A Porter Who Pauses

Posted by J on May 28, 2013 in Audio Postcard, J Posts | 1 comment

When we started this journey, our itinerary was a list of PLACES we would visit.

Looking back on our journey so far, it is PEOPLE who are the milestones. We REMEMBER the steps of our journey through the litany of people we met — and loved.

These are a few dozen steps of the many hundreds of thousands of steps carved in to Mount Huashan in central China. We went there for the view — and the exercise. A small number of stair climbers were there to work … step by step … balancing massive loads of building supplies for new trails and repairs on their back. (He’s barely visible at the top of this section of stairs.)

One of these porters passed us as we were resting on our descent. He played a flute … while walking and balancing his load of concrete mix bags … and he paused to play a mini concert when he saw me listening.

We finished our descent of Mount Huashan just as a group of elderly women finished their climb. (!) They were singing what sounded like Chinese show tunes. Heartily. And their tuneful energy exploded when they saw us lingering to listen.