The Way Home

The sun was already setting when our rickshaw stopped.

“I can’t drive closer.”

He pointed across the street, to where the buildings collapsed into a maze of alleys.

“You must walk.”

~

I spread my arms and dragged my fingers along the rough stone and plaster walls of the houses on both sides of me. Then traffic rushed in and I pulled them close.

Motorcycles, bicycles, pushcarts, cows, goats, and pedestrians all shoved and honked their way through these narrow city lanes, using the slightest openings at private doorways as passing lanes and turnouts.

I pulled out my phone.

Our dot on the map disappeared.

I shook it.

“Remember when our guidebook recommended ‘getting lost?’”

“Yeah…”

I looked at the narrow slit of open sky above us.

“Well, it happened.”

I picked a passage that looked wider than the rest and turned.

Twenty steps later, we passed a man ironing shirts beneath a single lightbulb.

At the next corner, a goat blocked the alley.

Soon, we started keeping score.

Left.

Right.

Right again.

Dani stopped.

“We already passed that shrine.”

“Did we?”

She pointed at a faded blue door.

“I’m almost sure.”

This time, we turned left.

A spice vendor smiled as we squeezed past his stall.

“Hello, my friends!”

We smiled back but kept walking.

Ten minutes later we found ourselves beside the river again.

Another turn.

Another alley.

“Hello, my friends!”

The same vendor leaned against the same doorway, smiling still.

I looked at Dani.

“How does he recognize us every time?”

She laughed.

“We’re blond tourists. I think you underestimate how noticeable we are.”

~

Nightfall set, and the city receded to an eerie quiet.

A woman neared Dani. She held a bundle of marigolds under her arms.

“Where are you going? Maybe I can help. ”

“Marigold Guest House.”

I waited for the sales pitch, but she just pointed the way.

Fifty yards later, a man pushing a wooden cart directed us again.

“A hundred meters.”

Then a boy sweeping a step.

“Twenty more.”

Soon, we arrived at another alleyway.

My shoulders nearly brushed the walls.

Our hotel lay just inside.