Rainbows and Unicorns

I'm suffering from writers block... How can you keep people interested in your story if there are no uncomfortable conditions or hidden twists? And here I thought I had a chance at being a good writer. Anyone can tell a story if the events alone can hold the audience's attention. It's relaying the info when things are good that separates a writer from a hack. I fear that I may fall into the latter category, but I'll give it a go just in case.

In short, things are good. But before I explain what I've been up to, I should elaborate on my motives behind this 7-month journey. For the benefit of those who may not know, I've always wanted to go to Nepal. And specifically, to see Mt. Everest. So much that I planned this entire journey with this trekking section as the focal point. Basically, no one but my parents would have known that. So yes, there was an underlying method to my apparent madness described through the ordeals of the previous entries. Knowing that trekking in the Himalayas was in my future has been my lifeline more than once. I am the ass and it is my carrot dangled in from of me as I stumble through India and Africa.

The time had finally come and it has been a surreal experience. My expectations were met as soon as I got on the bus for the "8 hour ride." I used the quotations because that was supposed to be the time it took to get us to Jiri (the starting point of the trek). 2 flat tires tend to add on a little, though. More like 12 hours. But nothing could have gotten us down. Do you want to know why? We rode on the roof the entire time. The road wound through the foothills up and over the passes. We made ourselves seats in the luggage and stared at the vista of mountains on the horizon. This was probably my first actual sight of Everest but I'm not counting it because I couldn't pick it out of the lineup.

So the bus was an unexpected bonus to an already incredible trip. I think I will spare my audience the details of our day-to-day activities during the walking part and lump them in together as best I can.

The trip took 21 days. We walked an average of 7-9 hours in total per day. My only criticism was that someone should give a little lecture to the Nepali culture. They are firm believers making straight lines from point A to point B. The first 7 days were spent climbing straight up a peak, then straight back down to a river. It had me dreaming of all those nice flat lake walks around the Twin Cities. And I mean straight up... no switchbacks or anything. We were given a thorough butt kicking for a while and I reached previously unheard-of amounts of sweat excretion on a daily basis.

Which leads me to another major point. How much food do you think you have to eat to avoid losing weight on a trip like this one? I'm afraid that was a genuine question because we haven't found the answer yet. Here is an example of our daily ingestion:

Breakfast- 2 egg omelet, large pancake with jam, coffee.
2nd breakfast- about 300 grams of cheese with a box of crackers.
Brunch- trail mix
Lunch- Dal Baht. This is the national dish of Nepal and deserves an explanation. It's a heaping plate of white rice, a vegetable curry, and a lentil sauce all mixed together. They keep refilling your plate until you cry or pass out (or both)... it's ok, but I miss Indian food.
Mid-afternoon Snack- usually more crackers and a snicker bar.
Dinner- At least 2 entrees and an appetizer. And don't forget the apple pie.

That was our best effort and it did no good at all... We are skinny. So much that I'm afraid of getting yelled at when I return home in a month. Sorry Dad, I tried. Please tell Jackie that we will have to double our chocolate milkshake efforts over xmas.

The trip itself was essentially two stages:

Jiri to Namche Bazaar (8 days)- Up and down and up and down until you can't take it any more. Almost no one does this part. They prefer to skip it and I understand why. More for us, though, and we enjoyed being the only tourists on the trail
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Namche to Everest Base camp and back (13 days)- Entirely above tree line. 3500 meters to start, then up to 5500 meters in elevation at the highest point... I don't know how to describe the beauty of those mountains except to say that there is no way to capture it in a picture (we tried a lot, though). It's the kind of beauty that can suddenly make you want to cry and you don't know why.

I got my first real glimpse of Mt Everest watching the sunrise on October 17th. How do I remember the date? Because it marked exactly 5 months of travel to get there. How cool is that? Do you want to know what I felt when I saw it? ....Eh. It's not actually what you would expect. The others in front of it stole the show. But I did make this realization... It is true when you hear that the journey is more important than the destination. For me, it turned out to be more about getting to Everest than being there. It took me exactly 5 months to get there and seeing it made me realize just how great everything else has been along the way. Sorry about the use of an old cliche, but it was the best I could think of.

We gave ourselves 6 days of rest/internet splurging before starting another trek. Here are my questions I can't answer about all the world events we missed... When did the Rockies become good? There are fires in California? Is Hillary really going to be president? Brett Favre isn't dead? ... Really?!

So we were left with many questions on our mind, but no time to dwell on them. It was onto the 7 day Annapurna Trek, or victory lap, as we like to call it.

We treated this trip a little differently than the previous one. It was time for a new set of goals because we had already earned our merit badges for physical accomplishment. So here they are... Apple pie every night (no exceptions), 1kg of chocolate to be eaten freely, and as many fake stories and patronizing smiles to be handed out to other trekkers. Our last fake story was that I'm an aspiring Astronaut and Lindsay is a cowgirl. I saw her lasso-ing a herd from my rocket ship and we ran away together. It's more interesting than repeating the same old story about two kids from Colorado. The patronizing smile part goes a little like this... Head cocked, no teeth showing, hands on hips, preferably when you are descending a hill they are climbing. It takes some practice, but the end product is well worth it.

You may not understand our reasoning for all of this, but how else can you keep laughing if you spend everyday with the same person? We've kept it up somehow, but the material is getting a little thin. We both agree that there may be a public wrestling match of sibling sized proportions in our futures. Our conversations have recently dwindled down to arguments over whether the word "poop" is an onomonopia (you know... pooooooo...p. You can tell which side I'm on. Feel free to weigh in), or reenacting old SNL skits. The latest laugh is from the superfans (da Bears!). "Hold on! Hold on! The name of the hurricane... is Hurricane Ditka!" I'm sorry if that isn't funny for you, but it's enough to make me smile just writing it down.

28 out of the last 34 days have been spent walking and I have a great deal of respect for Lindsay (mostly newfound). Not just for putting up with me, but for the amount of pain she's been through. She started experiencing knee pain on the 2nd day of the Everest Trek and it hasn't gone away since. Anyone who can relate to that pain will tell you that the last thing you want to do with a bad knee is climb and descend mountains everyday. But she never complained. She is the toughest person that I have ever met and deserves all the credit in the world... I gave her the spirit award for the trip. You know, the one they always give the fat kid at track and field day?

This has been a hard update to write. I tried once 2 weeks ago and couldn't finish. I think it was because I hadn't gotten the closure that I was looking for. I found it on the roof of the bus riding back after our 2nd trek. It was going out the way we came in and it felt like I had finished something important. Except this time we got caught in the rain. But hey, it makes for a fitting end right?

So now it's on to bigger and better things. Maybe some White Water Rafting, or bungee jumping. We'll have to see. All I know for certain is that there is another long train trip in my future too because my flight is out of Mumbai on December 4th (that's 55 hours of trains away right now). So stay tuned because things are going to get interesting.