April 7th – Almost a last bus ride to Eden (Tatopani)

Dinner the previous night at the Florida Guest House was so terrible that I boycotted breakfast and had a Snickers bar that I had in my pack instead. After jumping online quick at the guest house to check my Email and drop my parents a quick note, we were all on our way for a several hour hike to Tatopani.

As we hiked towards Tatopani, I was reminded of the beginning of our trek. The weather once again was sunny and hot due to us being at lower altitudes. The cold weather, rocks and snow at higher altitudes had given way to lush green vegetation and more wildlife. We hiked along a dirt and gravel roadway and followed a river several hundred feet below us. The major change from the beginning of the trek was that we were losing altitude instead of gaining it.

Along the sides of the trail and road, lizards darted all over the place. They bite and are poisonous, but run away before you can get too close to them. Getting one to sit still long enough to take a photo proved to be a challenge. The donkey caravans had also returned to the trail. It had been some time since I had last seen one. They must only been good up to a certain altitude.

Along the way, Mike and I amused ourselves like two little kids by kicking and throwing rocks over the side of the road down into the river. Most broke up by hitting the rock walls on the way down and despite our best efforts, few actually reached the water. We were so high up above it, that the river’s edge looked a lot closer than it was. Blaine even got in the act by using his walking sticks (that he was using to try and help his injured knee) to push rocks over the side towards the river below.

After about two hours of hiking, we arrived at a small roadside stop with a couple of buses and locals waiting around to take them further on to Tatopani. Blaine’s knee was bothering him and he decided that he was going to take the bus. I happily volunteered to ride along with him while the rest of the group decided to hike the four hours to Tatopani. In contrast, we spent 200 rupees, about $3, for an hour bus ride to Tatopani. I have discovered that around eight to ten days trekking is about my limit. It has also been a bit of a struggle because everything was geared towards conquering the Thorong La pass, and since we’ve done it several days ago, everything seems rather anti-climatic.

We had to wait for the bus to leave, so Blaine and I took some seats in the shade in a roadside kitchen. I leaned my hiking poles up against the outside of the kitchen wall and put my backpack on a bench to put my rain cover on it. This is because most of the time, when you take a bus or Jeep in Nepal, your bags have to ride on top. A rain cover helps keep fingers out of your gear, and also prevents your stuff from being covered with all of the dust that gets churned up along the way.

Around this time, people started to crowd onto the bus, so we quickly hurried to get on the bus and get seats as well. A bus isn’t the most capable vehicle for bumpy, stony mountain roads, but we were off anyways. About ten minutes into the ride, I about had a heart attack as I looked out the open passenger door and couldn’t see any roadway. All I could see was the raging river below. Blaine who was sitting next to the window remarked that he looked down and couldn’t see any roadway either. Tumbling off a mountain road to my death in a Jeep or bus was what I was most worried about for my trip to Nepal. I already could see the two inch blurb in my hometown newspaper. "Two Americans die in tragic Nepalese bus accident."

Nerves jangled, I readjusted my pack in the bus to realize that I had left my hiking poles back leaned up against the roadside kitchen wall! At the next stop when we got off the bus at Tatopani, I did my best to communicate to the driver what I had done and asked to see if someone could bring them on a future ride. I told them where we planned to stay and promised a reward of 300 rupees if they showed up. Our communication was broken at best and I don’t think he understood me very well.

As Blaine and I hiked up from down by the river to Tatopani above, we ascended a stone staircase that had marijuana naturally growing on both sides. One we got into the village, we checked out several hotels before deciding on one. The town clearly feels like how Eden must have felt. There is plenty of lush vegetation and it very warm and tropical. Blaine and even had time to enjoy an ice cold beer and some French fries before the others showed up. I also ran across some Germans that I had met back in Thorong Phedi before we crossed the pass. It truly is a small world along the trek.

The rest of the afternoon was spent lounging, visiting and napping. I also took a stroll around to try and get some photographs of the sights around Tatopani. Later, everyone regrouped for dinner. Dinner was excellent. I had some enchiladas along with some apple pie. I joked with everyone at dinner that the enchiladas were so good, that they would be worth the resulting diarrhea. Little did I know how true that prediction would come…