The mountain and the donkey

Yesterday, I noticed this fun sign in the center of Leh: "Come and have fun at the only sanctuary for helpless donkeys."
Today: Sunday. Just had breakfast. What to do?
Donkey retreat it is!

An hour into the walk.
No, let me rephrase.
An hour into something I would be more inclined to call an intensive trek in the mountains, a hike for advanced...well, hikers, steep uphill all-the-time! At high altitude. I dare you!
So, an hour into the thing, small update on the vital signs (small as practically no vital signs were left):

• Heartbeat: 298
• Blood: pumping in my head
• Breathing: what breathing?
  

(the above might be a slight exaggeration and misrepresentation of the truth...)

At that point, we passed a green bit of land where a couple of donkeys were grazing.
Hallelujah we have arrived. We made it! And I survived. My reward: donkeys. And some nice grass. Good enough for me.
But when I tried convincing Clai we had arrived (Cool this sanctuary! Look at all the donkeys! Woo-hoo! Picture time.), he wasn't too sure. So, on our merry way we went. Again.
Every person we stopped to ask about a donkey sanctuary seemed clueless. And on top of that looked quite amused, when they understood us that is. We learned afterwards that donkeys are in the lowest caste of animals and not exactly loved in the holy-cow-country.

Almost 3 hours after we left and three scattered arrows later, we found... Donkey Heaven (update on vitals: body had gone into the automatic pilot mode by now so, feeling tip top. Dixie, sign me up for your next expedition).
The sign says it all (but I'll recap): Donkeys are left out on the street after they served their purpose, get weak, get bitten by dogs, whipped and kicked by people, ... not your ideal scenario. But then comes along...their ride to paradise: The bus to donkey sanctuary where they get shelter, get fed and can hang out with friends. What's not to love about that?
So, we hung out with the donkey daddy and his protegees.
They all seemed to be in good shape except for one poor fellow, locked in a shed, that got hit by a car and couldn't get up because of the broken bones and wounds. He didn't even seem to have an appetite (some grass? no thanks).
But then -idea- I still have a bar of Belgian chocolate and a Tootsie Roll (thanks Sue - I saved it for a special moment). And that went down very smoothly. (although Tootsie roll caramel did take some time..)

After a nice donation -they actually wanted to offer me a baby donkey in return- I felt cool as a cucumber and ready to walk down. Donkeys rule.
Whenever you're in the Ladakhi mountains, make sure to pay them a visit.

'The greatness of a nation can be determined by the way its animals are treated.' - Mahatma Ghandi



PS - about another 100 donkey pictures available.