Maya was bored! It was mid-summer and she was tiered already of hanging out with her group of friends, sleeping till 12 noon every day and partying till God only knows what hour every evening. They all had off until September when most would pick up their studies once again at one of Switzerland’s eight Universities. Maya would be returning to her second year at the Université de Neuchâtel where she was majoring in Ethnology and Biology. No one had summer employment since most part-time jobs were available only to graduate degree holders. She and her friends were not there yet, so why make the effort. In the past she did summer work at a stable; mucking out the horses’ stalls, as a gardener; planting Irises along the town’s lakeside promenade, as a ‘bargirl’; washing glasses at a bar in a mountain resort till 3 am, as a monitor of handicapped children when taking local excursions, etc. etc. etc. The pay was minimum wages, if any.
She suggested to her friends to undertake something constructive that would take them out into nature and permit them to see other parts of the country they were not familiar with. Most of all it should not cost them that much as they were living on very tight budgets. Limited amounts of cash were doled out by their parents each month.
The Via Alpina is a challenging European hiking trail which crosses eight alpine countries from Trieste, Italy to Monte Carlo, Monaco. In Switzerland and Liechtenstein, there are 370 km with 19 stops from Vaduz to Montreux. She suggested to her friends that three or four of them take the train to Liechtenstein and spend a month returning to Montreux following the Via Alpina. They would attempt each evening to find a refuge where they could sleep dormitory style and cook a cervelat over an open fire for supper. She knew that this would not always be possible and sometimes they would have to find a farmer who was willing to put them up in the barn of their farm. Her friends didn’t buy it. Ultimately they preferred to stay home and party then making a physical effort for such a long period of time. Would she take the challenge and go it alone?
Set against a backdrop of the majestic Wetterhorn and the spectacular north face of the Eiger, Grindelwald was both a winter and summer resort. The town was very popular with international tourists all year around. For many the highlight of every Swiss tour was the trip to the Jungfraujoch, the highest railway station in Europe. For Maya, Grindelwald and the Bernese Oberland was a shock! After travelling for over two weeks now by foot through the remotes reaches of Western and Central Switzerland it was as though she was returning to ‘reality’ after a very long absence.
She stopped at a shop and bought herself a sandwich and took it to a bench to devourer. She was not use to eating premade food anymore and found her ham and cheese role very odd to eat. In fact she was having difficulties deciding what she should do next. In a way she felt that her adventure had come to an end. She was very grateful to have made it this far. She had gained a lot of confidence in her own ability to face diverse practical situations. Hiking over unknown terrain for six or seven hours each day calls for stamina and permits one to get into good physical condition quickly.
She decided that she would make her way down to Interlaken this afternoon, stay the night in a hotel and train home to Montreux the next day. The remaining section of the Via Alpina in Switzerland went through territory that she knew well from growing up in the area. Nonetheless, she would never forget the summer of 2011.
