Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
'Ah, where in London do you live? I love the West End. I did my masters at the
London School of Economics.'
I am about to relax and mumble something about actually being from Cumbria
when to my horror I see that the junior officer and his driver are rifling through
the contents of the tent and that Alex is powerless to stop them. The next question
from the colonel takes me totally by surprise.
'How much do you want for your tent, for your equipment, anything else you
want to sell?'
I look around, and then turn back to him in astonishment. The tent is clearly in
ruins. The sleeping bags and clothing are patched and filthy with sweat and grime.
Everything else including our stove and nesting pots are battered and barely us-
able. Only the pile of nuts, pitons, ice axes and crampons, already used before this
expedition, retain something of their original condition.
The activity of barter in Afghanistan is highly complex, and potentially danger-
ous. On the first day of the walk-in, a village elder tried to buy Alex's boots. Alex
explained that his boots were worth more than the village bull. For the local
people, that suddenly made us seem incredibly wealthy. Everything is relative.
This entire trip from the time we arrived in Warsaw to this very moment had been
a masterpiece of turning pennies into goods to barter and the resulting dollars into
summits. The Poles have taken a huge risk smuggling us across the Soviet Union to
get us here. Now I must find an answer to this man's offer to trade that will not in-
sult him and, perhaps, save us the need for any further explanations. My boy
scout's sense of honour comes to my rescue.
'I'm afraid we are not in any position to sell our equipment. You see it all belongs
to the High Mountain Club of Poland, which makes it all the property of the
Peoples' Republic of Poland. It has been loaned to us and is in our care.'
Now it is the colonel's turn to stare incredulously at me. There is a short pause.
'Ah well,' he says, 'in that case we must be on our way. It is so hard to find good
equipment for use in the mountains. That is a pity.'
And with that, they turn and begin to leave, but then the movie-star colonel stops
and turns round.
'Oh, I must tell you that all your Polish and English friends are well and send
their regards. We met them two days ago and they, quite happily, sold us equip-
ment. I guess that must have been their private property?
Inshallah
, they will find
you in one or two days at the most. In the meantime, I'll make sure you are sent
some trout and bread from the village - it looks like you could do with some food.
Goodbye. And may Allah protect you.'
