Poon Hill

Poon Hill
Morning of Day Three

The trip up Poon Hill was only part of day three, but it deserves its own post.  The thing to do with Poon Hill is to get up and climb it before sunrise, which meant we should have gotten up at 4:30.  But since we missed the 4:30 alarm, and didn't get hiking until 5 we had to really haul it up the hill.  I felt like I was sprinting, and at that point the air was a little thin. We made it in time to see the sunrise, but at a price: I was sure I was going to puke.

Even after we got to the top, and after calming the puke urge, I was still pretty crabby.  I was crabby about getting yanked out of bed before dawn in the middle of my vacation just to sprint up a mountain in freezing cold weather.  But, eventually my mood improved. The views alone were worth the trouble, we had a complete panorama of some of the world's tallest mountains.  The Nepali Starbucks at the top also made things considerably better.  

are we there yet?

Tikhedhungga to Ghorepani
Day Two

I'm probably not the best person in the world to hike with because I always want to know how much further we have to hike.  Luckily, we hiked with a guide, and he always answered my questions.  "One hour, maybe two," he'd say.  "Slowly, slowly."

Day two, again, was up, up up.  But this time we were rewarded with views of the mountains.  

Day two was also the day we decided to start taking naps after lunch.  A good call.  When is that ever a bad idea? 

I knew all day that our destination was Ghorepani, so when we arrived in a town and I asked, "What's the name of this town?"  and our guide said, "Ghorepani," I said, "Oh! Good!" then threw down my walking stick and started looking for the warm showers and cold beers.  Our guide said, "This is lower Ghorepani, we're going to upper Ghorepani."

Damn.

But it wasn't so bad.  Warm showers and cold beers were only fifteen easy minutes away.

This brings me to the trip's greatest dilemma:  What do you have first?  The warm shower or the cold beer?

Solution:  Bring the beer into the shower!  I can't take credit for this solution, I saw another lady doing it.  Showers from this point on were communal.

The lodge in Ghorepani had a big, warm fireplace and excellent food.  Everything overlooked the mountains outside and later in the night there was a thunderstorm.

We had a great dinner and good company, then went to bed early for the pre-dawn trip up Poon Hill.  

our guide, Shiva

first view of the mountain!

Nepali people do not rely on modern tools

I told you I was a lucky lady!

See the lady in the background?  She was about 100 years old, carrying a ton of weight and kicking our butts up the hills. 

In Spanish it's called a siesta

Brad kept calling the lodges, lounges.  HA! 

slowly, slowly

Nayapul to Tikhedhungga
Day One

I have to admit  that at the end of each day I was too tired to take a large amount of notes, so I'm writing these blogs from a few words scratched into our notebook and memory.  This trip reduced me to a primal state, my main concerns were moving, eating and sleeping.  

Day one was nothing but up.  We started low and had a long way to go before even glimpsing a mountain.  Somewhere along the trail I heard a woman whining, which made me feel smug.  Before the trip I had images of steep-ass, terrible climbs in thin mountain air.  But the actual physical exercise wasn't half as bad as I'd imagined. Our guide, Shiva, liked to say, "slowly, slowly."  No one in the group was in a hurry, and it suited everyone just fine to take it easy.  That meant that we often got into our teahouse just as the sun was setting; but considering there were still hours before bedtime, we had plenty of time for our evening activities: drinking Everest beer, playing cards, eating dinner AND dessert, and chatting with the rest of our trailmates from all over the world. 

On the first night we stayed in a tiny lodge perched beside a waterfall.  Inaki and Alberto were excited that the lodge had a swimming pool (read: small puddle at the bottom of the waterfall) and immediately stripped to their skivvies to swim in the barely melted mountain water.  I headed for our in-room bath and shower (the only one of the trip) and thought I'd take a warm rinse.  The shower had other plans.  There was a knob labeled "hot", but it produced nothing but freezingness.  I mustered all my remaining strength and leaped into the stream.  I lathered up out of the stream and then lost all courage.  I stood there, soapy for maybe a full minute before finally going back in.  It was icy, but invigorating.  Brad went to shower after me and somehow rigged himself a hot one.  After that, Brad showered first and then gave me instructions.

Dinner was garlic soup and chapati for me, pasta for Brad and apple pie for us both.  That night we slept snug in our sleeping bags, safe from the cold air and all tuckered out from a long day of exercise.

                                

intro

The Route

We did part of the Annapurna base camp trek.  It is one of my greatest disappointments that we didn't have enough time to make it to base camp.  After the third night our guide pointed toward the mountain and said, "Base camp is three days that way."

I said, "Three days!  We have three days!  Let's do it!"

"It takes three more days to get back down."

"Oh."

At least we have a reason to go back.   

The Cast

three handsome men
and

ME!
I was the envy of every woman on the trail.

We met Inaki and Alberto at the trekking office in Pokhara.  They are from Bilbao, so when I told them I'd lived in the Basque country for a year they jumped up and down and hugged each other.  They were the best possible trailmates.  We miss them already.

It's going to be hard to write about each day, because it's mostly like this: walking, walking, eating, eating, walking, walking, eating, drinking, sleeping.  In all we did 80 kilometers in about 5 and a half days.  At night we stayed in tea houses, which had varying ranges of amenities.  Sometimes we climbed hills, sometimes we went down hills.  Sometimes we took naps after lunch, sometimes we pressed on.  Always we enjoyed the sights, the fresh air and the ever-generous and humble welcomes of the Nepali people.

the Bad beginning

 

We’ve had a few vacations begin disastrously, but as far as bad beginnings go, this vacation wins. It all started on the flight from Chennai to Delhi where Brad’s seatmate wouldn’t allow the woman in front of him to recline her seat. He disallowed it by violently shoving her seat forward every time she tried to move it back. We’ve noticed this type of behavior before on Chennai to Delhi flights. Last time we flew to Delhi there was one fight on the plane. This time there were three.

A few minutes into the flight and my adrenaline was pumping, I was prepared to fight back, with anyone, but most especially the tiny, angry man in the seat next to us. Later Brad and I talked about it and discovered that we shared the feeling. Brad's plan of attack was to go for the throat; I was going to beat him about the head.

We finally decided on the best plan: roundhouse kicks to the face.

We made it to Delhi safely, but not until after midnight. With our next flight at 6 am, it didn’t make sense to get a hotel, so in the airport we stayed. In my younger days I spent the night on the floor of a London airport and swore I would never do it again. This time we had chairs, it made a bit of a difference, but not much.

In all, I think we got two hours of sleep.

From there things improved. How could they not? And after 16 hours of travel, we made it to the start of our trek: Pokhara.

It would be corny to say that from there the vacation went uphill, because, get it? IT WAS A HIKING TRIP! But it did. It went uphill to point that it might have been the best vacation of our lives.

I’m going to tell you all about it, but it might take a while. Grades are due Wednesday and Brad and I are experiencing some post-vacation depression. I’ll pull it together. Stay tuned.

Nepal

One of the best things about working at an international school? October break! WOOO! On Friday we're off, this time to Nepal. We got a lot of beach over the summer, so on this vacation we're heading north for something entirely different. A six-day trek through the Himalayas.

I have to say, we are completely unprepared for it. After living in the tropics for almost four years, I have next to no warm clothes. And you all know what happened to my hiking boots. But through the generosity of some good friends, I am mostly geared up.

It would be miraculous to find an internet connection in the middle of the tallest mountains in the world. If I do, I'll send an update. But I'm pretty sure you won't hear from us until the 18th, when I hope to be: A. alive and B. skinnier. Am sure of B, not so sure of A. JUST KIDDING MOM!

happy birthday to me

One of the benefits of living in India is the savings potential. Another is the buying potential. Clearly, we are having trouble drawing the line, especially around birthday time.