Noon had arrived, and the blazing sun was directly overhead, casting a weariness over everyone. The sky was cloudless, with a gentle breeze blowing. The land stretched out barren and desolate; the occasional two villages we encountered had only a few households. To avoid exposure, we circumvented as stealthily as possible. Before we knew it, a mountain range loomed ahead—its sinuous rises and falls devoid of any green. Layers of mountain ridges stretched as far as the eye could see, the tallest peaks reaching about 300 meters high, and to the east, the end was not in sight.