Sunday, November 16, 2008

Namaste! Hola! HEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Back from the trek. It was amazing. Just so surreal and incredible to be surrounded by such gigantic peaks. We ended up only doing the Annapurna Circuit trek, walking mostly everyday and we were gone for 22 days. Now we are in Pokhara chillin by a lake and relaxing, treating ourselves to pizza and wine.

The trek starts in a village called Beshishar. The big 'goal' was the Thorang La Pass at 17,776 feet, after about 10 days of continuous hiking. Not only was the mountains and the nature gorgeous, but walking through villages and meeting people and playing with kids was also wonderful. The first rest day, to acclimatize, was at Manang. I was actually really feeling affects of altitude. I had a headache, and was tired, pretty nauseous, and sometimes felt really dizzy. It is crazy to get out of breath for doing the littlest thing like drinking water, and to feel your heart beating really fast especially when hiking. So we decided to stay in Manang for an extra day to so I could better acclimatize. There is no hurry if you are feeling shitty and a little nervous about getting altitude sickness, HAPE, or HACE. At first I was bummed to stay an extra day, but got over that quick.
Reaching the pass was so rewarding. The day of the pass we had to go up over 2,000feet in elevation and down 6,000 feet...a long day, especially at high elevation. The views were spectacular and it was great to relish in that sense of accomplishment. Until you go down. It's never fun to go down so much, especially with 30 lbs packs. Though it did feel good to go down in elevation, even with shaky legs. When we got to Jomsom, a pretty big village, we realized that we needed cash if we wanted to eat and sleep on the trail for 2.5 more weeks. (It was more expensive than we planned for.) Of course, by the time we checked into a guesthouse and then went to the ATM - the only one on the trail - it was closed. The next day was a holiday. The next day there was low power...but they finally turned it on, so off we went. A couple of days later TJ got really sick, so we were in another village for a couple of days. By the end of that, we decided to cut it short. TJ was really hiked out and recovering from being so sick, and I use it as another excuse to come back and do the Base Camp trek. The only really shitty thing was that TJ's camera broke before the pass. Luckily in Manang we go a little disposable, hopefully they turn out. And we bought a camera in Pokhara for the rest of the trip.

All in all it has been amazing.

Tomorrow we leave to go to the Chitwan National Park, to bathe elephants and go on a jungle safari. I am really stoked, I just hope the elephants are treated kindly or I will probably cry.
After Chitwan we will go to Lumbini; a village right on the boarder of India. The birthplace of Buddha.
Then we'll jet over to the Everest Region to catch some views of the highest mountain in the world.
After that, it's back to Kathmandu. I'll say good-buy to the students at school and my family and friends, and we're off to India.

3 comments:

Mom said...

OH MY FREAKING GOD----You guys are on such a ride....I'm so with you in spirit...looking into my hand everyday. The pic's on your facebook are incredible...I will join facebook..I love you honey...more than all the bugs you'll encounter on your jungle safari!!!! Mom

Dad said...

It sounds like you guys are having the trip of a lifetime, except maybe for the getting sick part. Glad to hear that your feet held up OK. I hope the pictures turn out on the disposable camera cause the ones you posted on line are amazing. Look forward to hearing more.

I love you, Dad

Phyllis said...

So good to read your blogs! It makes us feel so much more connected. We think of you everyday, and always look forward to hearing more stories! Too bad you couldn't do the basecamp trek, but now we can all go back and you guys can be our guides!!