A tour of the Alps and currently Switzerland cannot be considered complete without a description of the various animals, and their habits, that abound in this alpine wilderness occasionally spotted with villages. It seems that humans are in a minority here, as their settlements are far and few between, especially if one is walking. What humans one does see are obviously beholden unto the animals as they serve them with both deference and concern. The most noticable animal is the cow, both audibly and olfactorily. One senses a bite on one's leg, one slaps, a (poorly named) horsefly ( as I have seen only 2 or 3 horses so far, but have seen over a billion cows ) escapes near death, and one knows the cows are nearby providing building materials for colonies of said flies. The ground is a checker board of artfully splattered redolent waste, which one navigates at one's peril in a hopping fashion. Since our hike has been taxing so far to say the least, one's legs are ill equipped for such a travel mode, and more often than not, one's uncoordinated hop leads one directly into full contact with the detritus. It's hard to imagine one could get even dirtier or smellier, but such is the case
