Day 9: Nambache

I am sitting on a gray, plastic mat. The same one we havebeen on for the last 9 days. We are joined by Mahananda (Tika's real uncle, who is also a porter) and Hari (Tika's brother's wife's brother). I'll stop writing for a second to let that soak in.

Smoke has just permeated into the area. Jose just summoned Anup to translate in order to tell these guys to stop. A Village boy has appeared and is staring at us. We are on exhibition for the entire village. Now I know how Shamoo feels at sea world.

Nambache is a quaint Boti town. The Boti are a mountain people that can be best explained by a hybrid of Tibetan Nepali. When encountering a family on the trail today, they looked puzzled as they see me - A bigger, whiter man with an REI cowboy hat. I might as well been from Planet Neptune. Fancy hiking shoes and backpacks are as foreign to them as a Chinese restaurant in Mississippi. They are just happy to be alive on planet earth, something I should think about more often.

Ramji is helping out with dinner tonight. At 23 years old, he has already started his family. Even after 9 days of camping, he seems affable, polite and polished. He serves us some genuine Nepali food: pasta with cauliflower. The cauliflower is curried with potatoes and lentils and gives us what the locals say 'good energy'. We are huddled into the dinner tent as the temperature falls into the 40s. It is Kumar the cook's birthday today. Ramji finishes off the dinner by serving us a carrot cake in Kumar's honor. We sing Happy Birthday to Kumar. The translation is lost on him. Nevertheless, Kumar shows good spirit as he blows out the candles. Tika breaks into a song about how if a girl and a boy were to meet and have true love, that the water would be clean. I've always agreed that good sanitary conditions make the best aphrodesiac.

The hiking has been strenuous, but the views have been awe-inspiring. We have seen countless waterfalls, Buddhist monastaries and stupas (small buddhist shrines). We have seen Himalayan peaks merge with cloud cover. I can honestly say the trip has been worth the sacrifice of sleeping in a clammy, humidified, tent. While I contemplate the mysteries of how to create a camp pillow from extra clothing and how to sleep on a 5 degree sloped hill, I need not forget the wonders of this place. The people of Nepal and Tibet have a hard life, a huge heart and a mighty spirit. I will need all of their heart and spirit to forge through the pass roughly 5 days from now. It's 8 PM and time for bed. We are going on a hike to a town named Sho tomorrow. Six hours more. Just another day at the office. More to come.