Keeping My Life on Trek...

The group from HMI heading past our camp on their way to Kanchenjunga base camp.  That's a big passel o' hikers, there!

Early on in our trek, I messed things up by not wanting my hot water in the morning - then asking for it later in the day.  Evidently these guys have a pretty tight system when they're out on trek, and deviating from it is unwise.  After Raj explained it all to me, it was easy enough to oblige and our lives on trek settled into a predictable, easy pattern. In the mornings:

• Wake up ungodly early (the weirdness of India's single time zone meant that days started and ended pretty early) with hot milk tea delivered to our tent.  Sarah and I would typically take turns getting ready in order to avoid getting in each other's way (I think I took more than my share of the late shift).
• Before breakfast, each of us received a bowl of hot water for washing ourselves.  I'm sure you can imagine that a week of trekking through jungles, up steep hills and through muddy pastures left us a bit...ripe.  Unfortunately, after our one sunny morning at Dzongri (after the hike to the viewpoint) when we were able to get in a good scrubbing of at least the most obvious bits, it was typically too cold to do much more than splash some warm water on the face.  Brrrrr...
• Breakfast 'al fresco': typically porridge with cashews, raisins and coconut and some sort of egg or omelet, toast and instant coffee with milk (we got special treats on occasion, such as the pancakes with orange flavor!).  It was always more food than I usually eat for breakfast, but always yummy. (Not to mention that sitting on the ground to eat was a great way to stretch out my hips first thing!)
• Pack up our stuff, trying not to smell myself while I was moving about in the tent.  All we had to do was get our gear into the giant blue bag for the guys to pick up. Tashi and Raj packed up the tents and other gear and loaded the pack animals.  
• Strap the solar charger to my backpack, grab the poles and start walking...

Photo by Sara - Breakfast at Tshoka

Getting the dzo ready in the morning.  Here at Dzongri they were particularly grumpy because they'd spent a glorious day 'off' grazing in the pasture.  Grumpy animal with sharp horns = need for extreme caution! -Photo by Sarah- 

Tashi leading curly and one of our newer dzo (whom we stopped naming after a while) along the trail outside of Dzongri.  You can see our big blue bag...poor animal!-Photo by Sarah- 

Have sticks, will trek! - Photo by Sarah

Deepen (our talented cook) and our porter on the trail in the morning -Photo by Sarah-  

Our cook, Deepen, and the porter typically left camp earlier than the others.  The arrangement was that they would carry what they needed to feed us at camp, so they would go ahead.  Since they were much faster than we were (even with their heavy loads), they would pass us on the trail rather quickly.  By the time we got to camp, they often had hot tea and lunch waiting. 


As we hiked, our guides would catch up with us and politely follow behind as we trudged up the hill.  It must've been frustrating at times - they are so much more capable at these high altitudes than we were, but they were always very nice about moving at our pace and encouraging us.


At one point, as I was struggling up a steep incline and having trouble keeping my pace I stopped and asked Raj:


Wendy - "Raj - do you know what a burrito is?"
Raj - "No, I haven't heard of a burrito".
Wendy - "It's Mexican food, we eat a lot of them at home.  They're filled with delicious meats and other goodies, wrapped in a sort of flatbread similar to roti - only bigger."
Raj - "OK." (clearly not understanding why or what I'm talking about, but being nice anyway).
Wendy - (patting my stomach and breathing extra heavy) "You see, Raj, too many burritos!"


Raj laughed perhaps more than politeness might allow, but I totally knew that he understood.  It became the running joke throughout the rest of the trek when I was having trouble with the altitude.


Too many burritos!


Though at the beginning of our trek we had trouble connecting with Raj, by the middle we were laughing at each other and really having a great time with one another.

Having a good time with Raj - just below Dzongri -Photo by Sarah-

Once we reached our hiking destination for the day, the trekkers promptly began the very difficult task of relaxing and enjoying the remains of the sunshine while everyone else pitched tents, cooked meals, boiled water and generally did all the work.  It looked exhausting.  

Anke, Arne and Sarah supervise as our porter puts up the tent.

The pattern of the weather was even more dependable then our own schedule.  Though the exact timing and severity varied, it was guaranteed that the mornings would be sunny and clear, and by afternoon the mists would roll in, cold and heavy.  In the transition time we amused ourselves by observing the temperature difference on our skin and watching the beautiful clouds play with the mountain tops.  Our days typically progressed:

• Capture as much sun as possible by sitting out on our mats, listening to the chatter in the kitchen tent and taking the occasional photo.
• Lunch typically in the 'dining' tent to avoid the misty coldness outside.  Lunch varied, but was typically some sort of noodle soup or broth (my beloved thukpa), samosas and fruit.  When lunch was on the trail (which happened more as the hikes got longer out of the hills), we had a boiled potato (surprisingly tasty on its own), hard boiled egg and an apple.
• Post-lunch ennui period, which was typically occupied with reading, Farkle, card games and other less productive pursuits.  Arne, who was studying meditation at a Buddhist monastery in Sri Lanka, would often go into his tent to meditate.  My version of meditation was called the nap, and I practiced it throughout the trip, too.

It is amazing how long an afternoon can be when you don't have a thing to do but sit on the ground, lie on the ground or walk around in the mist.  It is equally amazing how tiring it is to do nothing but sit on the ground, lie on the ground or wish you were brave enough to do more walking around in the mist.

Anke in the dining tent, trying to keep warm... The down jacket they'd lent her was a bit to small to wear properly, but it was perfect for keeping her long legs warm! -Photo by Sarah-

My efficient method for a cat nap without having to take the time to remove my hiking boots... -Photo by Sarah-

A romantic game of Farkle... at 3pm it was misty enough to need a candle in the tent!

Farkle was a life saver in these long afternoons.  We spent hours tossing dice and laughing at each other.  Alok, Gael and Ann-Gael often joined us for the fun.  Anke turned out to be a Farkle winning machine - often crushing the nearest competitor by thousands of points - to the point where eventually it became a race for second place.  For poor Sarah, however, it was a race to get on the board.  Her run of bad luck lead us to recognize that there might be a curse involved.  The curse of the Christ Redoomer.

A delightful bit of 'Hinglish' translation...

It seemed that whomever was keeping score in my amusing notebook (purchased from a school supply store in Gangtok) ended up not just losing at Farkle, but losing horribly.  It was simply too hilarious to be a coincidence.  And Sarah, as a competent and willing score keeper, was more often than not the victim of this horrible curse.  In fact, she was so heavily affected by it that even when we started passing score keeping duties about, she still suffered.  

Eventually she made us switch to playing card games.  

Her game of choice was 'Spoons'.  However, there was a shortage of spoons on trek, so instead we played with rocks.  None of the essence of that complex strategy game was lost. 

Playing rocks at the hiker's hut in Tshoka on our way back to Yuksom - we even got some of the younger guides into the act!

Finally, it was time to eat.  Again.  The whole trek we ate like it was our profession.  Breakfast, lunch, tea, soup, dinner... There wasn't a potential course that we didn't have at some point, and I often found myself eating out of boredom and obligation rather than hunger.


At least the food was fantastic.


After our (typically) candlelit dinner, we might play another game or sit and talk for a bit, but inevitably by around 8pm, folks would start wandering off to their respective sleeping tents to 'read' or 'meditate'.  I usually fell asleep pretty fast and hard.  Despite the skinny foam pads and my constant coughing, I slept like it was a new-found hobby.  Maybe the cure for insomnia is altitude!


Then, at 5am or so, I could sleep no more, and the whole thing started once again - with new sights, new trails and more rolls of the dice...

Morning at Dzongri, before the day gets away from us...

Hitting the trail - nothing better!