far as Health and Safety is concerned, in a way it is a refreshing change to back home, but as far as me versus death goes, it is of no consolation.
Halfway up we stop for a rest, this is my Everest! Clearly our earlier shenanigans have worn me out more than I thought. Resting my head on Carlos’s shoulder we sit in comfortable silence surveying the view for a few minutes.
“Are you ready to go again?” he asks too soon. If I was on my own I probably would have just given up and gone back down by now, but I don’t want to seem outdone so we stand and carry on up.
At the top I’m so glad I persevered, it’s truly stunning. In every direction, as far as you can see is dense forest. You can faintly make out the tops of some of the other monuments poking through the tree tops, the only audible sound is the wind and the only other living things with us are the birds soaring high above our heads.
There is a small square room, empty apart from the dust, but roped off to the public, other than that it is just us and the view. Standing on the edge Carlos wraps his arm around my shoulders and holds the camera up, taking a panoramic picture to capture the expanse of forest surrounding us.
It’s a beautiful picture, with Carlos on my left I have my right hand wresting on his stomach, his head slightly cocked towards mine; if you didn’t know better you would think it was a honeymoon picture, a couple openly affectionate with each other, standing alone together, just them against the whole world.
The thought sends a wave of sadness over me; I suddenly feel a crushing pain at the loss of my life with Jake. By the end it was all but over anyway, but we started out this way, where did it all go so badly wrong to end up like this? I try to think back, to remember any warning signs, only ever seen in hindsight, that might suggest it was doomed from the start, but it’s futile. We were happy once, I can’t deny that, but maybe the years just changed us too much to salvage what small flame might have been left between us.
“Hey, you alright?” Carlos asks, concerned at my sudden melancholy. I shake the gloom from my thoughts and plaster on a smile, “I’m wonderful, thank you for this, it really is a beautiful picture” I say sincerely, desperate to re-kindle our lighthearted, happy atmosphere.
“Come on, let’s get down off this death trap, I’m starving” I say taking his hand and tugging him back to the steps. Looking down them now though they seem far steeper than on the way up, each slippery surface about a foot in height down from the last, but most are less than a shoe length in width.
The wind now seems fierce, making us even more unstable, clinging to Carlos’s hand I ask, “So, how are we going to do this?”
“Um, maybe hold on to the rope?” he offers, I throw him a skeptical look, “That rope doesn’t look like it could hold a feather, let alone the two of us”
“Yeah, you’re probably right, let’s just take it slow”
Holding tightly on to each other we take the first shaky step, as expected the surface has no grip and for one wobbly second I’m convinced we are both going to tumble head first down the whole thing. At the last second I sit on the top step, dragging Carlos down with me.
“Well that’s not going to work” I state, “I think I’m just going to bump down on my bum, it’s got to be the safest way?”
Carlos looks less than impressed with my idea, but equally agrees that walking down is not an option; to save some face he decides to climb down backwards, facing the steps, his hands holding on while his feet walk down slowly.
The group from before has caught up by now and are slowly leaking onto the bottom steps. I know we look like idiots because on the way up it doesn’t seem so bad, but they will see once they get to the top. Thankfully by about two thirds of the way down the steps become wider and shorter so we scramble to our feet and make it to the bottom with a little dignity.
It takes another forty-five minutes to walk back to the entrance, by