Trek Day 2 - Tikhedhunga to Ghorepani, Nepal

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Parent Category: Travel Over There
Category: Nepal
Created: Thursday, 12 April 2012 13:34

Tikhedhunga to Ghorepani, NepalFrom Tikhedhunga we take what we are told to be 3200 stone steps to Ulleri on the way to Ghorepani where we will spend the night. While the area is absolutely gorgeous, everyone seemed pretty sure there are vastly more than 3200 steps. It can be a bit of a push to start the morning with a steep stair climb into the mountains but once you find your rhythm you should be alright.

If you are a little worried about so many steps in a row, you might want to train for them. Thankfully I work in a 5 story building which I was able to utilise to train with. If you aren't as lucky as me, then I suggest that you find a place that has a few flights of stairs in a public area and use them. You start with a few trips up and down, gradually work your way to a greater level of fitness and before you know it what seemed a challenge is easier.

A very important thing to remember when undertaking a hike like this is to ensure you don't forget to take in the sights. The views as you rise out of the valley are simply incredible. The clouds dance upon mountain tops and the sun casts it's light to various effect throughout the day. There are so many wonderful views that you could easily take hundreds of photos.

I also found that having a little dance along the way helps make it easier.

Tikhedhunga to Ghorepani, NepalWe stay at Ulleri for an hour or so, eating lunch, enjoying the view, relaxing and dancing after conquering the famed steps. With everyone in good cheer, we continue on our way to Ghorepani. The thing about the path from from Ulleri is that you still need to ascend for a bit, and that ascension is up more steps. It's not all upwards and onwards though because it's on this day that you get told a small local truth about Nepal from your sherpas – Anapurna is “Nepali flat, A little bit up and a little bit down”. The best thing for me though was how the environment changed from farm land scattered with trees to rainforest. Personally, I found the new environment energising with every sense filled with a new wonder that distracted me until we reached the large township of Ghorepani.

Here we stayed in a large guest house that catered for around 100 people. It was by far the largest we came across during our six days. The accommodation was sparse again, but still very comfortable.

We took to bed early that night as the next day would begin at 4:30am for a walk up to Poon Hill to witness the sunrise.

Tikhedhunga to Ghorepani, NepalTikhedhunga to Ghorepani, NepalTikhedhunga to Ghorepani, Nepal

Tikhedhunga to Ghorepani, NepalTikhedhunga to Ghorepani, NepalTikhedhunga to Ghorepani, Nepal

Tikhedhunga to Ghorepani, NepalTikhedhunga to Ghorepani, NepalTikhedhunga to Ghorepani, Nepal

Tikhedhunga to Ghorepani, NepalTikhedhunga to Ghorepani, Nepal

Day 1 

Day 3 

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

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Trek Day 1 - Nayapul to Tikhedhunga, Nepal

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Parent Category: Travel Over There
Category: Nepal
Created: Thursday, 12 April 2012 13:30

On The TrailWe arise in Pokhara and begin with yoga and meditation. From the roof of our hotel we can see the white caps of the mountains in dawn's early glow. There is a wonder in exercising with such a gorgeous view. Pokhara whispers around us as it gradually comes alive. A small breakfast then out to our bus.

The tourist bus looks like it belongs in 1970's disco movie – all bright colours and reflective surfaces, making for a cheery drive to Nayapul.

At Nayapul we disembark and gather into our trekking groups, apply sunscreen and Bushmans. Nayapul is a small village near the river and for many travellers it is the start of the Anapurna loop, a 70 kilometre path through the mountains to Phedi. Our group will spend six days journeying through the hilly terrain. Today we walk the 10 kilometres to Tikhedunga where we will spend the night.

This region of Nepal is beautiful and alive. Below is the GPS of the days walk. The path is wide and relatively easy going, the scenery inspiring.

Tikhedunga is a small village with a few Guest Houses for travellers. The Guest Houses are all blue and can be seen from a distance. When you arrive at a guest house you place a food order with your guide before relaxing. This allows for the kitchen to prepare everything for the time your group has specified to eat. The food at Guest Houses is something very wonderful – home cooked. The guest houses are run by families who do everything.

The accommodations are sparse but comfortable which is all you need. There are showers available but a thing to be aware of is that most of the hot water is generated by wood fire, and as such should be used sparingly. An alternative to using the showers while trekking, or if you are trekking and don't have access to shower facilities, is to use Baby Wipes to clean your pits and bits because in all likelihood, regardless of how much you shower you will still smell by the end of the trip. Using Baby Wipes will allow you to sanitise the areas that need it and will generally have a lower environmental impact.

Tourist Bus 1Tourist Bus 2

 

 Welcome To Annapurna Nayapul to Tikhedhunga, Nepal Nayapul to Tikhedhunga, Nepal

Nayapul to Tikhedhunga, Nepal Nayapul to Tikhedhunga, Nepal

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

 

 

Trek Day 1 - Nayapul to Tikhedhunga, Nepal

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August 26 to 27 2011 - The Lukina community

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Parent Category: Travel Over There
Category: Peru
Created: Saturday, 27 August 2011 15:43

We are greeted at the jetty by some of the local families:

Camasurak (Hello)

Waliqui

We walked with the locals to the school, while they played music (bass drum, snare drum, flutes). At the school we are introduced to the family member who will take us to their home. My host is Wilbur, and as I was the odd one out, I'd be staying with his family by myself. The men here dress in black and wear broad brimmed hats (similar the Heffes from earlier except here it doesn't imply seniority) and the women wear bowler hats.

At the school we play soccer in dying light of day. For twenty minutes we (Ali, Nathan, Mads, Paul, and myself) play against the locals while we wait for another group to arrive so we can play them for the right to play the locals (This is Peru, the logic is different). Well, it would come as no surprise that the locals kicked our arses. 8-0 in twenty minutes.

The new group arrived, substantially bigger than ours, and predominately European. We set about our game and it was quite fun for a while, until the Germans on the other side started to be a little serious and play rough. I'll never understand why people take a friendly match and turn it into something else. Maybe it's something the Germans have against the English or Danes that were on our side, or maybe these guys were just jerks. Anyhow our group won and as a few of us were bored playing after the other side took the fun out of it, we offered to share the game and have all the foreigners who wanted to play able to. Victory is good, and being a gracious victor is even better.

So against a setting sun, on Lake Titicaca, locals and foreigners met on the field and played a friendly game of soccer.

After the game I went with my host to his family's home. At the house I was shown my room, separate from the main house and quite large. It had two single beds and a small bathroom. There was a toilet and shower, although the plumbing wasn't finished yet so there was no flowing water. For the toilet however there was a 50 litre bucket of water for flushing. The beds had quite a few heavy blankets which I saw myself using as there was no heating or insulation. It was a very comfortable if spartan place to stay the night.

Wilbur came and tried to speak to me for a while. His Aymara and Spanish versus my Spanglish. The language barrier is incredibly strong here. The rudimentary Spanish I have learnt and picked up is not nearly enough. This will be very tough to get through. I have an Aymara cheat sheet and a Spanish phrase book, and I know that won't be enough. Even adding in physical gesturing probably won't get me through with any ease.

Wilbur leaves and tells me dinner is at 7. So, at 7 I present myself at the kitchen door and am welcomed in. Wilbur isn't here, rather this is his uncle and aunt's home: Delphin and Nurita.

The kitchen is a single room, connected with the rest of the house only by shared walls. It is simple neat and clean. Nurita works at a small gas stove and I assume she is sitting on a stool. Delphin sits on a chair next to the stove talking with his wife. There is a table with three chairs around it. Behind Nurita is a small cupboard with plates and utensils and a few ceramic pots. I approach her and offer a bag of food I have purchased for a gift (Pasta, polenta, egg noodles, and rice). I introduce myself and they to me, Delphin offers me a seat at the table.

The people of Lukina are vegetarians and as such the meal will be soup and a stew. I wonder what it must feel like for the families here to be invaded by gringos, having to cook for people who understand very little of their way of life, and unable to speak their language. I feel awkward attempting to speak with them in my broken spanglish, trying to structure a sentence from cheat sheets and phrase books.

Do they feel like a museum display?

I'm not their first gringo. This tour is frequent and has been going on for years and they wouldn't just get English speakers either. My hosts are pleasant with regard to my poor communication but I feel as though I am imposing on them in my attempt to learn an alien culture.

I am going to learn more of the language for the next culture I visit.

I listen to the couple speak and wonder what they're talking of. Aymara is tricky language to place. At times it sounds influenced by the Asian languages but then it also has intonations and words similar to Arabic. Linguistically this is fascinating, and it is a shame that I can't tell them why I'm smiling. I wonder if in a bilingual society they combine the two languages for clarity of communication?

Nurita serves up the soup: Potato, Carrot, Quinoa, Peas. Next comes the stew and rice. The stew has the exact same vegetables but the flavours and consistency is different. We finish the dinner with Coca tea. The food is excellent, simple, tasty and very filling. My plate is only half the size of Delphin's, but I am full and satisfied. My hosts sit low to the table carefully spooning the food, not spilling a drop. The Coca tea aids in digestion at this altitude, more the hot water than the coca, but the coca provides other things missing in their diets.

After dinner, I am dressed in a poncho, a bag, a hat and some pom poms on my wrist. It is time for fiesta – They have one every time a group comes to stay. I feel like Marty McFly in Back to the Future 3 and apparently look like a cowboy except that the poncho is pink. We walk through the night back to the school. All the groups arrive with their families. The band is back and they start to play. The music is discordant, chaotic, there is rhythm but it is so far from what I'm used to it feels unnatural.

The locals show us how to dance. It is a simple dance, facing in, turning out, facing in, turning out, moving forward and around the room, swinging the pom poms.

Next we the tourists attempt to recreate the dance, and it is harder than it looks, but then again most simple things are. We have fun and dance with our families for a while then head back to the home. I stay up a while after everyone has gone to bed. The silence is incredible, broken only by a few bleats and snores of animals. The stars are bright and the sky is thick with them. It is easy to feel at peace in a place like this.

The next morning I wake early and sit outside to watch the sun crest the Andes. It is a beautiful thing to sit in near silence with the sky opening up as the sun envelopes the world. Around 7:30 Nurita comes and gets me for breakfast – an egg, some Toq Tos and coca tea.

After breakfast Nurita walks me to the jetty to where my group will travel to Isla Floentes. A few hours from the Chuquito peninsula we made our approach to the Uros people on their floating islands.

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