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.