Though I started at dawn, by mid-morning the heat was rising and I was only halfway up. I was hot, tired, and felt thoroughly sorry for myself. Why should I go through all this trouble, I thought, when plenty of people don't go on pilgrimages at all? I sat down and felt so frustrated I actually started to cry. Just then a woman, who looked about thirty or so, came down from the upper shrine. "I'm going up seven times today", she said to the people on the path. "This is my third time; shouldn't have any trouble with the last four. Probably be down the mountain by two o'clock". . . . How I wished I could be a woman like her!