Below base camp the ground drops steeply to a small stream. To get down, we leaned a wooden ladder against the bank.

A wooden ladder leaning against a steep, dry bank among bare branches
The way down to the stream.

At the bottom there is a pool, held back by a line of stones, and a small waterfall. It is quiet there. Mostly birds, and water falling through the rocks. We used the pool for bathing and washing.

Water running over a low line of stones in a stream, with fallen branches around it
The stones below the pool.

Not far away is a rocky canyon with a seasonal waterfall. In February it was dry.

A dry, rocky stream bed between trees, with large boulders
The seasonal waterfall, dry in February.

Two weeks later we were in the water, moving stones to shape the pool.

Two people sitting in shallow brown water, moving stones along the edge of the pool
Working in the stream, 25 February 2020.

The same stream runs under an old wooden bridge on the road to the next village. We still do not know its name.

A person leaning on the rail of an old wooden plank bridge, looking down at the water
The old wooden bridge.

Photos by Charles DiBella, our mentor, first posted on his Telegram channel t.me/tour2020: ladder, pool, stones, canyon, working in the stream, bridge.