Dharapani to Chame

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Today we reached the dizzy heights of Chame! We both agree it is the loveliest place we've stopped so far, really has a Nepalese feel to it rather than just a stopover for trekkers although that is also true judging by the stalls and lodges we passed as we arrived. Today our trek started from Dharapani at 1960m and Chame sits up a fair bit at 2710m. The villages we passed on route were Bagarchhap at 2160m and Danaque at 2210m. The day did not start off too promisingly as poor Clarisa was unwell last night, vomiting mainly and feeling shaky. She thinks following the meal at Barbie's and was not able to keep her dinner down. Sonam our sherpa was extolling the virtues of coke (n.b. coca-cola!) for this, I think he is half right, the sugar has got to help but I don't think the carbonated part helped much. She bravely tackled some momo's but gave up and got an early night. We met an English guy at the lodge we were staying who was returning to the Annapurna circuit from last year. This time he was carrying his own full pack and was educating us about the difference this makes, I can believe it! As we were both pretty shattered we headed off to bed early. Clarisa felt pretty rough overnight but managed a decent amount of sleep, sorry to say but I must have been dead to the world completely. We were up at 7.00 and sitting in the dining room by half past not daring to brave the ice cold showers (we are told there are hot ones in Chame so it'll just have to be a bad hair day!). For me breakfast was quite nice, for Clarisa it was a slight ordeal although she did manage to eat over half of the world's thickest pancake! As we left Dharapani we started our trek through stunning wooded hillsides peppered with marigolds. This day we did find quite tough as the climbs were steep, at times there were irregular steep stone stairs in the hillside (the kind that bust the thighs quite efficiently!) and at others dusty steep tracks with a few tree roots for grip. I think rather than anything the warm temperatures whilst we were climbing made us sweat. It was no tougher than I had expected it to be but I think the interesting psychological aspect was that whilst doing the climbing part, as a trekker you can see that in a few minutes time you will be winding right back down then up again. I think this had some effect on Clarisa whose energy levels were lower after her poor food intake and at one point she stated she couldn't go on! It was one of those situations though were you realise to go back is just as much effort as to go on and so after some backpack rearrangement and refreshments we moved on. Actually by that stage we'd done the hardest bit that day and it was acheivable even after a dodgy stomach. We came across some other trekkers at a checkpoint who seemed exhausted but happy. After a little while we emerged out of the forests and plateau at what definately felt like higher ground. We reached Danaque in time for an early lunch. This place seemed quite quiet as we approached but as we opened the door of the main teahouse/restaurant we were met by the hustle and bustle of lots of other trekkers. Some were going up, some down and everyone it seemed had chosen to stop here. I can see why now, the food was good both in quality and quantity. This and the fact there was a good selection meant the place was packed. It was weird as we've felt really lucky to have the trail mostly to ourselves so far! It was nice thought to see other trekkers. We set ourselves down at a table outside and ordered some tea and food. Two young Nepali guys were crouched in a corner amused by something. There were feeding the tiniest mouse i've ever seen a relatively large piece of cheese. The mouse seemed so unafraid of humans it was strange to watch esp when it crawled happily onto the guys hand and carried on nibbling contently! We were chatting to Sonam saying this would be an unlikely scene back home, he got back onto his favourite topic of Buddhist philosophy and the respect Buddhists have for every living creature. He is such a devout Buddhist, spending at least 2 hours at the start of every day chanting prayers as he walks behind us. We were just drinking our tea when two Italian trekkers came to ask if either of us were doctors. We said we were one medic and one surgeon and they asked us to come and have a look at their porter who was complaining of lower abdo pain and vomiting. He had found a lump in the groin which was coming and going but was now red, painful etc. These guys had no separate guide and he was carrying all their equipment. The porter was unwell in a bed upstairs above the kitchen. We went to examine him, but being female, the porter was not keen to have his body looked at and refused examination. Without the benefit of examining him we were obliged to cut down our list of potential diagnoses to strangulated hernia or appendicitis, the former being more likely. We advised him and the trekkers that a hernia could potentially be very serious, even life-threatening and that he needed to get to a hospital asap for assessment by a surgeon. The nearest hospital from here is some significant distance away. Having little or no equipment besides antibiotics we gave them a full course of oral antibiotics and our guide arranged for yaks to escort him and the Italians down the hill. We felt really helpless as we no equipment with which to help and no local knowledge of how to transport him off the trail. My hope is that the problem would be eased by the fact that he was no longer carrying the huge weight of three peoples gear. The porters here have an incredibly tough physical job and the line between offering people work and exploiting people with ridiculous physical labour is one I imagine may be often crossed. Looking at slim little Gansa, our porter, always smiling despite the hardship we quickly went to our bags, threw out stuff and transferred more to the day pack. A harsh lesson. With a large amount of slithery cold noodles in our bellies and the sick porter packed off on a yak we carried on up to Chame reaching it a lot quicker than we expected to. The first thing we came across was decorated mani stones at the entrance to the village. Sonam marched us military style past all the tempting stalls and shops telling us we'd go and stay on the outskirts of the village in a particularly nice lodge. After walking past a tempting array of biscuits, Mars and Snickers we crossed a suspension bridge fluttering with hundreds of prayer flags above the Marsyangdi. We touched down for the night just the other side of the bridge at the Sangso Guest House. I haven't mentioned any guesthouse names so far in my blog but this one is worth a mention. It is special in that it has a real family feel to it. The owners went out of their way to make us feel welcome, gave us dinner in their own home and even gave us the (obviously much coveted) remote control for the TV later that evening! On arriving we did the usual dump the bags, change out of the boots and head out again to explore. Sonam had promised us a gompa so we were eager to visit this one (as was he too!) It was so great to find out it was only a 5 minute walk away led by the female caretaker and her little boy who kindly opened it up for us. We passed under a beautiful towered archway on the way and came up to what looked from the outside like just a little wooden hut on stilts. The caretaker unlocked the rusty lock and opened a very rickety door for us. The smell of the incense came wafting out as we stepped inside. It was such a peaceful silent place very still and comforting. As would become a regular theme, Sonam beat the drum and played a single note from the conch shell lying on what looks like an altar. The interior of the gompa was breathtaking, the amazingly colourful decoration and ceremonial masks a real treat for the eyes after staring at a dusty track and our own feet for much of the day! As Clarisa is buddhist, her an Sonam did a little ceremony with water flicks and blessings whilst I wandered round quietly at the side. The ceremonial masks are used at particular festivals to re-enact important buddhist stories at various auspicious times. There was a wall of 108 golden buddhas, 108 being an auspicious number (I don't remember why this is the case). It was a very interesting, beautiful place to visit. If you haven't visited a buddhist gompa I would definately recommend visiting this one if you have time whilst staying in Chame.
As the light began to fade we wandered down to the river which is fast flowing with a fair amount of frothy white spray in places. The sound of the river echoes throughout that part of Chame and could be heard from the bedrooms of the guesthouse all night, was so relaxing. We headed back and had hot showers in a little outdoor cubicle next to the river. Dinner was with the family who own the guesthouse in their living room sitting around the TV set! It amused us that we asked for Dhal bhatt and the head of the household sat down with a plateful of fried egg and chips! Although conversation was limited due to language barriers a good deal of amusing sign language ensued and somehow I ended up with the remote control for the TV. The problem was we couldn't understand a word of what was on and that every channel seemed to be a Nepali shopping channel! We felt it was very kind of them to welcome us as they did and not just see us as walking rupees as some places can do. Having said that we have come across more like this in Nepal than anywhere else, the Nepali people are genuinely nice, warm hosts. It was getting really quite cold by the time we headed for bed that evening and it was the first time I have really appreciated my down sleeping bag! Tomorrow we head for Pisang and should start to see some mountains!

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