March 31st – Stupidity confirmed
Somewhere there is someone putting together a highlight reel of my stupidity. Lord knows I’ve given them enough material.
So I woke up in the middle of the night with my nose and face feeling hot and crackly. I fumbled around in the dark to try and find my small mirror that I used for putting in my contacts and upon making enough noise and finally finding it, I was shocked with what I saw when I turned my flashlight on and looked at my face.
The entire middle of my face was blistered and puss covered. In my infinite wisdom, the morning of our ice lake hike, I had put some prescription cream on my face, and then neglected to put sunscreen over the top, so basically my face was unprotected for the entire six hour hike. Making things worse was the face that the ground was covered in snow, which reflected more light back onto my face and that we were at 15,000 feet when we got to the lake, where the UV light is 80% more intense than at sea level. Add that to the fact that I have the skin tone of Larry Bird’s bastard love child and you have a recipe for someone who looks like he stuck his face in a microwave on high for three minutes.
I was so concerned about how bad it looked, that I woke Mike up to take a look at it. Probably due to a combination of both wanting to go back to sleep, and not being able to do anything for me, he told me just to go back to bed. Those weren’t the words I wanted to hear, but realistically, there was nothing that he could do for me. I spent the rest of the night sleeping fitfully while tossing and turning as I worried about my face getting infected.
I was up by 5:30 to start packing and getting ready. I wolfed down an early breakfast, settled my bill and was on my way to the Manang while the rest of the group finished getting their items together. By a sheer stroke of luck, there happened to be a medical clinic in town. I got there too early and was turned away, so I surprisingly found a small internet café where I amused myself for a half hour or so until the clinic opened.
In the clinic I was treated by a nice young couple from the states and an older woman from England. They gave me some sunscreen and antibiotic cream for my face to help prevent infection. I also opted for some extra antibiotic pills to carry in case of a worsening infection due to the fact that the next village with any medical clinic was several days hike away. All told, the entire checkup, sunscreen, and medicine including extra pills ran me 4300 rupees – around $68.
I then killed time in town waiting for the rest of our group to show up and they finally arrived an hour late. Leaving on time is something that our group has struggled with the entire trip. We delayed ourselves further today by shopping in Manang and sorted out the clothing situation for Anish. Raj paid for the gear, but was in a very weird mood as he had to shell out around 900 rupees for gear – a large sum of money for him. I plan to make sure that he gets that money back at the end to the trip via my tip.
I did a bit of shopping myself and bought a bandanna for my face. How sanitary it really is, I tried not to think about, because I just needed something to cover my face. I just try to keep a thick layer of antibiotic cream between my bandanna and my face. I look like some sort of ninja reject in my entire outfit. Either that or a Michal Jackson impersonator.
After shopping was complete we hiked on further to Yak Kulka. Due to our late start, we had trouble finding accommodations and had to settle on a less than ideal lodge. After the many days together, nerves are starting to fray as people become annoyed with one another. The latest drama was that half the group was upset by the fact that we have to pay 200 rupees total ($3) for five people to sleep here. For most of the trips we have been able to negotiate free lodging in exchange for ordering lots of food. To me, I don’t understand why people are all bent out of shape over what I perceive a minor cost, but everyone else has been traveling for several months and are far more cost conscious than me. I was explained that over time, those costs can really add up and when you’re traveling around south East Asia, an extra $5 is another day of traveling. I still don’t understand how that could be possible, but whatever.
We spent the night in the common room with some fellow travelers and got our spirits lifted with some hot food and the chance to fill up our water bottles with some filtered water. During dinner, we met a nice middle aged couple from England that provided some good company for the night. The center of the room had a small cast iron stove that everyone was huddled around to try and stay warm.
To keep the hot stove going, I headed outside to scrounge up some sticks to help keep the stove going. When those ran out, we used cow dung to keep the fire going, although it isn’t nearly as warm. Poor Andrea was all bundled up like an Eskimo trying to filter water in her full winter outfit when I asked her “So, how many seals have you speared today” to much mirth from the rest of the group. She would have to hear seal related jokes for the rest of the trip. As we left the lodge to head to bed, another snowstorm had already moved in and blanketed everything with about 1-2 inches of snow.