tens with me–I wanted this moment to last.
