Trek Day 2: What's a Pencil Worth to You?

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I feel so rested today, slept for like 9.5 hours and woke up at 5:30am. It is now 7:00am, I am on a $16 budget a day so that is stressing me out a little. I went int Arughat's village to get a hat and hiking socks, the people are quiet here, My diary yesterday did not do that bus ride justice, every turn seemed to get more beautiful than the last and now that we are starting the real trek, it will only get better. There is no electricity here and apparently only few places along the way have some, even fewer with cell reception. Apparently tourists are mad that proper roads and electricity are being built because it ruins their "authentic experience", I think it is great, everyone here is very hard working and carries a lot of weight on their shoulders (no pun intended) for miles and miles on end. Also it would be nice no squat-pooping in the dark (than god for T.P and flashlights lol). The food is no more than $3/day in these regions (apparently it gets more expensive the higher you go). So far a boiled egg and juice is costing me $1.80. Food takes 40 minutes to cook though. As they say Daal Baat power 24 hour, that is what we had yesterday, I had chicken Daal Baat (one means lentil the other rice). People here are so friendly and talk to each other like they are besties. Just yesterday we were all making music with leaves on the bus blasting music and talking to strangers, that never happens on the STM, speak to someone there and they will think you escaped the Douglas.


Today's trek went by quickly we made it in 3 not 4 hours (yes! I can do this!). We made lunch at the village Soti Khola for 11:30 then I slept all day because I was exhausted. This made me mad because I wanted to walk around for a bit and take pics, but whatever I think I needed the sleep and my body needs rest for tomorrow. On the way to Soti Khola I tried fresh milk, it tasted so sweet and good. We came across a village where kids asked for "pen" so I gave them my pencil which I have not been using. They were so happy and showed all the other kids in the village, their dad even wanted to give me money for the pen and kept thanking me over and over again. Everyone here especially the kids are so nice, they say Namaste wherever you go and follow you through the village hoping you have balloons, chocolate, pr pens, and when you do they are so excited. I saw some donkeys and goats and all sorts of animals on the way here. When donkeys come by you have to stop moving and stay toward the inner part of the mountain or else they can knock you off, it happened to a little boy on our way to a village right before we arrived.

I got sick with a cac-attack and an going to sleep all night, hopefully I will be better in the morning.

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