15 Days of Wonder

Kirstin, Emily and I finished the Annapurna Circuit!!! We really did it! it took us 15 days to complete our trek in the Himalayas and it was awesome! I'll have to get back to you about the exact mileage, but I know it was over 250 kilometers or 150 miles. We hiked everyday, with only one half-day rest. We kept quite strong and I was awed afterwards that non of us got ill or injured, only minor blisters really! The landscape made us speechless - both from awe and elevation gain! we went from tropical lowlands with waterfalls to high desert plateaus, to mountain passes all admist colorful tibetan prayer flags and spinning prayer wheels. Incredible! We reached Thorung La Pass, the highest point on the trek (at 5417 meters, or 17,772 feet by far the highest I've ever been) one morning at 10, snowflakes started to fall as we snapped pictures and built our own rock cairn from which to string our little line of prayer flags. We passed mule trains carrying loads of rice and squawking chickens. An adorable little Nepali boy grabbed my leg in a hug as i walked by. We were asked for countless times for "schoolpensweetsphoto". Said Namaste to porters lugging incredible loads up the mountain passes. Got blisters and got lost. Ate way too many Snickers bars (which are available along the entire trek at increasing prices the further into the mountains we were). Tried Yak Butter tea which is filling, warm, buttery and salty and is much better to regard as broth than as a sweet tea. Met up with other individual trekkers, Laura from Germany, Riki from Pennsylvania, Sam from Australia along the way to make a great team of 6. Together we made it past sketchy landslide areas to reach Tilicho Lake- the highest lake in the world- where we skinny dipped in crystal blue glacial runoff in and quickly redonned all of our winter clothing. During another section of our trek a friendly black dog followed us for the whole day. We named him Bhagaaya for "luck" in Nepali, since the late Tensing Norgay, one of the first to climb Everest, considered it good luck to be followed by a black dog in the mountains. We got attacked by leeches on the last day only of the trek- i looked down while we were in the tropical forest to see blood seeping through my pants at the knee- pulled up my pants to find the leech, but he was already gone. Kirstin went shreaking out into the rain when she found one on her shoe. We all sighed in appreciation when we reached guest houses at the end of long days and ordered Dal Bhat (typical Nepali meal of rice, lentil dal and potato vegetable dish). the best part about Dal Bhat is that your host keeps re-filling your plate! We experienced so many different ecosystems, local communities, and amazing views that it's impossible to record them all here. But I have kept a detailed journal of all the days and can tell you many more stories when I see you in person, which hopefully will be soon!

I fly back to Colorado next week, arriving on the 26th of June.
Will be in Colorado, Santa Barbara, Indiana, and probably some other places too this summer before school starts at the beginning of September.
For the next week I will travel with Emily, her boyfriend Zak and Laura from Germany to one or two places in Nepal before I fly out of Kathmandu (not sure exactly where we'll go yet).

It has been wonderful for me to be able to communicate through this Blog to everyone back home about what i've been up to for the past 5 months. I am thankful for all of you faithful readers who made it worth it! Even if you just checked the blog a few times when you had a chance I really appreciate you making the effort and for your replies and unspoken thoughts and best wishes! I could feel them from across the globe. A strong consciousness of love and strength supporting me even from so far away.

I will post more pictures when I get back to the States!
And perhaps a story of the coming week.