March 27th – A hat puts Chad in gear

I was happy to find all of my clothes still on the clothes line this morning when I woke up. I’ll admit I was nervous about leaving them outside at night because I’d read of people stealing clothes on the trek when left out to dry. The only item that I didn’t take a chance with was with my couple of pairs of socks that I had out drying.

I was once again reminded of my disadvantage in height in Nepal. During my running around packing and getting ready before breakfast and afterwards, I hit my head five different times on the doorways and beams. Unfortunately the height always seems to be at a level so that I miss the forehead but catch it right on the soft part on the top of my head. I have several nice bumps and red marks from where I’ve cut myself.

After breakfast, we set off this morning for another long day of hiking with the goal of reaching Chame. I struggled again throughout the morning with going up and down the trail as we continued our hike along the river. Fortunately we were able to have to cross the river multiple times so there was some shade available from the high surrounding cliffs. This unfortunately results in a wide temperature swing. You sweat while hiking in the dust on the sunny side of the trail, and then are cold due to the blowing wind and shade when you cross to the other side.

Midway through the morning I stopped to change my socks as they already had started to sweat and I could feel them rubbing against my feet. I wanted to protect against blisters we hiked along, especially since we had several more weeks left of hiking. Another quick note on a tangent, I really like hiking out and about where I can try talking to some of the porters. Some speak better English than others, and usually when I see one resting with his gigantic load of crap on his back, I’ll stop and say hello and offer them some water or gum. These first two days that have been so hot and dusty, they’ve always taken me up on the water offer. I can’t believe they go all day without some water along the way until they reach the next village.

We stopped for lunch during the day and it unfortunately turned into a two hour ordeal which would derail the rest of our plans for the day. I had a very disappointing attempt at a Pizza as nothing else looked like it was good. My back is still bothering me from the bus ride and carrying my stuff. I still struggle trying to get my pack to fit properly.

After lunch we had a 1,000 foot climb up in an hour. The full stomachs made the hike tougher and as we continued, I started to feel worse. I hadn’t been feeling the greatest the last couple of days and I got the familiar feeling that trouble was approaching. I came to a big rock along the side of the trail and just barely succeeded in getting my gear off and running around behind it before I successfully christened my trekking trip with my first case of trail diarrhea. I wasn’t feeling well and the wind was really starting to cut through what I was wearing. I met up with the group after about 15 minutes of bliss behind the rock and Andrea gave me her hat since mine was packed away. I also added a reversible vest for extra warmth and just took off. The added hat and vest helped keep my core warm and my legs were feeling better as we were on flatter ground. I got myself into a good rhythm and told myself that if I reached Chame tonight, that I could reward myself with a checking my Email in an Internet café. I’ve found, that when you’re out hiking, you need to give yourself little rewards and goals to make it through the day, especially when you haven’t done anything serious hiking before.

I reached Kote about twenty minutes ahead of everyone else. Raj, our guide had caught up with me just as I entered the town. Now I had to sit outside an Inn and wait for everyone else. I had worked up a good lather while hiking and now I had to sit, cold and wet. Raj said that we needed to stop for the evening due to the descending darkness. Mike and Blaine negotiated with a local in for free lodging as long as we ate dinner and breakfast there.

We unpacked and took a couple of lukewarm showers. Since most of the showers in Nepal are solar, if you don’t take them during the day, they won’t be warm at all. I felt like I was getting sick due to freezing while sitting at the end of the day. I also have a lack of appetite and have had terrible diarrhea for the whole evening. Mike kept me company as we ate with the Nepalese in their kitchen so I could warm up before I bid everyone else a good night so I could catch up on my rest. It unfortunately wouldn’t be much of rest due to having to get up every hour or so to run to the bathroom with bad diarrhea. It’s extremely frustrating when you’re exhausted and just want to sleep but you have to keep performing a firedrill of getting your clothes and shoes back on to run back outside into the cold to squat over a hole.