Hello friends!
I have returned from trekking, 2 days early actually thanks to my refusal to stop hiking anytime before 4pm. But before I get into the details of this epic journey, I'm gonna start with my last day (today). Let me preface this by saying I am in no way complaining about a completely unromantic end to my trek, not mad about it one bit, I'd just be doing a huge diservice to you guys if I didn't share the dirty details. SO, the main way these remote Himalayan villages can get supplies to make trekkers as comfortable as possible, and just to sustain basic survival in general is by having donkeys and yaks carry gear up and down the mountain. The only way to get these lards of fleas and stink to move is by walking alongside them, yelling and slapping their butts. This job is integral to the movement of goods through the village networks and it's a situation we should appreciate since most of us can simply get in a car and pick up groceries in about 10 minutes and even have cute old men push the grocery cart to the car for us (Mom I'm thinking of you).
This morning I woke up to wonderfully muggy Namche Bazaar (main trading post and backpacker haven at the foot of the big peaks). My guide, Krishna, and I got off to a speedy start attempting to break out of the mountains in time for a beer or two to celebrate. Now, my biggest concern for this trek was how I would fair with the elevation but thanks to some well planned self-medication and enough credit to my physical and mental fitness, I was able to summit two 16,800 foot peaks no problem. Unfortunately I fell victim to minor asphyxiation as we approached the behinds of a long line of donkeys on our way down from the mountains. Get ready kids you'll love this....so basically I was in deep shit (pun intended), if I wasn't stepping in poop I was smelling poop. I was blanketed in a harmony of farts and covered in poop dust. Once I stopped breathing in through my nose in an attempt to avoid the smell, the poop dust coated my throat. So for two hours I was sweating in the hot sun, eating poop and experiencing severe winds (the donkey's method to propel itself forward). I was thrilled. If this wasn't experiencing the true grit of living in the mountains I don't know what is. To be continued in the next post....
