And on the 6th day he rested.  No, I wasn't just waiting for the French girls.  Still sore, my ankle or knee could be trouble.  I decide by taking one day off I'll greatly reduce my chance of injury.  I do laundry and catch up a bit on this writing. 

The French girls don't show up.  Instead we get an Aussie couple, a Czech couple, a Canadian couple and a guy from LA in bad shape.  Bearded and overweight he's utterly unprepared for the rigors of this trip.  His knee is shot, he's got a bad 2nd degree sunburn.  He is not going to make it up to the mountains and is now just struggling to make it to the airport. 

I thought that I might be a little over dramatic with the "walk through rebel territory" the other day, but apparently there are now 20 Maoists with guns staying two hotels down.  I didn't see a need to validate this myself. 

casualties:  I discover a toenail in bad shape.  There is a blister underneath and I'll likely lose the nail.