Death in the Valley

On 23 July, the day before my 41st birthday, a hiker fell some 30 meters off a trail and died some six hours later. Rumors abound. Management said he had gone off the marked trail to evade payment. Others said he had gone off path in hopes to climb up to a village to buy cigarettes. Still another has it that he was a fugitive, evading military service. In any event, it's a great tragedy that has left the valley shaken. We left yesterday, a move we had planned before the incident. Many others left, too. Now we're at a beach hotel in nearby Oludeniz.