When we woke the morning after crossing the passes, the camp had a nice dusting of snow. Absolutely breathtaking, but as you might imagine, frigid because you can't really escape anywhere to get away from the cold. It was an interesting camp though, a gathering place where many locals camp on their way to and from villages, a place with large stone corrals for holding herds of animals that pass through. Our partner was excited as we had finally begun to see the faces of the people we were coming to see. As the warm sun came out and we set off, we were told the journey would be about 4 hours to our first indoor destination--well for us, maybe 6, they said. Our guides had been there before, but their recollection of how long it would actually take turned out to be pretty fuzzy.
The last few hours of the walk, we walked in cold, wet, freezing rain. When we reached a field of grazing yaks, our guides confidently told us, "It's just another 30 minutes. We can make it by dinner." The doctor with us, by that point, was having a day much like many of mine: too little strength and too much discouragement. We convinced her that rather than setting up camp in the rain again, we should just make this last 30 minute push to the village. I have never walked so quickly uphill in all my life! An hour and a half into the "30 minute" walk, it started to get quite dark so I hung behind to make sure our doctor was not left alone walking in the dark. Piles of mani stones along the trail made it clear that we were getting close to people. Although it was a terribly rainy, cold walk, we finally entered our first village after 6 solid days of walking.
What a delight to be indoors though the rain poured outside, to have a warm fire to sit around, surrounded by warm friendly faces. A simple dinner of butter tea, potatoes, lentils, and rice never tasted so good. A few brave souls around the fire even cracked into some pickled chicken feet to celebrate! On top of that, we got to sleep inside a building that night. Yes, on the floor as usual, but so nice to be indoors and to have a toilet with a door, even if it was just a squatty.
The last few hours of the walk, we walked in cold, wet, freezing rain. When we reached a field of grazing yaks, our guides confidently told us, "It's just another 30 minutes. We can make it by dinner." The doctor with us, by that point, was having a day much like many of mine: too little strength and too much discouragement. We convinced her that rather than setting up camp in the rain again, we should just make this last 30 minute push to the village. I have never walked so quickly uphill in all my life! An hour and a half into the "30 minute" walk, it started to get quite dark so I hung behind to make sure our doctor was not left alone walking in the dark. Piles of mani stones along the trail made it clear that we were getting close to people. Although it was a terribly rainy, cold walk, we finally entered our first village after 6 solid days of walking.
What a delight to be indoors though the rain poured outside, to have a warm fire to sit around, surrounded by warm friendly faces. A simple dinner of butter tea, potatoes, lentils, and rice never tasted so good. A few brave souls around the fire even cracked into some pickled chicken feet to celebrate! On top of that, we got to sleep inside a building that night. Yes, on the floor as usual, but so nice to be indoors and to have a toilet with a door, even if it was just a squatty.
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