March 28th - Hike to Upper Pisang with a little help from a friend

Annapurna II came out and said hello this morning. I did my best to take some pictures, although I was exhausted after a night of running to the bathroom every hour. It is amazing to be this high up in the mountains. The scenery give hints as to how incredible it will become.

We hiked to Chame where I sent my parents a quick Email on the world’s slowest internet for the bargain price of 225 rupees for 15 minutes ($3.50). Since sarcasm isn't properly transmitted through the internet, I'll give you a quick rundown that we hadn't even paid 225 rupees for an entire night of lodging on the trail yet, and a full meal can usually be bought for 200 rupees or so.

After resuming hiking, we all regrouped for lunch at around 1PM. My back has been killing me from some improper backpack fit as well as straining the left side of it from being twisted on the bus ride to the start of the trail. We did our best getting it adjusted and the hike after lunch was a lot better. I was able to rediscover my rhythm and found myself out in front of everyone by about 15 minutes or so. On the way through a small town, I spied some Pringles in a local shop along the way and tried my best to barter the woman down from 250 rupees to no avail. I bought them anyways and promptly destroyed half the tube. It was like opening presents on Christmas morning. I had been struggling to keep up an appetite after bouts of diarrhea and a tube of Pringles was just the moral and appetite boost that I needed. With new found energy, I set off again towards Pisang.

Along the way, the temperature dropped, the wind picked up, and it started to snow heavily. I was faced with the thought that, here I was, out alone in front in a snow storm in the Himalayas and I just wanted to get the hell into the next town before it got worse. I increased my pace as I pushed towards Pisang. After crossing a small bridge, the path wore its way through a small grove of pine trees about 8 feet tall. This obscured the view of what lied ahead.

On the path, I passed a man in his late 60s and he spoke enough broken English to assure me that I was on the correct path to Pisang. He told me he was a lodge owner and asked me to come stay with everyone at his lodge "Yak and Yeti." As I continued, to further add to the fun, the path broke up several times and went in several different directions. I picked which one I thought was best and pressed on. I occasionally saw a sign that said Upper Pisang, which made me think that I was on the right path.

Along the way, I passed a woman who had to be in her 70s. She must have been carrying at least 70 pounds on her back. I passed her by as I kept going. I came to a small clearing and then noticed that I was on the skirt of a pine forest on the side of a mountain about 500 feet above the town of Pisang. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I had taken a wrong turn and was headed to Upper Pisang, and not Pisang which are two separate villages.

I pondered what I should try to do. I didn't want to turn back and perhaps get even more lost and the side of the mountain I was on had paths that looked too steep to try and traverse down to get to Pisang. While I weighed my options, the old woman once again caught up to me. She rested for a bit on a rock as I gave her some water and gum and tried my best to communicate with her that I was trying to get to Pisang and didn't know how to get down to the town. She motioned to me to follow her and after about another ten minutes of hiking, I found myself in Upper Pisang.

I took a seat on some steps next to the house as I did my best to watch for the rest of the group down below. While waiting, the owner of the Yak and Yeti came by again and asked me to come stay at his place. I told him I was going to wait for my friends and then we would see. It now occurred to me that he had told me the wrong way on purpose, to get me to come to Upper Pisang instead, in the hopes of getting my business.

After about half an hour of waiting, I was finally able to see everyone down below. After getting their attention by yelling and waving my red Wisconsin hat and Moosejaw flag, the group hiked up to meet me in Upper Pisang. I checked out the Yak and Yeti which was quite nice, but the group had stopped at the lodge Manang Marshangdi further down the hill and didn't want to hike up any higher.

I took a cool shower that only made me colder due to the low thirties ambient air temperature. Even though I hopped around yelping in the shower due to the cold, it was nice to be able to wash away some of the stink from hiking. Afterwards, we all gathered in a common area above the bedrooms. The middle of the room had a stove and it was nice to be able to get some hot food and relax by the warm stove before heading to bed.