You've Never Seen Mountains Like This Before

I wasn't going to go trekking. Really, I wasn't. The question came up fairly often in my first 3 months in Nepal, since that's sort of what foreigners are supposed to do in Nepal. But I was convinced I was just here to volunteer. Trekking was something that didn't need to happen. I'm so glad I changed my mind.

I ended up realizing that for someone who loves mountains and hiking as much as I do, it would be kind of ridiculous to come to Nepal (halfway around the world) for 5 months, and not go trekking once-in the country rumored to have the best trekking in the world. (By the way, the words 'hiking' and 'backpacking' aren't really used in Nepal for some reason, it's all about 'trekking', I don't know why.) So when my roommate at Banepa, Rima, decided to go trekking for one week in the Annapurna area with another Volunteer Nepal volunteer, Patty, I decided to sacrifice a good chunk of my dwindling spending money and join them. Before we left Rima said to me, "You may think you've seen mountains, but trust me, you haven't seen them yet." And she was right.

It's quite a difficult task to imagine mountains more dramatic than the Himilayas. They rise out of the calm and rolling hills as mounds of rock and snow aching to touch the sky, not caring what rules of physics they're breaking. Even when they are so close and in your face, they're practically untouchable save for intense mountaineers like Rima who's going to climb Everest one day.

There's something inherently nice about walking and climbing up and down hills for hours every day. It sort of feels like how humans are supposed to operate: physical exercise, fresh air and all that. And when the reward for straining yourself to get over a hill is spectacular views of the Himilayas, it just becomes that much more wonderful.

The most amusing thing we saw while trekking, aside from the plethera of signs written in Nepali English (see picture below for an example), and aside from when Rima stepped off a cliff to be caught by vines (which was most amusing after she was on solid ground again) was the lodge we stayed at that had an open doorway between the toilet and a storage room. So it happened that a HUGE open basket of potatoes sat RIGHT NEXT to the squatter toilet. Thankfully we saw it before we ordered our food, so we knew not to order the potatoes and it was funny rather than revolting. Also rather amusing was the time when we realized that 4 days into the trek, none of us knew our assistant guide's name, and it was too late to ask. This became rather obvious when Patty tried to say that a cup of tea was his cup of tea and paused where his name should go. We all broke into awkward laughter. Our guides asked bewilderedly why we were laughing and Patty saved the day by talking about how much she loves to laugh and all the other times she also laughed. One of the wittier topic diversions I've witnessed...

So did I accomplish much in service to the Nepalese while trekking? Excepting employing a couple guides and bringing more business to some trekking lodges not really, no. But I learned how to play Rummy 500 and saw views of mountains that made my heart hurt from an overload of beauty and now I can spend the 6 weeks I have left in Nepal (Only 6, can you believe it?) doing the last two volunteer projects I wanted to do. I'll work at the old age ashram (as much as I can between the Maoist transportation strikes) and Papa's House Orphanages through Christmas and then go back to Guarishankar orphanage for a while to paint 3 murals I've planned. And then home! The end is in sight for the first time since I came, and it's a strange feeling.