The burnt nose

---

I woke up to a real problem.

My nose was sunburned. Badly sunburned.

The whole thing was covered in blisters, which all seemed to burst the second I woke up. My nose was one big mass of red, sore, pussy broken blisters. It was not good.

I kicked myself for not being more careful. I had coated my face with No. 30 sunblock early in the day yesterday, and thought that one application was enough. But since I kept stopping every 10 minutes to blow my nose, I figure I wiped it all off fairly quickly. High altitude, in the snow, is not where you want to expose any of your skin to the sun.

Claire and Sim thought it was sort of funny, since my "tan line" made a funny mark across my face. I had burned only my nose and two strips on either side of my cheeks, since the rest of my face had been covered by a balaclava and sunglasses the whole day.

By the time I had finished breakfast, the broken blisters had hardened into a sickly-looking yellow crust. I went from tiny shop to tiny shop in the village, desperately seeking an ointment that might help. The best I could find was a small container of Vaseline, so I bought it and slathered it on. Then I covered my face with a bandana to keep my nose out of the sun, and off we went to the temple.

Now, the temple is at the top of a hill just outside the main village of Muktinath, a holy place to Buddhists and Hindus. After yesterday's grueling hike, none of us was happy about having to climb a hill. We took our time, resting on benches along the way. By the time we got to the top, poor Sim was wiped out, and headed back down to relax with a book instead.

Claire and I continued on into the complex, which is shared by both Buddhists and Hindus. In one small temple, an "om" symbol painted in colored sand on the ground outside, a group of Buddhist monks sat around a fire chanting. In another spot, dozens of Hindus were shedding their clothes and hitting the sacred waters.

We had timed our stop in Muktinath just right. People had come from all over to visit the holy site for Dashain, one of their more important festivals. Some had traveled, by foot, for weeks to get here.

As interesting as it was, we couldn't linger there all day. We did have plans to do some hiking, though we were trying to keep it fairly easy to give ourselves a chance to recover from the high pass. So we opted to hike for about two or three hours, mostly a gentle downhill, to the nearby town of Kagbeni.

Walking along, I couldn't help but notice the dramatic change in scenery. Where before the forests, even high up at elevation, were filled with pine trees. Here, there was nothing. Only a few little bits of shrubs. We were clearly deep within the rain shadow, a place where nothing grows because all of the rain is captured by the mountains and never makes it here.

They aren't completely without water, for there is a river to follow, the Kali Gandaki Nadi, apparently famous among Hindus. I was told that one of their gods, Vishnu, during one of his incarnations (there were several), had fallen in love with a prostitute. I guess it got a little complicated for the lovebirds, because he had to turn her into a river. But he turned himself into the fossils which are plentiful in this river. Very sweet. Always dreamed a guy would do that for me...NOT.

Anyway, it was still early in the day when we arrived in Kagbeni, which meant we were able to revel in a luxury we often missed by being the last to roll into a lodge: a hot shower. I mean, it was HOT! Not lukewarm, not freezing cold. HOT! It was our first truly hot shower of the whole trek, and we basked in it. Having gone nearly a week without a full-on shower, with only quick sponge baths in cold water, I can easily say this was among the best showers of my life.

---

Photos

Muktinath
Hindus making offerings for Dashain at the temple at Muktinath.

Taking the plunge
Running through the sacred waters at the temple complex.

Working in the fields
Women at work on the way out of Muktinath.

New landscape
This side of the pass looks considerably different than the other side.

Comments

[linda]

My son is presently hiking the Annapurna trail and since I can't connect with him it is the next best thing to read your blog and have an idea of what he's experiencing. thanks!!!