Fat Camp (to the max)

This Blog is Officially Dedicated to Nella and Nich and Josh.

So.

We got a suggestion from one of our friends to go see some glaciers while we are in Nepal. This sounded simple enough to Marcie. Carmen, being the amazing and wonderful Husband that he is, obliged her into thinking that this would all be as easy as it seemed in her pretty little head.

WELL, 135 Kilometers later, we are happy to say we have come and gone through some of the most awe-inspiring terrain we have ever seen, and we have arrived back in Kathmandu relatively unscathed...


We have learned a thing or two during this time. Like, what happens to a blister that develops and you just keep walking (for 135 Kilometers, that is?) This is something that Marcie has wondered from time to time. Now she knows, and understands, that a gaping hole forms in the blister's place. Carmen, being the one who thinks just a little farther down the road, (literally and figuratively) Has learned that in times of blister-misery, you can simply switch to a simple pair of worn-down flip-flops, as long as you watch the sliding rocks and slippery sands. (And have a trusty wire to stitch them up when they break).

So, flip-flop clad, guideless, and (in Marcie's case) totally naively, we set out in the Himalayas, hoping to hike up through some little Tibetan towns (still in Nepal) and catch a glimpse of some of the glaciers on the north face of Annapurna II...

And after land-slidden paths; dense pine forests; dusty tracks complete with horse-plops; switchbacks upon switchbacks of stone "stairways", "under construction" areas full of lose rocks; stream beds; and a heap load of ups and downs (emotionally and physically and geographically)...WE MADE IT!!! and then we turned around and walked the whole path again, from the end back to the beginning!

We were kind of tense about setting such a tight time frame. We had to walk most days from about 7 am to 5 pm. We saw so many amazing mountains and steep cliffs, once again, our mouths were gaping half the time, just looking and pointing at all the beauty right in front of us.

One of the most memorable experiences of our trip was right at the top of our tallest hill, facing that beautiful Annapurna II, we heard a sound like a crack of thunder and saw a huge gust of snow whirl up on the Mountain (Don't worry mom it was far away)...and then we saw it turn into an avalanche! On the way down the hill it happened again. We were speechless, just taking it in.

Even though it was so hard, we felt so rewarded, so amazed, so energized to be out climbing in these beautiful hills. We didn't think we were going to do this but we are so happy we did!

Marcie had this great idea of strapping her camera to the arm strap of her backpack so she could go snap-happy the whole way (being the visualizer that she is). Carmen (being the realist that he is) continually warned her to be careful and to never hold anything in her hands in case she needed to use them in a hurry (i.e. when falling).

When we were about 7 km. from the end Marcie said, to Carmen, go on ahead, don't wait, these blisters and me will be hobbling on behind you just fine. So he went up a little further until he heard her call his name. When he heard it a second time, a little louder, he ran back to see her lying in a stream bed with her feet in the air and her arm pinned around behind her back. Anyways, he helped her up, brushed her off and dried off her camera (which was dangling in the water behind her head), and all was fine.

So, with a bit of an arm-bruise; a bunch of blisters, and some sore muscles, we sit in Kathmandu where we just enjoyed our first Pizza in a while; we write to you safe and sound, back in this urban wilderness we call the city.

Tomorrow we set out for a new chapter of this adventure; in Thailand, that is. Whatever happens, we now think, will be a breeze.

(carmen and marcie)*




*FYI: although all these blogs are marcie-written, they are all carmen-approved; so consider them from both of us.