Mining 101

We took a great day trip out of Kabul (in retrospect, the trip itself might not have been great, but getting out of Kabul felt fantastic). The weather was nice, the sun was shining, and you forget how mice it is to feel like you can walk around without someone snatching you. We headed out towards the Salang Pass which cuts trough the Hindu Kush (mountain range). The only problem is figuring out what is (and is not) considered a “mine clearance” (or MC). So we looked for the rock markers (white on rock for clean, red on rock for danger), but since everything was 2 foot deep in snow, finding a red or white marker proved a little difficult. So as not to tempt fate, we stuck to walking along the road and wandered off into a little village only when we saw well-used tracks. Another graffiti symbol to become familiar with is HT or Halo Trust, the group responsible for putting many of the markers on the rocks and de-mining (or is it mining) the area. Meanwhile, I think Halo Trust sounds like a good name for a Christian Bank, but I digress.
These pictures show some of the area we were in, as well as some village children who came out to play. It doesn’t matter where you are, a snowball is a snowball and throwing it at adults (especially strange ones like us) proved to be an enormous amount of fun.