Today we began our three-week trek of the Annapurna Circuit. We met our 23-year-old guide-cum-porter, Udaya, in Pokhara and then took a four and a half hour bus to our starting point of Besisahar. After a quick lunch, we walked about four hours to Ngadi, where we are now. The walk today was relatively flat and easy. The first three hours or so, we trekked along a somewhat motorable path, which a few jeeps and motorcycles passed us on. Once that ended though, we walked the last hour on a rocky path. It’s beautiful already though. We crossed a few simple bridges and passed some really nice waterfalls, but the entire day was along terraced rice patties.

Most of the rice is yellow and the harvest is in full motion, with dozens of villagers cutting and threshing the rice. Potatoes will soon be planted in their place and will be harvested three months thereafter. Ngadi is nice and we’re staying right next to the river (which is nice to listen too, as its all rapids). We are paying approximately .79 USD, which I think is the least I’ve ever paid for a room (of course, its not much more than a bed surrounded by boards and tarpaulin).

Factoid of the day: I asked Udaya how far we’d be walking today and on average for the duration of the trek. He replied that he didn’t know. He said Nepalis don’t measure distance in kilometers or miles, but in hours. Kilometers are meaningless in mountainous Nepal. A kilometer could be covered in five minutes on a flat stretch or it could take over an hour if traversing a steep and windy path. But we’ll walk 5-6 hours at lower altitudes and 2-4 hours at higher altitudes. We also learned the term “Nepali flat,” which basically means walking up and then down…and then up…and then down…and then…you get the point.(postnote: We met our guide Udaya’s cousin, Binod and his Dutch client Simone on the trail the first day. We got along with them and trekked with them for the duration of the trek. We also met an Irish guy, John, and a Kiwi, Pete, at dinner and trekked with them through Muktinath.)

 

So today was day one of our adventure: the Annapurna Circuit Trek. I was pretty nervous before starting and am still a little unsure about how I’m going to do this. But I know that Matt will wait up for me and God will help keep me going, and I’ll just take it day by day. Eighteen days is a long time to think of all at once. I try to tell myself, “It’s just walking,” which it is. So hopefully I’ll make it through! Besides, the obviously amazing scenery, what is already making the trek fun for me is that Matt loves it. After the 4 hour bus ride this morning we walked for a few hours through a couple of villages and past dozens of rice paddies. We saw pack mules, porters carrying heavy loads (even chickens!), dusty little kids playing in the road, and a woman feeding her chicken rice from the palm of her hand. It will be interesting to see what else we pass by as the trek unfolds. And now as the sun drops behind the mountains I am sitting here outside our little guesthouse—refreshed from a hot bucket shower—and smelling something delicious being cooked for dinner. It was a good day.