Not a quitter...

So I am officially back in the United States. And oh boy does it feel good. I had a wonderful trip but being with family in a familiar place is really really nice.

It was wonderful, it was awful, it was fun, it was boring, it was exhilarating, it was exhausting. It was traveling...

March 7th, Day 1: Naya Pul to Hille

Sitting here in my room whose walls consists of thin sheets of plywood, I think I might die. Okay, it's day 1 and of course it will be hard. I just wonder how, with the thousands of stone steps I climbed, are there any montains left in Nepal??? I would like to wash the sunscreen and salty sweat residue from my bace but I am just too tired to move. The sad part is, I am just carrying a daypack. A 105lb Nepali girl is carrying my actual bag. The swedish girl is getting by well, but not too well so I feel bad about myself. So I'm tired and that will be it for tonight. Oh, and the guide told us tomorrow will be the hard day. Great...

March 8th, Day 2: Hille to Ghorepani

Holy Shit. Seriously, today we climbed over 3,000 stone steps, ascending to 2860meters. The day never seemed to end. When it looked like you made it to the top, oh no, more stairs of course. Fortunately there were many others huffing and puffing along side us and it was nice to see familiar faces. When we made it here to the top, after 8 hours of walking, we were rewarded with cool breezes, a hot shower, and the promise of beautiful views tomorrow morning!

March 9th, Day 3: Ghorepani to Poon Hill to Tatopani

So we woke up at 5am and dragged our sore and already severely tired butts out out of bed and up to 3210 meters, the top of Poon Hill. I was certain I would actually die. As a lowlander from Rhode Island at an elevation of maybe 1 meter, this altitude was a challenge. Your body really does have to work extraordinarily hard every step it takes. And it being 5am and 35 degrees doesn't help. But the summit was well worth it! The view of the sunrise over the himalayas, including the 7th highest mountain in the world, Dhaulagiri at 8,167meters, is truly breathtaking. We all bought watery hot chocoalte for an obscene price and sat, huddled on wooden benches. About 100 of us milled about, celebrating our small accomplishment. I had brought a prayer flag to hang in Paula's honor so she can have the best view from heaven. Soon we started down to a warm breakfast awaiting us at the teahouse.

After ascending to 3210meters we had to go down to 1,100meters, which was suprisingly hard. Kneeds pouding, hamstrings and calves stretching, and feet aching, I thought it was worse than going up.It's a very different kind of challenge. AT pone point my knees and feet hurt so much I was practically in tears. We made it to our destination, to the surprise of our guide, and collapsed into bed. A kitten decided to join me at one point. I was too tired to care.

With a few extra days planned into our schedule we decided to spend a deay healing and relaxing and stretching. Thank God.

March 11th-12th, Day 4 + 5

These two days were both good and bad. We had some amazing views of Dhaulagiri, passing right under its base, but with the construction of the new road came the destruction of the trekking route. Thus, for the majority of the time we were walking on a dusty road, inhaling pounds of dirt every time a car or truck would pass. With no shade it was hot and uncomfortable. We would arrive at our destination two shades darker, one shade tan from the sun and one shade brown from the dirt. Thge towns were stopped at were mostly deserted. People seemed surprised to see trekkers and overall were not very friendly. Many teahouses had padlocks on them and it looked as if they had been closed for years.

This brought up an intersting debate about development and the road. The road from Pokhara to Jomsom was completed in 2007. Previously, the only way to Jomsom was to trek or to fly. Teahouses flourished with the business of tourists but prices were very high because the only way of getting supplies was from pack animals, mainly horses. When the road was built trucks could go all the way from the larger city of Pokhara to Jomsom, delivering supplies along the way. This made things like food much more available and affordable. On the flip-sode, trekekrs no longer had to walk thorugh or stay in villages to get to Jomsom. Instead of 8 days of walking all you needed was 2 days in a Jeep ready to scoop you pu at a number of stops. People generally stopped trekking the counter-clockwise way to Jomsom and business has suffered. People talk about how they see fewer and fewer tourists and how many people have had to move to other trekking areas. So, while the road has clearly benefited some, specifically those living in the bigger towns where people still stop and visit, the people in between have lost a lot of business.

From personal experience, I can say that I did not really enjoy the days we walked on the road. The dust at times was unbearable. Anna, the swedish girl, and I both agreed we would have rather taken a jeep and bypassed some of the eary, deserted towns we stayed in. At times we even felt uneasy, like all eyes were on us, and often they were.

There are rumors of rebuilding the trekking trail away from the road. I think that would be very wise. "Modern" development, such as roads, is very important and useful, but when it destroys the means of living for others a way of rebuilding and reparing business needs to be figured out.

March 13, Day 6

If you want to go to Tibet but cant get in because of the damn chinese, go to Kagbene, Nepal. This town is the entry point for Upper Mustang, a highly restriected area boardering Tibet. A trekking permit along costs $500. Many tibetan refugees have settled in Kagbene and the people, buildings, and even animals made you believe you were actually in Tibet. The Nepalese are generally short, but the Tibetans are shorter. The people in the town were not only small but also very round. It is a great example of adaptive evolution. It's so friggin' cold here that being short and squat is very useful. The buildings also have this wonderful style that reflects the stature of the people. The houses were mainly brick, a testament to the arid landscape, with small wooden doorways. Some doorways were so short that they resembled something out of The Hobbit. We soon found out those were meant for cows. Very very small cows. At first I thought they were funny looking sheep. But no, they were clearly cows upon closer inspection. The adults stood no higher than my hip and the calves were the size of dogs. At 5pm all the families would gather their hurds and slowly directed them into their house via the hobbit doors. Some fights broke out between horses and cows and dogs, which was somewhat terrifying given the small, narrow streets that lacked a clear escape.

From the beginning of our exploration of Kagbene a dog had joined us. One of many dejected mutts that linger all over nepal, this one saw us fit to be friends. He followed us everywhere. When we would go into shops, he would wait outisde. When other dogs would approach, he would chase them away. When larger animals stood in our path, he would direct us safely around. He even lead us to a small shrine and then to the boarder of upper mustang. It seems that Tibetan friendliness is also present in its homeless mutts.

March 14th-15th, Day 7 + 8

Today we mad eour way up to Muktinath, the final cruscendo of our journey. Ascending 1000 meters to a total of 3900meters, we arrived breathless with a headache indicitice of mild high altitude sickness. After drinking water and napping (naughty! thats abd thing to do when you have AMS) we felt a little better. The rest of the day was spent huddled in sleeping bags supplimented by blankets, hiding from the below-freezing temperatures. There is no such thing as central heating in Nepal.

The next day we lazily got ready to go to Muktinath Temple, a very important religious sight for buddhists and hindus. As I slept fitfully from the altitude and my never-ending stomach discomfort, I was not so eager to go early. We finally made it around 9am and mostly avoided the toursists and pilgrims who were also visiting. The temple consists of hindu and buddhits structure intersperced in the same complex, which is pretty rare. However, the holiness of this place allows for the mixing. Present at muktinath is a perpetual flame, a spring, and the ground to create a holy combitation of earth water and fire. We cleaned ourselves under freezing spouts of water and then visited the temple with the flame. As Anna hung a prayer flag I built a tower of rocks which will remind my soul in my next life that I have visited this place.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing, eating, and drinking tea. Tomorrow we go to Jomsom where we spend the night and then fly back to Pokhara. Almost done!

March 17, Day 10

We made it! I am alive! That was easily the scariest flight I have ever taken. On a small 15-seater plane that looked like it was going to fall apart, we took off and did a 180 in a high-mountain pass. After 18 minutes of turbulence we touched down in Pokhara safe and sound!

So I think it is finally time I write about the infamous TRAVELERS DIARRHEA. Every globe trotter has heard the terms "Delhi Belly" or "Bangkok Belly." I experienced what I like to call the "Kathmandu Catastrophy." Needless to say, my stomach hasn't exactly cooperated while I have bene away.

I lasted about a week in Nepal before the problems started. Just long enough for the bugs to grow inside of my intestinal tract. I then experienced fairly regular diarrhea for about two weeks. When visiting Thamel, the tourist district of Kathmandu, I had my favorite bathrooms planned out. I always knew the closest toilet and which ones had toilet paper, just in case. And of course I always kept a roll on me as a precaution. A standard procedure among tourists in Nepal. When I finally couldn't take it anymore and my stomach clearly wasn't adjusting, I consulted the Dr I was working with. He said it was most likely a paraside from the local water and I started on an antibiotic.

I was living with a host family and they cooked almost all of my meals. They were told how important it was to clean food for us weak foreigners, but in a coutry where refridgeration, or even just electricity, doesnt really exist, this can be a hard task. Water for cleaning veggies and adding to tea was from a well, which I am sure was full of tiny bugs ready to make their home in my tummy. I had my own purified drinking water, but even sometimes that looked suspect. In retrospect, it all seemed fairly unavoidable.

So I took the antibiotic which was some Nepali brand with some pain relievers and anti-diarrhea meds mixed it. It worked, but a bit too well. I wasnt able to move my bowels for 4 days. My stomach became bloated/distended and horribly uncomfortable. Then one nigh, while in a hotel in Thamel with Tabea, things took a turn for the worse.

I had been uncomfortable all evening. Gassy and in pain I tried to go use the toilet, but no luck. So I went to bed and finally fell asleep. At midnight I woke up with the most intense stomach pain I had ever had. I felt nauseous and just plain aweful. I went into the bathroom and still couldn't go. I then got dizzy, something that is not exactly rare for me. I am a fainter. So I laid down on the bathroom floor (gross, I know) and put my lugs up on the tub, and then passed out. I woke up and thought, I dont want to go to the hospital in Kathmandu! I don't want do get a bowel disempaction in Nepal! Can I fly home to get this worked out? What if Tabea opens teh door and hits my head! I don't always think very rationally after fainting. Finally my tummy grumbled and I jumped on the toilet. Everything from the last four days come rushing out. I felt so much better. I went to bed and fell asleep.

So I stopped taking that antibiotic and things were okay for a few days. And then my stomach started getting angry again. I ignored it. I left my host family and began to travel in Pokhara. I figured getting away from my host family's food might help. Things actually got worse. I met some British medical students while paragliding and one day at lunch we were talking about bowel movements, a very popular conversation topic in nepal. I described my ailments and they concluded I had Giardia. I took 7 days of cipro and felt so much better!!! Everything was functioning normally! Harah! And perfect timing, this is while I was on the trek, and bathrooms are not the easiest to find in the Himalayas. Yet of course, two days after I stopped the antibiotics things started AGAIN. But I was leaving for Thailand and I thought that with the change of food things would get better.

Oh how I was wrong again. In Thailand I figured it seemed a bit cleaner and "modern" so perhaps the food would work better with my stomach. However the diarrhea just kept on getting worse and worse. I continued with my travels and despite being nausious all day forced myself on a plane and then on a boat and made it to Ko Phi Phi. When I got to my hotel I fell asleep and woke up with a fever. And really really bad diarrhea. Uh oh. Here I am on some small island a 2 hour boat ride away from any sort of real town and I have a fever and I can't stop pooping. Also, the whole island smells like rotten fish and drunken vomit, which did not help my stomach. I dragged myself over to the small clinic, paid out of pocket, and got some medicine and antibiotics. They said if it got worse to take the first boat the next day and go to the hospital.

Well it got worse. I started vomiting. And I vomited and vomited and vomited. And the diarrhea continued. And I fell asleep on the bathroom floor. (Icky, again, I know.) So I got on the boat the next day, went to the hospital and after one quick listen to my stomach and the fact I've had diarrhea for 6 weeks and the doctor admitted me.

So you are probably thinking, you stayed in the hospital in Thailand, are you CRAZY??!?!?! Well actually, Thailand is the new medical vacationing capital. People love to take care of medical problems or get plastic surgery for cheap so the healthcare is good and inexpensive. I was in a private international hospital accredited by the USA gold something-or-other so I had faith. I had a choice of rooms ranging from super premium VIP to standard. I chose standard. All rooms are private with a flat screen TV, chaise lounge chair and big shower with a chair in it. I loved my shower chair. Showering while sitting is awesome.

I was in the hospital for 2 nights, 3 days with the diagnosis of acute gastroenteritis and hypokalemia... basically a stomach virus/bacteria that made me vomit and poop so much that my potassium levels were very low, which as I understand it is not very good for your heart. So I had constant IV fluids, 3 doses of IV antibiotics and a really gross potassium drink. Every four hours a little thai nurse would come in and take my vital signs and then ask me, "how many times you go poo poo and pee pee?" I was soon discharged and felt, well, almost better. I still had diarrhea but it could be managed at home now. Oral antibiotics and some rehydation salts and I am on the mend!

Please excuse the lame title... I am so tired from today I couldn't come up with anything better.

Holi, for those of you who don’t know, is the festival of colors celebrated in the Hindu religion… Basically it is a day where everyone goes around throwing water and tika powder at each other. When I was in college we celebrated holy in much a similar way, but because it is of course in an American university, it ended with a giant mud-wrestling pit.

Today was Holi and I was fortunate enough to experience it in Kathmandu. Well, maybe fortunate isn’t the right word.

We knew what was coming. I had some idea what Holi was about and we had talked to others who were planning on participating. We woke up this morning at 8am and left to get breakfast at 9 thinking things really wouldn’t start until later. Just in case, I wore some crappy clothes that I couldn’t care less if they get dirty and ruined. About 1 minute into our walk we were doused with water. Just enough to get us a little damp. And then, BAM! A whole bucket of water fell from a rooftop and I was drenched. Of course all the Nepali around me are laughing their asses off. We were soon to find out the Holi, at least in our area of Kathmandu, is a religious excuse to beat up of the foreigners. We made it to breakfast pretty much intact.

Breakfast was uneventful. Some of the staff laughed at us as we were drenched, but we stored up on energy for the rest of the day. We then walked back to the hotel and that is when the fun started. More water being thrown and a guy with horrible black tika powder attacked us from behind. I had the bad luck of getting some in my mouth. We ran back to the hotel where we put on our cheap white t-shirts (we made a holi souvenir) and prepared for battle. We met up with some others and wandered the streets of Thamel getting water balloons thrown at us, tika powder smeared in our faces, and buckets of water thrown in our direction. Everyone else was getting the same treatment so we all had a lot of fun with it.

At one point we went down this street where some people had set up speakers blasting loud metal music that sounded somewhat angry. It actually reminded me of the film Hotel Rwanda where the people with machetes are going around slaughtering innocent people with heart-pumping rock music in the background. A horrible comparison, I know, but when you are getting stalked on the street by hundreds of water-gun carrying Nepali young men there atmosphere carries some similarities. Things would get a little rough at some points. The whole point is to smear color on each other’s faces and at times it could get a little too touchy-feely. I firmly yet politely removed a guy’s hand from my chest. I don’t really think I need color on my boobs, thank you.

Finally we decided it was enough when my lovely and sensitive skin started to itch with the partially toxic tika powder. I also got pegged in the back so hard with a water balloon I was convinced my kidney exploded. So I showered for about 40 minutes scrubbing until it mostly came off and am now hiding in my room until the festivities settle down.

Fun, exhausting, and very very colorful.

All I can really say is “wow.” What an experience! There are only a few circumstances I can imagine myself voluntarily hurling myself off the edge of a cliff and for this view it was a no-brainer.

The day started at 9:15am. I went to the paragliding office, handed them $100, and signed my life away. Three British kids my age followed suit. Thank God I’m not the only crazy one! I thought to myself. We were then escorted to the top of a small mountain in a jeep, wriggling through small dirt roads, slowly making our way to our impending doom. We got out and took 15 minutes to look at the view. I could have sat there for hours. Truly breathtaking. I walked with the Brits who were here on a medical internship. We talked about everything from being terrified of what we were about to do, to our jobs, to how our bowels have been working in Nepal. Nothing like fear to help break the ice!

Then we headed for the cliff. We were all so nervous we had to stop to pee. Behind a bush of course, no toilets. I met my companion who was Matt from New Zealand, but he has been living in Seattle for a while. He comes here every year for 3 months to work and paraglide. What a life… Sizing him up, I asked him how many times he had done this. With a partner: 1000, Solo: 5000. That put me at ease. I then asked him not to kill me. He reminded me we would be strapped together, so if I died he died, and he didn’t feel like dying. Then came the harness. It was more like a harness/swing-chair that looked utterly ridiculous. I got my picture taken with the Brits and was then told I would be going first. I heard one girl say, “She is so brave.” In my head I silently responded I had no choice! We then started to walk towards the cliff. And on the count of three I was told to run. And so I did. I ran off the cliff.

The harness/chair scooped me up and we soared around catching the thermals. We mimicked the eagles, following their path as they found the best path taking us higher and higher. As my guide said, they are the experts so why not follow them? The few times I stopped to consider what I was doing, I felt a little queasy. But when I let my mind go and looked over to the Himalayas I started to have a really good time. I couldn’t believe I was flying in the highest mountains in the world. Right in front of me was Dhaulagati boasting 8161 meters (26,774 feet), only 700 meters below Everest. The guide said we were very lucky as the mountains had been hidden behind the clouds for the last week. I smiled at my good fortune.

We turned in circles and Matt pointed out the names of all the eagles. Of course I don’t remember them now. One had something to do with a white stripe. Slowly we floated over the treetops closer and closer to the ground. We landed pretty smoothly; of course not the bloody, mangled mess of a crash-landing I expected. I was rewarded with a cushy chair and a coke. The Brits made their way down and met me at the table. One had vomited during the trip; no one seemed surprised.

We drove back to the office chatting the whole way, still pumped full of adrenalin. We made plans to meet up for lunch and relive our death-defying experience. When I got back to my room I felt completely drained. Maybe it was the constant state of nervousness or maybe it was the sun at 2200 meters. Either way, I was exhausted. I drank a liter of water, changed, and headed out for lunch.