Nepal - TREKKING, Pt 2

Well, as you may have guessed, I lived to see the sun rise.  There was a point where it became clear to me that it was not, in fact, my time to leave my body and go to mahasamadhi, something that kept me here, something that wouldn't let me go.  And that something was Aphyna.  I can't get into the dirtiest of the details, but I will say that she stuck with me through everything, including spoon-feeding me mouthfuls of garlic soup between bouts of hallucination.  I think if the reaper had come, she would have given him a run for his money.  It was a long night, full of prayers, low in oxygen, and devoid of sleep, but the sun did rise.  And what a sun rise it was.  The clouds and fog were gone, my altitude sickness had evaporated with them, and the mountains stood revealed in all their majestic glory.  It was one of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen, for more reason than one; I felt I had come through a spiritual ordeal from the Universe, and I had somehow - with a lot of help - made it to the other side.

Annapurna I and III, both towering over 25000 ft, in the crystal clarity of post-fever consciousness

And the sun rising to set them aflame!  What a miracle.

The massive Macchapuchere completed the ring of peaks encircling us.  I can't believe people go up from here! 

Was it worth it?  I don't know if I can answer that - if I had known exactly what we were in for, I maybe would have done differently, or not done at all.  But I had no idea what we were in for, and maybe there was no way to really know.  Maybe this was exactly what the Universe had in mind for us: taking us up to the top of the world, to the edge, where the material meets the mystical, the abode of the Gods, just to see that there is, in fact, no way human life is meant to be up there.  Every molecule within us wanted down.  So down we went.

Every step was easier than the last.  We had the distinct sensation of coming back to ourselves, rather than walking out of our bodies and our minds.  Oxygen, food, water, warmth - we felt we were rushing downstream back to the essentials of life that would nourish us and restore us to full health.  Each step was one closer to completion.

We covered nearly 3 days worth of ascent in 1 day of descending.  Even though our digestive systems were still knotted, our heads throbbed, and our feet were blistered and raw, we felt like we might as well be floating on the river - nothing was going to stop us from getting down off the mountain.

Aphyna, Chakra, and I pose on the morning of our second-to-last day - our last group photo!

 The end of the trip was in sight.  We had our last long set of staircases, from Sinuwa down into a river valley and back up almost a thousand meters to Chommrong - Aphyna and I were both near to collapsing.  Just looking at stairs made us feel sick and put us on the brink of emotional breakdown.  So we took a break for chai and slices of chocolate cake, billed as "the best chocolate cake you'll ever eat".  That statement must have been from a few years ago, which is when I suspect that cake we ate was baked, as it was practically dusty it was so dry.  But we couldn't help laughing - look how far we had come!  Eating chocolate cake in the Himalayas!!  A week before, we never could have imagined we'd be here.  There was something truly magical and surreal about our trip, our lives, the world, the everything.  Gratitude flowed through us - what else could life surprise us with?  We would be ready.

It wasn't the best chocolate cake I've ever eaten, but it was the most beautiful place I've ever eaten it!

I don't think they're going up to ABC... but it was quite a sight!

Recharged with sugar (and with a few croissants packed away from a German bakery for later), we felt rejuvenated.  And one more thing kept us going: the promise of, at the end of the day, HOT SPRINGS!  That's right, after 6 days of grueling trekking, we would come to natural hot springs right along the river that we could bathe in and relax.  Relax!  Ha!  What a novel idea!  It was just enticing enough to keep us going.  That, and the croissants.  

As the terrain transitioned into almost exclusively downhill, our spirits lightened.  We started taking frequent breaks, whether for a photo op...

 Or to play with a kitten...

Or to drink real buffalo milk, milked that day, boiled, and sweetened with sugar...

Yup, there's one of those all-important life-saving croissants on the table!

 ...Or just a moment to drink in the majestic, ineffable beauty of the Universe, which was practically palpable, sparkling all around us...

...we nearly felt good again!  New foods started to pop up on the menus, and we ventured away from the standard staple Dal Baht (which was growing old, fast) and tried pizza, burritos, fried rice, anything to break up the monotony.  Chakra even found a guy selling freshly-caught fish that he had hiked up the trail - it seemed so fortunate, I couldn't say no!  That was a dinner I won't soon forget.

Weighing out one kilo of fish is apparently not an exact science, when all you have is the fish and a hand scale.

We didn't take our camera down to the hot springs, but lets just say, we were the last ones there.  We soaked for hours, just letting our exhausted muscles unwind, our cracked skin shed layers of dirt, sweat, and pain, and our shrunken souls rehydrate.  We dunked in the river for a few cold plunges; we chatted and swapped stories with some other trekkers and travelers; we even brought our soap and had the best "showers" of the whole trek.  It was just what we needed after 6 days of mounting soreness, tension, and, of course, walking.

After sleeping what felt like the sleep of the dead, we were on to day 7.  Chakra told us we had just 2 days left - this one and one more - but one look at Aphyna's face (especially when stairs came into view) told me that our trip had come to a close.  If I didn't get her out of these mountains and back into a warm bed before nightfall, I think she might have taken to drastic measures, and I may or not be forgiven for taking her on this trip in the first place.  So we made up our minds to take our first opportunity to get back to Pokhara, whether by bus, taxi, or pack mule.

The day itself was pretty relaxed, comparatively - Aphyna ditched her "torture devices", and gifted them to Chakra (who happened to have the same shoe size - nice!), and opted to hike in flip-flops, which she MUCH preferred.  And we saw some pretty wild stuff!

Two men operate the traditional Nepali sawmill - they have so much grace in their movements, it was a pleasure to watch

This was probably the strangest porter-load we saw on the whole trip: 60+ kg of, that's right, chickens.

These villagers are operating the traditional Nepali grain-mill: separating the millet from the stalks by hitting it with sticks.  Also pretty breath-taking to watch!

 And when we made it to the next town, lo and behold - a bus was pulling up to greet us!  Now, one thing you need to know about Chakra: he gets carsick.  Very carsick.  He was not excited about the idea of taking a 4-hour busride back to Pokhara.  But we managed to reach a compromise - we took at taxi instead!  Within 10 minutes, we found ourselves in a completely foreign and scintillating situation: MOVING WITHOUT WALKING!!

Goodbye, bamboo staff - Pokhara, here we come!

This is pretty much how I felt about being in a car.

I saved these pictures for the end, because they're pretty gruesome, but for the curious and/or morbid, here's an image that may haunt you: what the Himalayas can do to the human foot.

Appalling?  Grotesque?  Or symbols of bravery and perseverance?  Tributes to our tantalizing taste of mountain bliss?  Or reminders of our foolish ascent to the abode of the Gods, where no mortal can last long?  Did we fly to close to the sun?  Or was it our destiny to satisfy our (or at least my) hunger for an adventure unlike any other on Earth?  I can't say for sure.  But after we came down out of the Annapurna Conservation Area, we only wanted one thing:

THAILAND.
Coconuts.  Massages.  Beaches.  Thai food.  Sun.

So, with the swiftness that only 7 days of non-stop hiking can inspire, we bought plane tickets and flew to Thailand - a week earlier than planned, but so sorely needed.