Wow it’s about time I finish
this up. Honestly I’ve had a hard time wrapping things up as it feels as though
once my final blog entry has been made, my adventures are official done. But
let me take a moment to explain my absence, as my last entry explained my
embarkation on a week long trek, I did in fact survive my trek even though it’s
been over a month since I have written. My computer crashed when I returned
from the trek so I really was MIA ( a lot of action) at the end of my trip.
Let me start with the trek.
Some fellow volunteers and I conquered a 6-day trek through the Annapurna
region. It was, hands down, the most challenging experience, both physically
and mentally, of my life. We honestly couldn’t have completed the journey
without the constant support, sheer strength, and guidance of our trekking
guide, Happy. Yes…his nickname is Happy, so appropriately given to him 3 years
ago by some of his first customers. This guy seems to find humor, and energy in
the outwardly most dire, challenging and miserable situations. Our first day
was reasonable, about 7 hours of trekking to our first stop, Hile. Here we were
greeted by the guesthouse owners with cold glasses of Fanta and bottled water.
Ya, I forgot to mention, it was pretty luxurious trekking, as we stopped in
local villages for every meal and stayed each night at a guesthouse along our
way.
This first stop offered cold
showers and friendly hosts up for all and any card game we had to offer. Our
night concluded with a Spoons tournament, which for those of you who don’t
know, is an outrageously fun yet ruthless card game with spoons similar to
musical chairs.
The next morning Happy woke
us up at 4 am with breakfast already on the table. All we knew was that the
second day would be the most challenging but that after this day we’d be
offered a spectacular view of the Himalayas. Well I’m so glad no more details
were given because 12.5 hours, and 4,200 feet of elevation gain later of
climbing through village after village, through the torrential downpour of the
Nepali monsoon season, stopping every 15 minutes for a fellow trekker who was
sicker than sick, we finally reached the guesthouse at Ghorepani! Our sick
trekking friend really captured it all when he admitted, “there’s nowhere in
the world I’d rather be sick, than creeping our way into the highest mountain
range in the world, surrounded by such incredible people!” This day really
challenged each of us in so many ways. Every few hours we’d stop, unsure if our
legs could even bear to stand with our body weight any more, not to mention our
packs half the size of us. But Happy fed us peanuts and cookies and notes of
encouragement, “just a bit more,” which we learned later meant….well we aren’t
even half way and we better keep moving so we only get rained on the last 4
hours of our day rather than 7.
But, Ghorepani was worth
every step. We awoke the next morning at 3 am to climb 1,200 more feet to reach
Poon Hill before sunrise. If we were going to get a good, clear glimpse of the
mountains on this whole trek, this was our best chance. And we sure did. Our
morning climb raced the sunrise, and we watched as the mountains began
revealing themselves around us. And really…we were surrounded. The day before
had been so rainy that we hadn’t witnessed the elevation we had gained. But
here we understood the climb of yesterday with some of the highest peaks in the
world circling us. Every direction I turned I saw snowcapped peak after peak!
That whole day we hung out in
the Ghorepani guesthouse and took the day off. We had a member of our group
who’s ankles were bothering her so we waited for the day for a horse to come up
to bring her back down, as she was unable to finish the trek. But I can’t complain. What better place
to sit in good company and play cards and sip hot cocoa than eye to eye with
Annapurna I and II, Dhaulagiri and Gurju?!
The next day we were well
rested and ready for whatever Happy had in store for us! While this day ended
up being 10 hours of trekking, it was mostly a traverse and we were all in high
spirits. Our guesthouse this night was in Jhinudanda, where we treated our
bodies to a dip in the natural hot springs. The shock of this 4th
day was when we reached our final destination, and shone our headlamps down to
find our feet practically swallowed by the amount of leeches that had hitched a
ride in our boots and on our legs for the past few hours. A few shrieks and
gasps later we’d cleaned each other up and could now honestly claim that we
were roughing it Nepali style!
That night a wildly competitive
Nepali card tournament began with American volunteers and the Nepali guesthouse
owners. The next thing we knew it was 4 am and the owner of the guesthouse was
bringing out freshly popped popcorn, homemade chocolate pudding and hot lemon
to keep us going. Despite my exhaustion the next morning on our trek, this is
one of my favorite nights of the whole trip.
Our last day of trekking
dropped us back into a village where we caught a bus to take us back to
Pokhara, the town we’d departed from. Oh and when I say we “caught a bus” I
mean we rode on the top of a public bus through the surrounding villages, and I
can honestly say this is one of the craziest places I’ve fallen asleep…yes
after our all nighter card tournament a few of us fell asleep atop a bus in
Nepal as it wove it’s way through the village streets! Some of the best sleep
in my life.
Our last day was spent in
Pokhara, where we explored Fewa lake, Davis’ Fall and the Peace Pagoda in
Pokhara We all enjoyed every moment, aware that it was one of our last days
with Happy and this real tight knit team we had established. I’m starting to
understand the bond that my grandfather shared with his fellow climbers. The
team connection has been referred to as a brotherhood. While our adventures
were not nearly the same caliber as Boppa’s, the connection between a group of
people, tackling all sorts of situations, offering daily support, and
motivation, in a land so unknown really creates friends and teammates out of
strangers. Each and every one of us needed a spirit-lift sometime along the
trek and every team member could offer gut wrenching laughter at any moment
when appropriate. We all learned to step up to the plate.
My last day in Kathmandu was
bitter sweet. I had to say goodbye to the house I’d considered home, the
sisters and friends I’d called family for the past 6 weeks, and the boy, a new
best friend, that I’d tutored/hung out with for over 100 hours. While I knew
this group of amazingly, adventurous individuals would never all be in Nepal again,
and these past few months could never be recreated, the sense of adventure,
selflessness, and fearless approach to life that these fellow volunteers and
Nepalis had taught me were lifelong lessons.
I really have thought about Ishwor and his strength, Happy
and his optimism and my friends and their sense of adventures everyday since
I’ve returned home. Al’s Kathmandu Adventures may be over but this trip has
provided lifelong growth and empowered me in so many ways. I thank you all so
much for reading and following along and I hope you too will continue to “seek
adventure” (Papa Scho in his GAAA interviews.) There is so so much fun to be
had and love to be shared!
Love to you all,
Allison
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