First day of trekking! Cannot wait to finally be going somewhere. The Annapurna trek is the most popular and most beautiful in Nepal. We woke up this morning to a gorgeous view of the Fish-Tail mountain, an amazing looking mountain which does in fact look like a fish tail, like an M. You cannot actually climb the mountain as it is sacred and is officially named, Machhapuchhare, something I am still incapable of saying. We were all gobsmacked by our first views of the Himalayas. None of the pictures which you see can prepare you for seeing it in real life. It is a sight I cannot properly describe. We set off from Pokhara by bus to the start of the trail, which is really in the middle of nowhere. We were introduced to the 10 porters who have been traveling with us since Kathmandu all of whom had chatted with a few of us. Humorously most of them have the second name of Sherpa which they all found quite funny. Learning first names will be hard and most of them can't actually talk to us however seem to find everything we do very amusing. They do put us all to shame with the loads which they carry. They each carry between 40-60 kg (2-3 packs) which they bind together with rope. They then attach a rope with a forehead strap and carry their load that way. It looks extremely painful. Nima, our main guide, started working first as a porter before working his way up to be a main guide. He showed us his forehead which has been left flat and the hair rubbed away. Scarier still was the back of his beck where the bones protrude very far out from bending and lifting such heavy weights. As we exclaimed over when looks extremely painful Nima seemed unfazed. He told us that children now are much luckier than he was a child, getting education and not having to help make money for his family like he did. He told us that as a very small child he helped carrying large amounts of dried corn (corn drying from railings in a very common sight here) and leaves as well as wood for home. It still seems embarrassing as the porters laugh at us trying to climb the steep stairs in twice the time it took them with their heavy loads.
I forgot to mention the stairs! Which after today I may never want to see again. I have no idea how they managed it but our relatively short but by steep trek from Birethanti to Banthanti was 98% stairs. We have been speculating who an earth managed to build them while cursing them at the same time. The fairly short time until lunch (2 hours) already led us through mainly small villages with many tea houses geared towards trekkers. We managed to cover quite a few suspension bridges which gave us time to admire the awe-inspiring view, something you cannot do while trying to climb the stone stairs. The stairs, while amazing for being there are slightly haphazard and steep. I have trouble reaching the next step and I am fairly average sized here. the main concern in falling however is the horse and donkey poo which almost evenly covers the stairs. From where we began there is no access by vehicle so everything in this region is carried by donkey or horse as long as possible and then when they can no longer travel, by foot.
As I said before, I don't think any of us accounted for how hot it would be in Annapurna. Those of us who were attempting to follow the rules of modesty , covering your shoulders and knees, were quickly cast aside as pants were rolled and pinned up and athletic tank tops were unapologetically put on. For some reason still teased about my 95+ sunscreen but after seeing some of the sunburns today I think I can deal with the teasing. Pretty sure none of us remember sweating this much. Stopped for lunch at a place with an amazing view. One of the guides on the trip is in charge of food and cooks everything we eat, hopefully to stop any of us from getting sick. Lunch takes about 2 hours to prepare as there are so many of us and he makes sure all the plates and silverware are probably clean and all the vegetables and water used are boiled. [ NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: this next bit makes me laugh now, and is quite funny knowing what happens]. Medical care this high is extraordinarily hard to find and often when seriously ill the only option is to head back to Kathamandu, which would take days, so everyone is trying to be very careful not to get ill. We reached camp (a tea house) this evening and when were were there we saw a man carrying what we at first thought was a heavy load from his head strap which turned out to be a sick relative who needed medical attention but lived high in the Annapurna region. Being carried for 3-4 days can't be comfortable for someone that ill but for most people it's the only option. Hope he was ok. This highlights the importance of being safe about water sanitation as we have just begun using the water from the taps here (using water purification tablets of course).
When we reached the tea house (beautiful view) we were happy to learn that showers were available. Took an invigorating ice cold shower with an open window which allowed me to have a startling but very lovely conversation with a Nepali woman farming who seemed very unconcerned with my lack of clothing. Got out the shower and in to some normal and much warmer clothes as this high in the mountains it begins to get much colder at night. While some of us learnt to play tigers and goats and others backgammon I tried to write up the day in my journal.
As we all sat together in one of the rooms George informed us of the presence of some very large and quite scary looking spiders in the tea house. The room setups here are very simple. Each floor has rooms which are separated by either a very thin piece of plywood or a blue trap meaning that we can all have very nice conversations from bed with everyone around and above us. Before Bed we had some fun trying to fill out out Camelback pouches (water bladders) with purified water something which is easier said than done. The phrase water baby is born.
Had an interesting night. Got into my sleeping bag said goodnight to Naomi and tried to drift off to sleep knowing we had a tough day tomorrow. Instead around 15 minutes in I began to hear scratching noises above my head. Knowing I had to get some sleep I tried to tell myself it was either chickens or the donkeys grazing. However as the noise began to get louder it became harder to sleep but the worst came when I was awoken by sawdust on my face. I won't lie, I panicked as I thought the mice or rats which were obviously chewing the floor above me were about to fall on my head. Didn't help when I choose that moment to turn on my headlamp and have the following conversation with Naomi, "Was that you?" - "Of course not!" N "Are the spiders in Nepal poisonous?" - "Naomi, I don't think it's a spider I think its either mice or ra-" N " No I'm just asking because when I went to the bathroom there was a huge one on our door and inside above your pack but when I came back they were gone - Night!" And she turned over and fell asleep.
Did not sleep well.
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