Another delayed post...

And this time for no good reason. It took me a couple days of traveling to get back down to Palolem, Goa, and internet wasn't really an option until I got down here. Then it sunk in again: relaxation. Plus I was kind of scared about sitting down and trying to recap so much time that hadn't been covered yet. So much happens every day that I can't do justice to it all, but I really want to. So I'll just continue the "brief" recap of whats already happened in the lapsed time (if you believe that "brief" part, then you have a lot to learn about me!). So it looks like I left off right before our trek, and thats where I'll pick things up.

We had arrived in Nepal in Kathmandu, and left for Pokhara the next morning. After arriving in Pokhara we had a similar schedule with our planned departure for the trek the next day. That meant some quick shopping for gear for the hike, as Annapurna Base Camp (or ABC, as everyone up there calls it) sits at about 4,150 meters, or almost up to the peak of Mt. Rainier, which is a little over 14,000 feet. Point being that in the late winter it would be cold, and after five weeks in India, you can bet we didn't have the clothes to be in the snow. So we all went shopping in Pokhara! First off, Pokhara is a city that has been geared towards the trekkers and extreme sports people. You can go mountain biking, river rafting, river kayaking, trekking, paragliding, etc... and this means that you can buy anything related to such activities. North Face clothing is everywhere! Or rather, FAKE North Face clothing is everywhere! But when I say fake, it looks exactly the same, they use the same fabrics (so you are really getting Gore-tex when they say so), but the stitching is usually lower quality, and more importantly the price is a LOT cheaper than at home. For about $65 I bought a nice "North Face" jacket, snow gloves, an extra fleece, a hiking ski pole, some wool socks, a nice pair of binoculars, and glacier-style sunglasses (I had already bought some long underwear for the trek when we were in Delhi - the price was right). At home all of that stuff probably would have cost me over $250. I'll add right now that my fleece stitching came undone in the right armpit, which wasn't a factor, and the gloves proved to be good enough for our trek, but no more... the stitching also came undone in an ugly way. And this wasn't just an investment for the trek... save the gloves and ski pole, everything else is coming back home with me (via shipping). So we get geared up, John manages to find us a guide on the cheap (600 Nepali rupees a day versus the 1000/day everyone else was asking for, and we didn't have to pay for his food or lodging, which is normally expected), and we prepare to leave the n y, but at the same time I used everything in it, so what's a guy to do? Well, when the pack starts causing your hip joints to get unbearably sore, you start to think about your options, and the unthinkable option was to stop at the next tea house and wait a couple days for the guys to go up and come back down. Seriously, the pain had reached that point, and it was only getting worse. I just wasn't in good enough shape to take my pack all the way up, and it had got the best of me. Then our guide, Ram, saved the day for me: he exchanged backpacks (his seriously only had an extra pair of pants, an extra shirt, a sweatshirt, and extra socks - he didn't need anything else!). Not only was this unexpected, but greatly welcomed, at least for the rest of the day. So we continued on, and after a nice lunch in Chomrong (2210m) we eventually landed in Bamboo for the night. Now I mention Chomrong for two reasons, and the first is because of the massive stairs you have to go down while going through Chomrong. Not massive in each stair's size, but in the shear amount of stairs... probably 45 minutes to get down all of them (and over an hour and a half coming back up them!), and then once you get to the bottom you cross a river to.... go back up about the same amount before you flatten out for a while. We shall always remember Chomrong because of this. The second reason I mention Chomrong is we ended up staying there on the way back (at the same place we had lunch, Ram's personal choice). So now we're in Bamboo (2330m). Here we met an Australian couple, Beth and Dave, who were really both very awesome people, and who we met multiple times afterwards on our trip. They're the ones that convinced me that if I ever end up moving to Australia (which I've been thinking about for maybe five years), I would probably be best to go to Melbourne over Sydney, which was my previous first choice. I've since had a few other people second the notion that Melbourne is the place to be. I'm sold!

So two days down, and at the beginning of day three I look at Ram, who was always full of smiles (and childish giggles), and ask him how much it would cost me to trade backpacks for the rest of the trip. We settled on an extra 350 rupees per day, and we were both happy with that. Let me say this now: Ram earned every rupee! Actually, I think Ram (or Ramchandra) deserves a little explanation. He's been a guide for 16 years, and was a porter for a short time before that (to learn the trails). I believe he said he was 36 years old as well. He guessed he had been to ABC at least 50 times, and completed the three week Annapurna Circuit Trek five or six times. In other words he knows this area very well, and over 16 years the locals in the villages had come to know him as well. Most of the other guides were in their 20's, if even that. So as for the guides we met, Ram was kind of a "grandfather", and well respected. Not to say he is old in this trade, as there were many other porters who were older, but he'd still earned his respect. We had seriously found the diamond in the rough! Anyway, we agree on an extra 350 a day, and take off for day three. From Bamboo on the trek is pretty much only up hill, meandering through the river valley that goes up to Machupuchre Base Camp (MBC; 3700m), and finally ABC (4130m). It sounds scary to say "its straight up from here", but it was a good thing... that means you don't come back down in elevation just to turn a corner go right back up. Hillsides make you go up and down and up and down... hiking the river valley is a steady progression up. And a beautiful hike it was as well! Day three is also when we first encountered snow, but not very much; spots here and there mostly. And at the end of the day we stayed in Deurali (3150m). Now at this point the nights are getting colder, and I feel like mentioning the blankets, if thats what you want to call them... they were about an inch to an inch and a half thick, and compacted over much use to that density. These were blankets! And I'm sure glad they were so hefty! At this point the temperature at night really necessitated them. It was probably above freezing, or right around freezing, and the tea house rooms were not quite wind tunnels, but they didn't retain heat in the room, as cracks and holes in the walls and such were everywhere... you could see light coming in from the outside at the tops of the walls, if that says anything. So the blankets were a welcomed addition, and we were very thankful they were as heavy as they were! So, on we go...!

Day four we wake up on Deurali to a bitter cold air, albeit a very refreshing cold air. At this time of year you have to do your hiking in the high mountains before 1-2pm, lest you get into the avalanche portion of the day, when the sun has had enough time to warm up the snow. So our goal was to have lunch at MBC, about 550m up, and about an hour and a half hiking (for us). I haven't mentioned this yet, but above 2400m you are in altitude sickness range, so acclimatization is necessary, as symptoms of altitude sickness can range from a light headache to death. Yeah, its a big sliding scale of how bad things can be, and really the range of symptoms is just as big, but its really not something to toy around with. We met one trekker who pushed his luck up over a 5400m pass too fast and among a bad headache was also throwing up blood. That was bad, but it can get much worse than that. So needless to say we didn't want to push our luck, and stopping after an hour and a half at MBC for lunch was just fine with me. On the way up to MBC I could feel a slight pressure headache coming on as well, so the lunch break was most appreciated, and after resting it went away. After our lunch we pushed on for ABC. And by now we've been hiking in the snow for quite some time, Kevin only wearing sandals and wool socks, albeit rugged sandals that had been serving him very well all trip. And at this point we are also taking life one step at a time.... very slowly, at least in comparison to the previous portions of the trek. Simply put, the air only gets thinner, so O2 is harder to get in your lungs, and moving too fast doesn't help. So we slowly made our way up the trodden path through the snow, every now and then dropping a shoe through the snow and down to the knee... it was a big guessing game of "where will you not sink?" But we made it up. And once we got to ABC we promptly took our pictures in front of the big welcome sign, and Kevin and I proudly spread our small 12th man flag for a picture, showing that the Seattle Seahawks even have fans way up in the mountains of Nepal! I shall cherish that picture forever! (This isn't sarcasm, but is admittedly over the top in sappiness.) We got our rooms, and went inside our tea house to sit down to some Nepali tea (chai), and chilled out... we made it.

Part 2: The Long Trek Home, will have to wait for later... I have to go meet friends right now, and I'm sure this is waaaaay too long as is ;) What's new? Maybe I'll finish this tomorrow.

---

---