The morning awakens with even more uncertainty than the night before.
Because I’d had cell phone service, I’d spent too much time looking at the numbers, staying up too late, reading the news, going back and forth between COVID news from the US and from Nepal, wondering how long this lockdown would truly go on, wondering what I should do.
Our plan from here was to go up and into North Annapurna Base Camp. Kavee hadn’t been there before but had wanted to go. It would require camping for a few days. The provisions he talked about having for us were pretty basic... and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be quite that basic. He was talking about sleeping without a sleeping bag, using caves and fires as protection... trusting nature and the elements... that as a devotional yogi this is how he had spent most of his personal alone time in the wilderness. My own sleeping bag wasn’t that warm and at Khopra Danda there had been significant snow: I wasn’t confident my bag was up to the higher elevation stuff completely in the elements.
The valley behind the ridge begins the route to the North Base Camp.
We also considered hiring a porter as one could be had for $15/day. It would enable us to carry more and a greater variety of food and have a few more creature comforts.
There was also concern about scouting the correct route and whether the pass would be navigable. But we could always turn back.
Camping seemed to be the best option; I was feeling increasingly like a fugitive in the villages. I’d at least get somewhere interesting, incredible, and feel like I had achieved something before being turned around early. The North Base Camp is challenging and not well travelled. It would satisfy my overwhelming desire to be deep in the Himalayas.
Incredible waterfall above Narchyang.
To pass this day, we stayed in town to collect our thoughts and make a plan. In the morning, we walked up to the incredible waterfall in town, where there was a Shiva temple. I spent a long time in meditation... to find my own calm and peace, as well as for the world. The clouds shifted in the sky revealing and obscuring Nilgiri, Dhaulaghiri, and several other peaks near and far. A woman with goats followed us up the trail and shared time with us at the temple. The combination of the long sit and being in such a powerful presence fo the mountains and the temple calmed the anxiety that had been with me since arising.
Shiva temple at the waterfall above lower Narchyang.
After lunch we walked to upper Narchyang, a beautiful traditional village about 1.5 hours up the hill from lower Narchyang. Along the road on the way up we scoped the beginning of the route to North Annapurna Base Camp. Between maps, conversations with locals, and reading the landscape, we started piecing together an idea to proceed. If we got out of the town on the route towards the base camp, we likely wouldn’t see people for several days.
Peeling a ground apple.
Two-thirds of the way up to the village, Kavee indicated to take a side path. It literally went through an outdoor annex of someone’s house where the family was cooking over an open fire. Kavee knew the man of the house after many times of passing through the area, and he asked them if we could buy some ground apples. This delicious root vegetable tastes light and fruity, crispy like an apple and sweet, but looks like a potato or yuca or squash prior to being peeled.
We kept climbing higher to reach the village, and upon arriving I found it to be even more quaint and charming than the last. Kavee tells me about how the higher up the hillside we go, the more traditional and preserved the villages are. No cars come here... yet. A road is being built. How will this change in five years, or ten?
Upper Narchyang village.
This man wa weaving a basket. Various designs of these are made throughout Nepal and used on a daily basis to carry anything you can imagine.
Collecting Nettles.
After walking through the village, as we began to head down, we collected nettles for dinner, using a piece of bamboo, split vertically down the middle, to pull them off their stinging shoots. As we began to harvest just outside the village, the local children start yelling Corona at me, and in Nepali saying we shouldn’t be there.
A feeling of melancholy began to swell inside me. This wasn’t how I want to feel when I’m traveling and exploring a place. My heart was heavy, and I quietly descended, enjoying the falling light of the evening over the valley below.
A man who’d offered to be our porter arrived later that evening. I obsessively read news and numbers while he and Kavee started planning logistics to trek to North Annapurna Base Camp. He wants to bring a few more amenities and food items - this was fine by me! While I’m resilient I don’t like to suffer more than necessary. They talked the living room for over an hour deciding on a route, food, gear, and conditions. Even so, my anxiety was increasing.
Then, I landed on a page informing me about about embassy evacuations. I started to read the news... as I did.. as much as I wanted to leave the nightmare that the world is becoming to trek more deeply into the sacred mountains... I became unsure about going several days without cell service. The world was changing so fast - day to day, minute to minute. While every cell of my being wanted to stay, it seemed like the right thing to do was in touch with the embassy, and see about getting home.
Even though he’d only left about half an hour, I told Kavee to call the porter and cancel.
