Day 11 and 12: Sama (Ro)

As Jose, Vinay and I are walking into a box canyon, we see a town in the distance. While Vinay stops to take a picture, Jose and I walk nearby to the prayer wheels, where I have grown accustomed to the Om Mane Padme Om chant.

The hike has been miraculously fast. Shailesh, another porter, is trying to teach me the nepali numbers 1-25. Between memorizing strange Nepali syllables and coping with now 11,000 ft. altitude, I now feel that I am trekking in a foreign land.

We reach Sama (Ro) in roughly 3 hours. Not bad for a day's walk. It's not even high noon as the rest of the group reaches town. The town has an alternate name, Samaygao, which I believe the Nepalis use and it sounds better to me, so from now on Sama (Ro) is Samaygao.

This place is much better than yesterday, as my mood is much better. The back of my head is starting to throb ever so slightly as I cope with the elevation. While 11,000 feet does not sound like much, my headache is compounded by the constant cold temperatures and a steady Nepali Diet of chipoti and Dahl Bat.

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After Rick and Lisa finish smoking their cigarettes, we decide to do a short hike to acclamate a little further. As we walk, we begin to hear heavy pulsating base drums, much like a war drum chant. Anup and Vinay tells me that this is coming from the Gompa (a small, buddhist monastary). We walk towards this gompa, sidestepping up a hill for roughly 30 minutes. My head is getting slightly lighter with every breath.

We reach the Gompa and walk in. I feel like I am with Buddha Gotama, himself. While it is not terribly lavish, I walk into the Gompa feeling like I just went into a time warp. The pungent smells of incense and smoke fill the air. There is a thronelike shrine in the middle with an image of Buddha. One of the people in the group say that Buddha is represented much differently in Nepal. He is more modest, more business-casual as opposed to the ornate sharp dressed Buddah shrines in Thailand. I like kicked back Buddah.

I go to kick back even farther and I almost bump into the dummer. A man in Traditional Boti clothing is reading a rectangular based Nepali Prayer book made out of parchment that looks decades old. In his left hand, he is holding the handle to a drum with an "S-like" handle which has a mallet attached to it. He seems to rhythmically strike the drum in sync with each syllable he utters. The man is so in the moment, I don't think he has bothered to look up in the last 5 hours. Lisa, myself and the gang leave him in peace as we go back to camp. The sunset is coming which basically means cold. I just hope I don't have to go use the poo-poo tent in the middle of the night. That's all I ask.

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Day 12: Rest Day in Samaygao...

Today is the scheduled rest day on the tour. The socially inept Czechloslavakians have left this morning. I think we slightly invaded on their privacy. They had stayed in the rudimentary bed shacks last night while we camped out in their front yard. Lisa thinks the shacks are so nice that she insists on moving in. This happens to become a wiser decision later tonight as the freezing rain moves in.

Since this is a rest day, I feel that this may be a good time to take a break from the action and introduce further some of the other westerners on our trip:

Lisa: The girlfriend. The only girl on this trip. She gets the Purple Heart award based on that alone. Even as she may complain behind closed tent zippers from time to time, she has done quite amazing. No other woman I know would even dare do this, and for that I am grateful. She is the practical one who brings baby wipes, sterilizing alcohol and conditioner. While I may snicker at some of these 'feminine' products from time to time during this trek, I'm so glad she brought them.

Rick: The leader. Whenever I have had a question about anything on the trek, one of my first responses would be, "let me ask rick." Rick has the best knowledge of the trail within the group of 7 westerners. He is the doctor of the moment with the most biological knowledge and extensive supply of pharmacutical supplies. Above all else, he keeps the most even of keels even when we individually gripe about our menial concerns of being cold and eating day old baked pasta.

Anup: The jokeman. He combines his knowledge of Indian and Nepali culture with a laid-back attitude and hankering towards College basketball. He can talk about anything from the chances of Duke winning the NCAA tournament to the palaces of Jaipur to the process of making ethanol fuel more efficient. I thank him advance for all the contacts in India he has given me and Lisa for the remainder of this trip.

Vinay: The cheerleader. Vinay is the one that goes out of the way to try and lift people's spirits through stories and songs. He knows more stories than Mr. Rogers. He tells me stories from the Tragedy of Karna to his child's escapades at school. A master photographer, he would qualify as a Renniasance man only if we can fine tune his singing. I will need his energy to make it over this pass.

Bobby: Lisa's brother and a good confidant. Bobby is the one that makes sure Lisa is okay when I'm not around from time to time. Him and Vinay are in a dead heat for biggest appetitite. Currently I give the nod over to Bobby, since he has eaten 12 bowls of porridge to Vinay's 11 up to this point. He is also known as the steri-pen man, as he waves his UV ray wand into people's nalgene bottles to zap away nasty parasites. Bobby tells it like it is. I like that. If more people just told it like it was, we would have less problems.

Jose: The enigma. What can I say about Jose that Ihaven't said already? I am glad he is here. He needs to stop eating raw sugar cubes as he is making everyone bonkers. Other than that, I love him.

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Today the group have 7 has broken up into 2 factions. One group will handle the gompa route to the Southeast and peak at about 13,000 feet. The other group will go to the nearby lake at about 11,000 feet. Rick, Anup and Tika the Guide are thinking about making it to Manaslu base camp today. I wish them the best of luck.

Our trip to the lake is quite nice as we hop over boulders and puddles. We get to see Manaslu oozing out slides after slides of ice and snow. The lake is just about frozen over. Hari, one of the porters, is our guide for the day. This makes me laugh as he has no idea where he is going. We reach the lake as we say goodbye to Rick, Anup and Tika as we head down to the lake for a closer look.

Hari likes to say "danger" a lot, even when there is none. If we pass by a thorny tree, he says 'danger'. If we pass by a few rocks out of place, he says 'danger'. He is what I think of as the Nepali Green Bean. Straight out of high school, this is trek #1 for Hari. Something tells me that he's not going on trek #2 anytime soon.

Hours later, Bobby, myself and Lisa are back at Samagyao. All in all, a great hike. The rest day was desperately needed for me. The cold has settled in a bit more and we go inside for lunch. A simple set of boiled eggs and leftover peanut butter, I do not mind. One by one, the rest of the comrades make it back inside. First, Jose, Vinay and Gopal. Then, Anup. Then, Rick and Tika. Rick looks like the Aboninable snowman as he tells us he just about reaches 15,000 feet. Rick is crazy to try to keep up with Tika. Tika is not crazy, since he is Nepali. Nepalis were born being able to hike. I was born being able to hike as long as there were porters carrying my stuff around. I swallow my pride and my eggs and enjoy the warmth. I'm excited about sleeping in a bed shack. I hope the sugar plum fairly pays a visit.