Page 12 - BHUTAN 2007

straightaway to grazing on the trailside. He jumped up and scrambled over
the boulders coming directly at Kay. His shoulder caught her backpack and

lifted her completely off her feet. She fell but luckily was not trampled by his

flying hooves. However, she rolled down the hill and landed face down on

the gravelly trail. The “attacking” burro was by that time calmly grazing on

the vegetation that lined the outer edge of the trail (those bushes and
shrubs prevented Kay from rolling on down the hillside). All this happened in

slow motion, of course, and by the time Lois had clambered down to reach

her, Kay was already assessing the damage to her person. She was very

lucky indeed because she had not broken any bones; however, she looked

as though she had been knocked over by a burro! Her face was scraped
deeply and her glasses were bent quite out of alignment. Her right arm had

been torn and almost skinned by the rough granite from elbow to wrist. She

had smaller cuts and gashes on her other arm and her legs were badly

bruised. After realizing that she was not broken, she was terribly anxious

about her camera which took some of the brunt of the fall too since it was
secured at her waist on the belt she was wearing.

It was fortunate that we had brought the first-aid kit along on the hike

because we were able to wash all the cuts and open places clean of dirt and

gravel with soap and water. Then we applied an antibiotic ointment to all

the raw areas and covered them with gauze. By this time, the Bhutanese

handler arrived and figured out something untoward had happened though
whether he ever knew exactly what is problematic. He spoke no English and

of course we spoke no Drongzah. At first he seemed to be offering Kay a ride

on one of the burros but we knew that was not usual. Then it appeared that

he wanted her to punish the burro by socking it in the jaw. That seemed a

foolish thing to do since it would not change anything; the animal had not

deliberately attacked her, and she would probably have gotten a swift kick