Thorong-La Pass Summit

We made it!!!! Today (April 29) we woke up at 3am, breakfast at 3:30am and left for the pass just after 4am. The trail started steep and didn't relent. We ascended just over 3000ft in 3.8 miles (14,600ft to 17,769ft) to get to the pass. It was really hard! The air was thin and we had to stop several times just to "catch" our breath... I realized that at 17,000ft, you don't ever really catch your breath.. You just keep moving. We made it and I couldn't be happier!

On the descend ( just as brutal, 5000 ft in 6 miles), Bryan asked me what my favorite part of the hike so far was. I told him I'd have to think about it for a minute, then stopped myself short cause I had the answer. 

For me, my favorite part was accomplishing what I set out to do. I know that I've achieved my goals in the past, but lately I've had a lot of negative self talk about me not accomplishing my goals, so this was a great achievement. 

When preparing for this trip, I told myself to avoid any negative self talk that could get in the way. Also, I used doe visualizing techniques to picture myself climbing and climbing until I got to the top. I my phone, the screen saver is a picture of the sign at the pass and the background is a panorama of the Annapurna Mts. That way, when ever I used my phone, I had a reminder of what my goal was. Also, when climbing a steep incline on the treadmill at the gym, or hiking in Alaska, I would visualize that I was on the trek completing my goal. 

Sometimes a negative thought would creep in and I'd have to work at replacing it with a positive one ( yes, I work in the psychology field.. Can ya tell 😊). While coming down from the mountian top village I volunteered at, I fell twice!! I don't really know what happened, I stepped down with my left foot, but I rolled and I lost my balence and fell. And, I had my camera in my hand so I tried to protect it from hitting the ground... So embarrassing! I got up and said to myself "and you think you can hike Annapurna??!??!!!"  Well then, I did the same thing and fell again!!!!  This time I told myself, "no more negative self talk.. You just stepped wrong, that could happen to anyone anywhere. You trained for the trek and you will complete it!"  I didn't fall again, on the hike out if the village or in the trek. In fact, aside from breathing hard with mild excursion (and major excursion), I didn't suffer from other acute mountain sickness symptoms. Visualization works!! Try it on your next goal! 

I also realize I could not have done the trek without a lot of help. My porter was amazing! Very fast up the hills, kind, and patient. I met a bunch of great people along the trek and we were all on the same schedule. We'd see each other through out the day and just had a great time getting to know them!  And of course Bryan, my "adventure buddy." He's been a great travel and trekking partner. He's way tougher than me!  

So, with the hard part over, we have a few more days walking to get to Jomsom, then we'll try for a flight to Pokhara and spend a few days there relaxing. We leave the wonderful country of Nepal next week, Wednesday May 7th. 

Annapurna- Manang

Manang is a lovely town and at 11,614 ft it's a perfect place to spend 2 nights acclimatizing. We got in about 3:30 pm yesterday and looked for a good place to stay. If you linger outside a lodge too long, the owner comes out and persuades you inside saying " come look at my best room, I save it just for you." The owner we met yesterday also added, "this room was talked about on Lonely Planet."  Right... just like every other room in Manang. But, when he opened to door, I was in love! This room is quite luxurious compared to the other rooms we stayed at. There is a toilet and solar shower INSIDE the room, soft mattress, extra warm blankets, and amazing views of the mountains out side the window. 

Annapurna III (7555 m; 24,787 ft) on the left and Gangapurna (7454m; 24,455 ft) on the right. 

Annapurna - Upper Pisang

Namaste!! 

There is an upper and lower part to the town if Pisang. We chose to stay in Upper Pisang for the incredible view.  I can't believe we are here!! It's just so wonderful. 

(The view from our room)

The hike today was not as hard as yesterday.. Or maybe I'm just getting stronger.. Not sure.  We're at about 10,860ft right now. I don't feel too much effect from the altitude. Slow and steady is the way to go!!  Although, earlier today at lunch Bryan and I had a rough time with our conversion of meters into feet. At first we thought we had 7500ft yet to climb, but no, only 750ft! We chalked it up to the altitude affecting our math skills!!

Tomorrow we trek to Manang where we will spend 2 nights to acclimatize.  Hopefully I'll find wifi and I can upload these posts there. 

Hope all is well in the States! 

Love, Kami 

Annapurna- Chame

Hello from the Annapurna Curcuit!!  We are at the town of Chame and have out first view of Annapurna II -- the pointing Mt in the picture. It's 7937 meters high. 

The trek so far has been good. A steady incline. Sometimes I don't think I can go any further, then it levels out a bit. Bryan had been dealing with a head cold and I've had some stomach issues. But that's not stopping us!!!! We've met some great people on the trail.. Mostly from France, so it's kinda fun to try and communicate when we don't know eachother's language. 

I got a porter and I'm so thankful!! He is great and makes sure we are doing ok. 

All in all this is a beautiful part of the world and I'm just so thankful to be here. Sometimes I'll just stop mid stride, look at the mountains in complete awe for their majesty. 

The internet along the trail is spotty, so I might be uploading all these posts at the same time. :/ 

Until next post... 

Samibhanjyang

I'm on a bus headed west from Kathmandu for the second time. The first bus ride was significantly more comfortable than this current ride. Right now I'm crammed in the back seat that was clearly not designed for a 5"11' person. The leg room is about 5 inches too short and I can not seem to find a comfortable position.  The silver lining is that Bryan is next to me and we can lean on each other (literally and figuratively) for support. 

   

As I travel down the road, my mind wonders to the people and families I met in the village of Samibhanjyang, Nepal. As I worked side by side with the ladies of the village painting school benches, with several people hoping to expand their businesses, and with elderly men in dug out pits I felt a connection to these people... A connection that will last forever. 

As mentioned in earlier blogs, I cane to Nepal with a non profit group called SHe (Singular Humanitarian Experience). They have partnered with CHOICE Humanitarian who has worked in Samibhanjyang and othe villages through out Nepal. What I didn't know before coming was that Dr. Jim Mayfeild, the co-founder of CHOICE, would be on the trip along with a film crew, Scott, Maureen, and Mariah Proctor.  CHOICE has a goal to lift people out of extreme poverty and a specific goal in this area of Nepal thatin 3 years every home will have a smokeless kitchen. This trip was the first of many CHOICE trips to assist the villagers of that goal and to document the  progress. Dr. Mayfeild talked with us many times about the need for sustainable assistance in communities, not just coming in, doing work or giving service and then leaving. He explained that over the past 50 years of assisting those in need there have been many ideas, theories and practices that all have  "unintentional conveniences." However, he feels, and I agree, that bottom-up assistance sustained by local villages is currently the most effective method to end extreme poverty. 

We worked on several projects hand in hand with the CHOICE Nepal team (that has a constant presence in this village and others) and with the people of the village. 

The first day I was asked to assist another SHe menber in showing the school headmaster how to work donated microscopes. He was so eager to learn and watched with great intent as we showed him the different slides, power levels, and how to focus. We also gathered things like potatoes and grass to splice, stain, and examine. Blood is a great substance to look at under a microscope, so I made the small sacrifice and cut my finger to donate my blood for science. It was well worth it!! 

While painting school benches with about 20 Nepalese woman I met a new friend, Sunita. She is a teacher at the school, is 30 years old and has 2 sons. She was baffled when I told her I did not have children, and wasn't even married.  I can only assume that Sunita told the other ladies that I wasn't married cause they all looked at me with sad eyes then proceeded to touch my hair, face, stomach, and hips. All the the whole talking to me and to each other in Nepalese. I like to think they were saying "How? With this beautiful hair and skin is she not married!?" Sunita then said, "you are big, I am small, I should be like you. You are good to get married to."  Being big in Nepal is good for marriage!!  Just another reason to love this county! The ladies then took turns posing for pictures.  Some things are the same no matter the country. 

I found that technology was very different in the village than I anticipated. Most people had electricity for lights, cell phones, and cable TV. 

We also lead a discussion on how yo help the villagers be more successful in their businesses. Most of the people had livestock that they either sell for meat or sell products from the animals. They were looking to double their numbers. On man had an already large veggie greenhouse; he was looking to expand because the demand for his product is so great. I learned that the people were very able to grow their businesses, they just needed the tools and opportunity to do so. 

The main project of the week though was  building bio-gas digesters. The first step, which we participated in was to dig 5.5 ft deep by 10 ft wide holes in the Himalayan foothills. I soon found that Nepal has a healthy supply of rocks! We used picks and sledge hammers to break up the ground and rock. Everyone in the SHe group were rock stars (pun intended), but no more so than Bryan, whom the group affectionately called Thor through out the week. When people asked Bryan if he was having a good time he responded, "I get to break rocks with hammers, of course I'm having fun!" We all had our "Thor" moments as there were plenty of rocks to go around. My favorite scene though was to come back after lunch to find that the head of the house had cleared an area or a large boulder by himself. The CHOICE team explained that the hikes would get done with it without is as the people wereotivated to have a smokeless kitchen by cooking with the methane gas the digester provides. We were there to assist families that were not able to fully complete the digging by themselves. But, they did what the could and we're tremendously grateful for our help. 

In the evenings we were treated to music, dancing, tika blessings (red dot on forehead), and games. The best game was "cupatea." Ok, it's not really called "cup-of-tea," but  that's what it sounds like when the Nepalese say it. Basically you're on two teams on a court with a center line. One person crosses the center line and tries to tag a member of the other team without being captured, aka tackled, by the opposing team... All while exhaling and saying "cupoftea, cupoftea, cupoftea.."  It's painful and totally fun! 

My bus ride is almost over.. It's been a long day in the back of the bus. I'm excited to get on the trail and start the hike!! 

I'm sorry I don't have pictures of the village to add on this blog post. I kept my phone off and buried during my week in Samibhanjyang. I will add pics when I get home. 

Namaste,

Kami

It starts tomorrow!!

Only one day until I leave for my big trip abroad! I’m going over the last little details of my To-Do list, but basically I’m ready to go. 

Four months ago I decided to embark on this adventure of a humanitarian project and trekking the Annapurna Circuit. Four months to prepare for the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual demands for a trip like this… I hope I’m ready.  

The physical demands come mostly with trekking the 90 miles from Besi Sahar to Jomsom on the AC.  It will take Bryan and I about 2 weeks.  The trek continues on for another week to Naya Pul, but due to time constraints we are opting to fly out of Jomsom.  The trek starts at about 2,500ft and ends at about 9,000 ft. We’ll reach a max altitude of 17,769 ft as we summit the Thorung La Pass on day 12.  We’ll most likely trek 6-10 miles a day. 

The emotional and mental demands come both during the trek and humanitarian experience.  I’ve never attempted a 2 week long backpacking trip.  I’m not sure if I have what it takes to complete it, but I’m going to give it my best shot and hope for the best.  I like to think that I’m tough, but sometimes (ok, often) I take the easy way out and give up too soon.  I’ve been trying to visualize myself walking every day for 2 weeks and pressing on despite thoughts to turn around and go back.  I think this is my biggest fear… I hope I can conquer it!!

I’ll be serving in a village so remote we have to walk 90 minutes from the road to get to it.  We are helping to renovate a school house and assisting the women of the village with their animal co-op and by giving them basic business tools and practices to turn a profit.  That’s a big goal and we have little time in the village.  I know their life will be far different than mine and even though I’m there to teach them something, I have a feeling they will teach me more.  I hope I’m open to learn from them.

Nepal is a spiritual country.  There are many Buddhist Temples and pray flags. Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) was born in Lumbini, Nepal 2500 years ago.  I am not Buddhist and I believe strongly in my Christian beliefs, but I feel that there is truth in different religions.  I’m really looking forward to learning more about the Buddhist religion and the people the practice it.  I’m also looking forward to communing with God through nature, service, and prayer.  I believe that we are all children of God, and therefore we are brothers and sisters.  I’m looking forward to understanding the people of Nepal, my brothers and sisters, in a deep spiritual way.

 

Stay tuned… I’ll let you know how everything works out…

 

Love, Kami