Annapurna Circuit I
Pokhara to Ghorepani
Mar 16-18
The morning we were to fly to Pokhara to begin our Annapurna Circuit trek, I awoke at 4:30AM with a familiar cramping in my guts and had to make a run for the bathroom. This couldn’t be happening again! I wasn’t taking any chances this time and immediately took a dose of Cipro and went back to bed. Later that morning, I forgot my worries as our tiny plane took off for Pokhara and we got our first look at the snowy peaks of the Himalayas.
It was breathtaking! I had never seen such a beautiful range of mountains that stretched as far as the eye could see. I couldn’t stop taking pictures out of the plane window. When we landed in Pokhara 45 minutes later, we couldn’t believe we were finally on our way. The bright sun twinkling off the snow on the towering peaks of the Annapurna Range formed a gorgeous backdrop to this beautiful little mountain town. From the balcony of our room at Base Camp Resort, we could see Macchapuchhre, or Fishtail Mountain, which is considered sacred by Nepali people and has never been summitted.
I was still feeling the effects of my third bout of Montezuma’s Revenge, but the day was so beautiful that I couldn’t stay inside and we went for a walk around Lake Fewa where local children were playing and fishing.
After lunch, I returned to the room for a few hours sleep before meeting with Hari, our guide, to discuss the final details of our trek. The next morning, I woke up feeling like a new woman (thank God for Cipro) and we wolfed down our breakfast before jumping in the van with Hari and our two porters, Kumal and Dhorji, to head to Nayapul where we would start our trek.
Our first day was wonderful as we climbed through lush forest, crossed rivers on suspension bridges and encountered donkey trains carrying supplies to remote villages.
We walked through many traditional villages where the curious villagers would smile and pat our kids on the head while murmuring “Nanu” and “Babu” under their breath. Hari told us that the Nepali people adore children and that “nanu” and “babu” mean “girl” and “boy” in Nepali. We got a lot of attention because people very rarely see families trekking on the Annapurna Circuit. We stopped for lunch at Mamta Guesthouse where we enjoyed a delicious lunch of Dal Baht and sat in the sun for a while before hitting the trail again.
After lunch, the trail began to climb steeply and we were soon sweating profusely and breathing hard. The kids seemed to have no problem with the climb as they scampered up the hill effortlessly. However, at lunch, Claude had gotten quiet and was now very pale and I began to suspect that he was getting sick, as well. He had insisted on carrying his own 40lb backpack while I carried an 18lb daypack and he had now broken into a cold sweat as he laboured up the steep incline. We stopped to rest at the site of a 2006 landslide that had claimed the lives of several villagers and he admitted to feeling nauseated and weak but insisted on pushing on. I’m not sure how he managed to do it because we had to climb steadily for two solid hours before reaching our destination in Uleri where we would spend the night. Alexa stayed by Claude’s side the entire way, offering him encouragement and telling him stories to keep his mind occupied. When we finally crested the final ridge my legs felt like rubber and Claude looked like death. At the teahouse, he went straight to our room and fell into bed shivering as I piled blankets on top of him. The kids had a great time at the teahouse playing with Tham (pronounced “Tom”), the little boy who lived there.
Tham’s older brother took them to see a baby buffalo and tried to get them to try buffalo milk (no go). They played hide and seek until after dark when I put a stop to it because I was afraid they would get lost in dark and wander off a cliff. After a quick dinner, I tucked them into bed and they were asleep within minutes. Claude managed to drag himself downstairs for a cup of tea and piece of Tibetan bread before falling back into bed.
The next morning, Claude seemed a little better and, though still not 100%, he still insisted on carrying his heavy pack and didn’t complain once as we walked for many hours to get to Ghorepani where we planned to take a rest day. The view from our teahouse in Ghorepani was spectacular as we got our first view of Dhaulagiri, one of the highest peaks in the world at over 8000 metres (26,000 feet).
We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing by the fire as the clouds rolled in and engulfed the tiny village with an eerie mist. I started reading “Into Thin Air,” Peter Krakauer’s firsthand account of the tragic 1996 Everest season where 8 climbers lost their lives. It was interesting to read Krakauer’s descriptions of Nepal while actually trekking there. I shivered as he described how their expedition leader, Rob Hall, had lost his climbing partner, Gary Ball, while climbing Dhaulagiri, the same mountain we had just been admiring. I wondered if there were climbers up there right now putting their lives at risk while they chased their dreams.
Click here to see a general map of the Annapurna Circuit.
Tags: Annapurna Circuit, Ghorepani, Nepal, Pokhara, Travel
tambour
Tam and Claude
“WOW”