Gite up and go!

Last week I went trekking in Mafate with a group of very ambitious hikers. Having fairly little woodswoman experience myself, I typically let others make itinerary decisions for me. My friend in charge of the trip e-mailed me the trail names and I did my standard reflection, "No idea what that means, but will find out soon enough." Later that night I stopped by a colleague's house for a visit and told her what we were planning to do. I will preface her response by saying that both she and her husband have done the Grand Raid multiple times. This is Reunion Island's response to the Iron Man where foolish people resembling a new breed of epically muscular humans race the length of the island through the center mountainous cirques, covering 9,000 km of elevation within two days. She looked at me with pity and said, "If you make it home alive, give me a call." I was depressed.

The good news in all of this is that someone in our group had made the brilliant decision to stay in a "gite" over our two day hike. I am not sure what the worldwide incidence of gites are, but they are a huge phenomenon on Reunion Island. Essentially gites are small hostels or guest houses located high in the mountains. They provide showers, clean beds, and dinner and breakfast to hikers. In Mafate they are only accessed by foot or helicopter. The joy of the gite, in short, is that you can hike for days at a time and not have to carry a tent, sleeping bag, or heavy food supplies with you. If you suddenly find that the group you are hiking with is planning to do a more difficult version of the Grand Raid, you happily take any advantage you can get.

The picture below is of one of the big crates helicopters haul supplies in, usually making daily deliveries or trash pick-ups.The fearful build-up was unfounded as the group leader had ultimately partied too hard several nights before and was no longer up for the Olympic trials. "What a shame! I guess we'll just have to do that trail next time," I patted and comforted him on the back. (Note to self: do not pick up this guy's calls ever again).

Once the pressure was off and the itinerary rewritten, I had a really great time. We hiked along the Canalization d'Organgiers which is a tranquil trail leading into the heart of Mafate. From Cayenne it was a short distance to Pavillon, where we stayed for the night. It is a beautiful sight, trekking through these very remote corners of the earth. This is a picture of Cayenne as you approach it from the Riviere des Galets.
Maybe it was my overall relief of being alive, or the fact that I knew I was going to live another day, but I was in a very celebratory mood when we arrived at the gite. We were shown to our bunk room which was a very pleasant little place with a Buzz Lightyear theme. You have to chuckle over the fact that at one time a helicopter carried an entire crateful of Toy Story quilts, sheets, and posters over the impressive untouched ravines of Mafate. Everyone settled in, took their showers and started meeting the other hikers at the gite.

After a while a gal from another group invited us to play some kind of French trivia game, which was followed by another piping in about how fun it would be to play girls against boys; before I knew it, I was sucked in. Unfortunately no one realized that I was going to be the weak link in the chain of French pop culture fun, ultimately causing the girl's group to lose by an immense margin of 50 points. Onwards and upwards!

You might think that being hated by every women in the gite would have brought me down, but it did not. I proudly sat with the men for dinner--after all, they were very thankful for my presence. We ate a delicious meal prepared by the owners, multiple courses, everything that you would hope for after a day of backpacking. By 8pm the sky was black but made florescent by the stars. In the hopes of improving gender relations amongst the camp, we played a spirited game of fussball late into the night. Everyone was friends again by the end.

Here is a picture of the gite in Pavillon the next morning as we took off for the second part of our hike: