email from kristin in nepal

Thank you for all of the lovely emails :) I love you
too, so so super much! Seriously, it's so nice to come
back and have messages waiting for me...
If this message doesn't make sense, I'm really sorry
but I spent over 10 hours today on a bus with
approxiametely 37 million Nepali people driving on
dirt roads like they have at Mt Rainer except scarier.
:) Quite the experience, there aren't any bridges for
most of the river so the bus just jumps in and starts
fording it. I sat on the roof for maybe an hour to get
some fresh air, and I counted myself plus 35 Nepali
men up there dodging the trees and powerlines and
stuff. And then we got back to Kathmandu and power was
out in the entire city center. All of this is fine,
just really tiring. Also, I am massively dehydrated
becaue I didn't drink any water all day so that I
wouldn't have to pee during the bus trip -- you know
how I am. :)
Anyways, all of that is to say that I am exhausted and
that if this email makes no sense I am not responsible
for it. :)
I'm sure you'd much rather hear about trekking than
about bus rides, though. I'll probably write something
more about it tomorrow, but I'll tell you know that it
was amazing amazing amazing.
AAAAA.... it was so beautiful, I don't even know where
to start... I'll have to bring home some pictures and
show you, because I don't really think words could do
it justice.
The first couple of days we hiked through the
foothills and the mountains were in the distance and
kept getting closer and closer. It was all rice
paddies and little villages and jungle.
Then we went way up high in the mountains and finally
went over a pass at around 15,000 feet. It was
absolutely incredible, so high up. It's so quiet up
that high and there is nothing except for the blue in
the sky, the brown of the mountain and the white of
the snow. It was like being on the moon or somthing.
Plus, there is only 57% of normal oxygen levels there,
so you're feeling all weird. :)
When you go over the pass, suddenly everything opens
up and there are giant mountains everywhere. And there
are three holy lakes, called Goisakunda, where lots of
Buddhist people go to make pilgrammages. Honestly, it
was probably the single most beautiful place I have
ever been.
After that we went down over 9,000 feet in one day (my
knees were about to break in half), and walked up the
Langtang valley for the rest of the trek. It was so so
so pretty there. At the final place we reached we saw
the full moon rising behind Langtang, and it looked
fake. :)
Then we walked back a different way to Syrabesi, and
today we took the bus back to Kathmandu.
So that's where we went.
I also saw a yak, and drank this nasty disgusting
Nepali millet wine called raksi that is served hot
with yak butter melted in it. It's like 100 percent
alcohol and if you drink it at 15,000 feet you will be
real fucked up. :)
I got altitude sickness, but not as bad as some people
who were puking all the time up there.
I also got a giant leech stuck to my leg and we pulled
it off wrong and now there is this huge nasty black
welt on my leg from where it's lips are in me.
Everyone we trekked with was super fun. If you count
the guide and porters it was 8 of us, 4 girls and 4
boys, and everyone was in their 20s. We're going to go
again in about a month and do part of Annapurna.
There was so much funny stuff that happened, you'll
have to see the pictures when I get home.
One of the porters was this really thin guy named KV
and he was obsessed with chicken and raksi. Everytime
we passed a village he would buy a chicken and carry
it all day, for 8 hours or whatever, until we got to
the nighttime spot. Then he would kill it and eat it.
So now I have seen a chicken run around with no head,
and I also tasted its brain. :)
I actually did a really good job hiking, if you can
believe that. I think it was all of the sugary milk
tea I consumed. Serioulsy, I was running up all of the
mountains and then at night I was always all
hyperactive and wanting to go rock climbing and
exploring.
So that's that and tomorrow I'll probably think of
something else to say about it...