Final Post... Counting Down....

So we are counting down the minutes sitting back at the Hyatt until we have to go home.  This morning we woke early went to the airport and took a flight that went along Mt. Everest and all the surrounding giant mountains.  It was pretty amazing.  The plane we were in held maybe 25ish people and they let all of us take turns looking out the cockpit since the view was clearer for pictures.


So, here's a couple more pictures of the hotel and the flight...


ALSO, On an exciting geeky side note we will be gaining about 10 hours coming home on our flight tomorrow on November 5th.  Which means we are traveling back in time on November 5th just like Marty McFly!  This is the closest I will ever be to Back to the Future. Yes.....

 

The Trek and more... (told by Corrine)

Hello everyone! Corrine here, live from the Hyatt in good ol’ stinky Kathmandu! This place is BA-NA-NA-S! An oasis in an otherwise crazy and filthy city. Our trip is just about over, we’ll hang out here for the rest of the day and catch our airbus home tomorrow. As I sit here next to the pool with aching legs and bruised toes I figured I’d take some time to fill you all in on the in and outs of our journey.

As you know we started our trek by hitting a horse and climbing stairs. I like to refer to the stairs as Satan’s hallway. It was insane. They were endless. It was hot. I’m out of shape. Enough said. It took about an hour to climb them, then we progressed to a pleasant walk and a nice lunch before getting lost in a Nepali village. We walked and walked and walked. Mike picked up a leech. We walked some more. I started to panic in true Corrine fashion when I found myself in a rice field staring at a bull in the middle of nowhere. The sun was going down and we were lost. We took a road the villagers said “no white people travel” which lead us to a small porter carrying chicken feed. Mike “ I could be a porter” Larrivee asked to pick up his load. This is what he looked like. (to the right) The day ended well in a nice tea house with Wifi, Nepali moonshine, and a Colorado couple with a nasty cough.

Day 2 found us going down a rocky path. This is when we learned that going up and down go hand and hand in Nepal. This day was extremely hot and we trekked for about 7 hours, so I refer to it as Satan’s porch. I fell twice, spraining my right middle finger and leading to a Dan Keel like fear of going down stairs. This was not the biggest injury of the day as Mike “ I could be a porter” Larrivee decided to jump off a 3 foot wall carrying a 50 pound pack ( surprised?) and popped his knee out. My poles came in handy

( he had already broken one earlier in the day, don‘t worry mom the piece is easily replaceable) and he was able to carry on. The day ended with a steep climb and a tea house with a hot shower which was a nice surprise =)

Day 3 was the hardest for all of us, our legs were aching and it seemed like we were all really, really exhausted. It started with the steepest climb of the trek, followed by the steepest decent of the trek, followed by the second steepest ascent of the trek. Cow poop was everywhere, flies were swarming on us, and it was wicked hot. We also had a lot of ground to cover. We ran into some goats and got to walk thru some Bamboo forests but we all wanted to die by the time we got to the tea house. Hot showers were now a thing of the past, we were quite used to squat toilets and using a flashlight to go anywhere or do anything. We were eating dinner at 630 and sleeping by 730 every night.
Day 4 found me wrestling with a plague. I picked up a very nasty cold and had limited cold medicine. Our injury report was climbing. Ryan’s knee was messed up, Tony’s knee was really bad, Mike had a self inflicted wound and I was feverish and coughing. Katie remained unscathed at the time ( though she now thinks she has a stress fracture on her foot). We trekked up again and took it slow ( so to speak) because we could only go so far due to avalanches. At the tea house we met a group we refer to as the Belgian Waffles. They were a group of 5 women, aged 50 to 67, hiking up the mountain. They were a riot. The stars that night were amazing, we could even see the Milky Way dust. It was getting very cold and we were almost to our goal!
Day 5 found us hiking up to MBC ( the fishtail Mountain) and on to ABC! I was still really sick but managed to make it with the groups “ no man left behind” motto. It was freezing in the morning and we had to wear heavy fleeces all day. The view from the base camp was amazing. I wish I had words to describe it but there really aren’t any. It was worth the climb, the injury, the sickness, the filth, the bugs, the squatting, everything. Our tea house that night was AWFUL. No power. No people. Nothing. However, we were on our way back the next morning with the Hyatt in view!

Three days down the mountain, two falls, and one night in Pokhara later and we’re almost home. This trip or adventure as we like to refer to it as was by no means easy. Even though it was hard it was really the experience of a lifetime. The views we saw got better day by day, reminding us of why we were doing this seemingly insane thing. The air was clean and it seemed as if we were getting to see the world the way it was meant to be created. I can’t explain how happy I am to have been able to have this experience.

We just gorged ourselves on a buffet and are looking forward to dinner. I may take two or three showers for fun and to make up for lost time. Hopefully we’ll see you soon!

More Pictures...

So here are a few more pictures from the trek along with some pictures of the food we ate at the tea houses.  Most of the foods consisted of rice and noodles.  They also had pizza at times but the sauce was sometimes ketchup.  Not the best...  Either way it was nourishing and fueled us.  Though the last night on the trail Tony and I had lasangna and it was gross.  It had a smoked taste and the beef in mine tasted like a slim jim. Ewww...

OK, so anyways, here are some pictures....

We Made It!

After my last post electricity was slim so internet was definitely a no. There are phones up there but that seemed to be about it.

But yes we’re safe back in Pokhara in an ok hotel but it has hot water, electricity, and its warm. So its hard to sum up 8 days of hiking. I have not calculated it exactly but it was about 25 miles up and 25 back, so it was about 50 miles of hiking. We went from extreme high temperatures making us sweat to the very lows where it could have snowed. There were many times I think each of us were at our limits. Many of the villages have stairs made out of stones which is nice but after a few thousand in a row you think your gonna die. The meals got very limited as you got closer to the top and the prices went higher. We met some interesting people from all over the world and they were very friendly. The one thing I wont miss is being stared at by the locals and the porters. It seemed as if we had 2 heads but I know it was probably cause they knew we were from out of town. Also we had fancy trekking clothes on, and they were only wearing flip-flops and t-shirts. Anyways that’s the quick version for now.

(more pictures to follow...)

We hit a horse today...

Ill just say this first. We hiked roughly 10 miles today and we're in the middle of no where and I have WiFi!

Yes we started the morning waking up in Pokhara had breakfast and got in a van to get our hiking started on our way to the Annapurna base camp. Though on the way there our driver way flying down the road. I saw some guy chasing a horse ahead and didn’t think anything of it but then they got closer and the horse was back and forth and then wham! We smacked the horses face with the side mirror of the van. The horse seemingly un-phased kept running. That was CRAZY! Our driver hit the brakes because the mirror was gone and he wanted reimbursement. We waited for a few minutes, and then asked the driver to bring us the rest of the way (15 minutes away) and then resolve his issues later. We felt bad but there was nothing we could do. Oh and by the way… We hit a horse!

So after we got dropped off the first part of the trail was stairs. Tons and tons of stairs. For the beginning of a hike it felt like we may not finish. It did stop eventually but it was hard. As we went along we did get hit up for buying a few things but it wasn’t too bad. As we went further lots of people stared and kids yelled Nameste! And we yelled it back. Apparently we went off the trail at one point where white people aren’t seen much so we were something to be stared at. One kid even snapped a picture of us as we walked by. He just happened to have a cell phone up in the hills. (Where there isn’t power in many of these houses).
At this point we were a little lost and Tony was trying hard to talk to the locals to figure out what way to go. We kept going even to the point that the trail turned into a cow pasture and we started to wander like the cows. At this point our porter (who wasn’t with us up until this point) started yelling up the hill to us from down below. He actually pointed us the right direction and informed us that we took the faster way but skipped a trekking checkpoint that he needed us to register with. He basically went way out of his way to help us and get our trekking passes so he could have them stamped at the checkpoint. Anyways, he is an awesome porter.
So it’s the end of the day and we made it to the tea house. We had some food and drinks and we are going to bed at 8:30. What a long day…

PS: (I will continue to check for Internet along the way but even finding it tonight was a surprise) Ill keep the posts coming as much as I can…

 Side note:  This is actuallty the mountain that you see at the begging of movies made by Paramount.



Pictures of Kathmandu...

We are now in Pokhara but here are some pictures of yesterday in Kathmandu.  I am in a bit of a rush at the moment since I'm borrowing some Internet access at a restaurant we are about to leave from, so I will give more details later. 

We took a bus to get here and we are all glad to get out of Kathmandu.  That town is like staying in Tijuana and saying that we don't like Mexico.  So before we say that we will wait till be explore more of Pokhara and then make our decision.  Tomorrow morning we take off for our first day of the trek.  Right now Tony is meeting with a local porter who will carry some of our bags.  He seems confident that 2 bags at once is easy.  Crazy...  Anyways thats it for the moment.  Hopefully Ill have a chance to give some more details on today and what the hike is like...  Until then...