On Top of the World #1

Our recent 19-day trek in Nepal is definitely in the top ten most amazing experiences of our lives. There is just no place like it on the planet. The trek began trudging through terraced rice paddies in jungle-like heat, bamboozled by waterfalls and attacked by leeches. There were so many waterfalls we just stopped counting after a while. Amalia had an interesting encounter with a waterfall...

From Amalia: It was the rainy season in Nepal and there was water gushing everywhere. On day 3 (of 19) we had to cross a rushing cascade to stay on the trail. I took off my boots, donned my crocs and made it about half way across when I got scared and wanted to use my hands to help me get the rest of the way. It was in that moment that I made a grievous error. I aimed to throw my boots across the rest of the cascade onto a pile of leaves. While my first boot was in midair, Patrick, not conscious of my plan, turned his body toward my oncoming boot. My boot bounced off his leg and down the cascade. The cascade fed into a 500 ft. waterfall that dumped into the white water rapids of the river below. I flew into a panicked hysteria I never would have thought myself capable of. I was screaming so loudly several Nepali men ran to my rescue, perhaps thinking I had fallen down the waterfall. Patrick heroically climbed up underneath the cascade twice just in case my boot had caught on something, but to no avail. The boot was gone. We were both crying at this point and I sadly put on my crocs and hiked to the next town. The story does have a happy ending. Amazingly, I was able to procure cheap running shoes, which I hiked in for 2 days, at which point I was actually able to buy another pair of boots! We were very fortunate to be on a trek that had so many supplies available and I was able to finish the trek. Lonely Planet tells you the most important gear item to bring from home is a good pair of boots. Retaining control of them is equally as important.

As we gradually rose in elevation the culture got more and more Tibetan. We began to pass "mani walls" which are short stand alone walls with dozens of prayer wheels on either side - you spin them as you go past. The wheels themselves have prayers written on them, but inside they also have hundreds of prayers written out so when you spin them you are supposedly sending them up to heaven.

Our favorite treat was "Tibetan bread" which is basically doughnut-like fry bread slathered in honey. Very greasy and I'm sure the calorie content was in the quadruple digits, but when you're hiking for 8 hours a day you can pretty much eat as often and as much as you want. We usually had our Tibetan bread with "Dood Chia" or milk tea (in India they call it "chai")

We met a lot of really fun fellow travellers from all over the world. Most of them were Israeli, but we also met some Germans, Canadians, French, Polish, Dutch and Australians (amazingly, no other Americans!) We became especially tight with an Australian mother and son, Jessica and Chris. Chris is currently on an 8-year cycling tour around the world to raise money for Oxfam (website: http://www.cyclestrongman.com/) We now have places to stay all over the world!

The locals were some of the friendliest and most polite folks we've ever met. The women, no matter how poor, dressed in these lovely wrap skirts with big gathered belts. Most of the guys wore western clothes. We met one guy, Arjun, a 19-year old from Kathmandu, who spoke near perfect English and had big dreams for himself. He was the cook/slave boy for one of the hotels we stayed at. He and his side-kick, Mongole (17), sat us down in the kitchen and made us what they envisioned a "pizza" to be. Arjun was so overjoyed to have someone to talk to and share his hopes, dreams and philosophies on life, that it took him almost 2 hours. What came out was a steamed flat-bread topped with yak-cheese and every vegetable in the kitchen (including cabbage and carrots), but what really made the dish were the locally harvested wild mushrooms piled on top. Intermittently their boss or his wife would come in and yell at the boys and then smile at us as if because we didn't speak Nepali, we didn't know they were jerks. Mongole's story is really sad. His parents were killed by Maoists and he was raised by his sister. Then his sister's husband left and never came back home, so he's on his own. These boys for for 3,000 rupees a month which is around $40. They share a twin bed in the kitchen and slave away for people who abuse them. But these two peas in a pod are so positive about life and optimistic for the future - inspiring really.