Chamje to Dharapani el 6500 ft
Last night I lushed out on small boiled potatoes for dinner, not wanting to get too exotic with pizza made with yak cheese or other westernized dishes. With a growing number of stomach issues with other hikers, I figure it's best to go with the basics: beer and potatoes! However the German women I was sitting next to were surprised I did not peel the skin. I didn't eat the skin after that. The Nepalis eat dal baht for lunch and dinner, a nutritious meal of a mound of rice, a bowl of lentils poured over the rice, and curried vegetables - a meal I would have with more frequency too in the days ahead.
The sky was clear when we woke but quickly turned partly cloudy. The towns are supplied by teams of donkeys that pass thru a very narrow main street, just a foot or two from the entrance to the teahouses. Like the old West, it's better to have the upstairs room, less mud, dust and foul smells. Huge red and pink poinsetta trees adorned some houses above the roaring glacial river. Baby goats played next to the trail, and numerous chickens and chicks worked hard to find something edible on the sandy trail. With a 3-hr uphill walk to Tal, we stopped for vegetable egg fried potatoes next to spectacular waterfalls. After that nice break, it turned cold and windy for the last few hours to our lodge next to the river. This was after almost staying in a cold dark room earlier on the trail. While all the lodges are now getting colder and even more rustic, we are finding there are big differences between them relative to location and comfort. I had a warm trickle from the spigot to wash up because I could not figure out how the shower was supposed to work. In the meantime standing naked on a wet concrete floor I was freezing so I made it fast, dried off with my one square foot towel and dove into my sleeping bag.
Dharapani to Chame el 8760 ft
Awoke to a crystal clear and crisp day. I discovered a family of bed bugs had part of my bottom for dinner at some earlier point on the trip. Benadryl relieved the itching and helped me sleep so much that I did not hear the alarm. Dan brought up the milk coffee and fried eggs. Again I was back to normal and ready for the grueling climb up from the river. Even the bug bites abated quickly.
After sandy switchbacks again with donkeys, tremendous mountain views appeared back to the east. A huge number of hikers suddenly appeared on the trail, many large French hiking groups. We
met a nice man from Spain named Josen, living in Palo Alto. The way passed quickly. We walked by Bagarchap, 15 years to the day that a huge landslide buried the village after 72 hours of rain and coincidentally when Dan and I were last in Nepal in the Everest region.
Dan ordered tuna noodle for lunch to supplement protein which is just coming from eggs, peanuts, and beans at this point. Again clouds moved in for the afternoon and temperatures dropped by 15 degrees. But the trail ahead was a pleasant high traverse and we found a cute cabin for the night and rest day tomorrow :)
I felt a cold coming on but rest was all I needed. We did laundry, charged batteries, and found a cyber cafe with a finicky server under a tin roof.
