Porters on the move.
6 clients, 1 Nepali guide, 2 sherpas, 1 head cook, 5 kitchen staff, 23 porters, 2 Buddhist monks, and me.
13 tents including client tents, monk tents, a dining tent, toilet tent, kitchen tent, porter tent, and sherpa tent.
24 day trip, 18 days hiking, all the way to Tibet. 15,000 vertical feet UP…and back down. 9+ suspension bridges. 100+ miles walked. 14 bus hours round trip to the trailhead. One helicopter evacuation (knee blowout) plus some cleaning and patching of wounds (Nepalis). Highest elevation: 16,700 feet. Lowest temperature: 7 degrees Fareinheit.
Rhesus monkeys, Black faced monkeys, Himalayan blue sheep. Wrathful deities, peaceful deities, yeti stories (but no yetis). High-altitude pheasants, eagles, bats. Millet, wheat, rice, and amaranth in the fields. Hermit caves and residences, 6-foot-tall prayer wheels in every village, and literally dozens of small monasteries.
Early morning blessing ceremony with 26 Buddhist nuns. Visits to the dark kitchens of people’s homes, served salty butter tea or Nepali sake (or both) at every one of them. Buddhist teachings every day with afternoon tea. Daily meditation practice. Wake-up tea served at your tent each day after dawn. In bed around 8pm each night.
Returning both rested and tired, strong in body and heart, healthy and happy and perhaps a little bit wiser, in harmony with the rhythm of the earth.
What more could you want from 3 weeks in Nepal?
1 guide, 2 sherpas, 1 head cook, 1 monk.
Camp kitchen at lunchtime
One lane mountain road means one of these buses has to back up several hundred feet until there's a space wide enough for them to pass within about 2 inches of each other. No joke.
Suspension bridge
Wooden bridge
Porters taking a rest. Yes, he's smoking. All the way up and back.
Black faced monkey
Daily meditation in the afternoon.
Served up butter tea in a village home.
The woman making us tea at her stove