Excuse Me

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.....while i kiss the sky.

Wow. That's about all i can say about the 16 day jaunt max and i just took around the annapurna circuit. It's more or less the ultimate hut trip. I would hardly call it roughing it. Yes, we wimped out and hired a porter/guide. Perhaps we did not go balls to the wall, but not having incredible loads i think brought a lot more enjoyment to the both of us. It was really nice to know that at the end of the day, we did not have to set up our shelter, cook our dinner, and crawl, dirty, into our sleeping bags. After a hard day of climbing, we could take a shower (of varying quality obviously) at most places, then sit down to some hot tea and wait while a dinner was prepared for us. And it wasn't crappy food either. Dinner was always a long process because it was always fresh. We would see people picking vegetables from their garden to cook for us. We could have candy bars if we wanted----deep fried even. It made such a difference to be clean and well fed........
Like i said, it was hardly roughing it, but damn if it wasn't a good life.
If my statistics are correct....which, i should add the caveat that math is not my strong point and the calculations were done after a beer...and are also solely out of the lonely planet (lots of meters to feet and kilometers to miles conversions)....then despite being wimpy, we still accomplished a hell of a lot. Some (again, accuracy may be questionable) statistics:

Length of trek: about 186 miles in 16 days (one rest day)
Ascended: 24, 862 feet
Descended: 24, 944 feet
Highest Altitude reached: 17, 764 feet

For me, this trip has been so allegorical, metaphorical, and real. It was a lifetime in itself. We walked through summer, winter, spring, and fall. Our feet touched grass and mud, shit of every variety, water and snow and sand. We were moved by the mystery, the pulsing green of a million stars; fought against winds so fierce they threatened to blow us away. We loved each other like there was no tomorrow.....because we know now that there may not be. Isn't this how love should be?
We prayed among giants.......and had our prayers answered. We were blessed with good weather....learned that "good" weather isn't necessarily sunshine. We were seduced by the mountains, the clouds broke in small glimpses, like beautiful women showing just a little leg. The light was an exquisite painter......changing the peaks according to its mood. We were given so many "namastes" by children, bowing and placing their hands in prayer pose over their foreheads.........little gods of light greeting us on our path. We were surrounded by flirtatious butterflies, guided by friendly dogs, body-checked by horses. We were mauled and molested by mesquitos and leeches.
We woke every morning with nothing to do but walk. There was no purpose, no summit, no destination.......we walked in a circle. Some days we held our minds attentive to the sound of our steps, the weight of the sky, the crunch of the earth. Some days our minds lost us.
We were pleasantly suprised. When you think that you've seen the most beautiful place in the world.....when you think that where you are NOW, is the most beautiful......suddenly you turn a corner and G-d reveals himself in yet another form. It's so different from where you've just come from, it's so different from all you've known before.....you see pieces of other places, remnants of past environments, but nothing is quite like this. And it keeps coming. Paradise builds on paradise.....corners turn into other corners.....
You walk, you climb, you circle. Your steps becoming a mantra, a mandala.....taking you higher than you ever thought you could climb. You can lose your SELF in the mountains. And when you're ready to offer yourself to their beauty, their mystery.....when you open to their possibilities.....they bring you to the threshold of the sky. And then they dare you to jump.

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