Annapurna: Happy solitude

Dec. 19, 2008

Day 2 of my trek, I was up before sunrise happily lacing up my new hiking boots. I ready for some real, hard walking.

A bowl of banana porridge in my belly, I walked swift and strong along the path leading through flat lands along a rumbling river. I passed women washing laundry in the stream, and men carrying crates full of chickens, hauling the loads on their backs held up by a thick band around their foreheads. I blew through the farming villages of Nagdi and Bahundanda which formed steps along the hillsides. before stopping for tea in Syange (1,100 m) and eventually ending my day in Jagat (1,300 m). I had walked about 15 kilometers and ascended almost 500 meters.

I was so happy and healthy on the trail. I was exhilarated by the river below me and the mountain peaks in the distance ahead. I also felt dirty, but a good, clean kind of dirty. Dirty in body, clean in soul.

For dinner that night I devoured a plate of dal bhaat, a common Nepali dish consisting of rice, potato curry, a spicy pickle and a lentil soup. All the walking and carrying of my pack left me famished. Eating this hearty meal was good and natural; I could feel my body's need for the food.

Right at the start of my walk, I passed a young woman, the first other trekker I'd seen on the trail. A few days earlier I feared I would meet no one else on the walk. But now, after spending day on my own, I didn't want to meet anyone else.