My trip to Nepal was a last-minute decision kinda, I didn’t plan to visit however an opportunity came up and I said way not.

Not everything needs to be overthinked no?

So, I jumped on the plane after applying for a one-month visa, and looked up a few places to visit… and there it was the great mountain every climber wants to conquer in his life, and what about me? I just wanted an opportunity to see it, to witness its glory. And you must be wondering what was I thinking 💭? Not planning, yet dreaming 🛌, and another crucial piece of information would be regarding the weather, Mid-June is Monson season, and rain 🌂 would be part of the day, and traveling at this time would be challenging and you should expect a lot of changes, therefore you need to adjust all the time, it’s part of the journey.

Since the climate wasn’t on my side, my hopes of getting to the EBC (Everest Base Camp) were gone with the road, there was no flight ✈️ to Lukla due to the weather and I was offered a different hike, the ABC it’s considered as the second best thing, I was eager to go on the mountain 🗻 or maybe for an adventure 😅

so what is wrong with hiking the Himalayas in June?

Not want I thought

Excitement that how I would describe my feelings, I was thrilled to have the opportunity

Waking up early to take the “tourist” bus 🚌

And no let us pause for a moment here, since in my mind and in my imagination that had another meaning in reality it was crowded, with no AC and no room for my legs, not great for tall people. With that being said we went on and let’s say hello to the traffic and roads in Nepal

What should have been a 6-9 hours ride, become 19 hours in the road! Now you can imagine how I reacted, sitting on the bus moving a few cm in an hour and all the bad energy started coming, I am not used to being at the same place this long, even though I’m a traveler and it’s part of the journey But I felt bad, needed space to cry there none, looking at the Nepalis with me at the same bus made me furious, they are relaxed and calm and I’m the only one that is upset 😠, and feeling waste of time and energy

I just felt helpless and alone, I communicated with no one, didn’t listen to my music since there was no charger 🔌 with me, I told you my thoughts 💭 reclaim my mind, no they are in charge and it was a slide 🛝 to darkness

I don’t make great decisions at times like this, I start to agony for the loss of time, lack of decisions, and 19 hours on the road! There’s a lot of what to do and get in this time… but holding to this feeling and thoughts didn’t get me far, I need to eat and let go

Let go, what a blessing!

Day 1 keep it cool

After a good sleep in the kind hotel in Pokhara, I woke up early, I was eager to start… wasting time no more, it’s not acceptable… had my gear ready and didn’t have everything my guide Saron asked me to, I ready.

During the first steps of the hike, it started raining 🌧️ and we were prepared for it, except for the porter he needed to buy flip flops kinda to handle the rain, which got me thinking about the difference me being so western with my hiking boots 🥾 and they had regular ones, nothing special at all, so first thought is boots overrated? We kept going for 10km, with views that made up for all the loss in the beginning I enjoyed it, knowing how much up we needed to go, and I was ok, so it would be ok… legs are fine even though we had plenty of stairs (not a friend of them). Time to sleep in the wild, it’s a nice guest house one of many that we will be staying in, and it would be challenging since it’s not a room in a hotel or house, god am I spoiled? it doesn’t seem like it, it’s just the bugs 🐛 🐜 🐞 that I need to get used to, the wind and being alone in this room didn’t feel safe. I wasn’t afraid of not falling asleep 😴, because I knew when my body gets tired 🥱 I would fall asleep in a second, no need to think about all these bugs, just accept it as is… the first day is gone, only 10 to go.

You see I wanted to go up, but at the same time I wanted to come down, I knew that Im taking my mind and body on a journey we never had, and letting go isn’t easy, especially at night time, when relaxation needed.

Life in the Jungle

Happiness found me when I reached 2900 m up, simply because I managed to get to this top with no complaint, I was focusing on nature during the day, dealing with the pain later at night. It was a good operation, everything is under control I thought, until I might the mighty leech, they sucked my blood 🩸 at day 4, it was raining heavily and walking in the jungle made me a good target for them, an easy one I must say. It took me 5 hours to get used to it and to know how to deal with it calmly, sure they suck my blood and as long as I’m on top of things will be ok, no body died from leeches, no?

Run for your life

Admiring LOTR made me see everything related to it. Every landscape looks like it, however, I didn’t think for a minute I would be living in one of the most iconic scenes when Gandaled the Grey says “Run you fools” Well when Saron said run, I was still walking exhausted from our daily 10km walk and we still have 10-15 minutes hike, when I heard it for the second time and saw the porter running I realized we are in danger, a landslide is everywhere and for us to be safe we need to find the different path which means we are running all over the place

Wow, half an hour of running going up and down, searching for an escape after a while Saron decided we should go back and the porter would guide us on the new path… we made it safe

What happens after you reach the peak??

The excitement when I reached the peak was wow, I made it, and after that went when the morning fog 🌫️ , I started wondering 🤔 how will I make it down??

In the beginning, it seemed cool and smooth everything just going with the flow, and we were almost there, long story the short second day of coming down (9 days in general)all of a sudden my left leg started twitching, and every step becomes so heavy, slow and overwhelming

That was when it hit I realized there was more to cover since I wanted to get down as fast as possible, no need to stay another day on the mountains; the effect of landslides was still alive and kicking and there was no excuse to take the long path, and after making a huge step going almost 1000+ meters down, there’s a bridge to cross… scary one I must say. Yet we made it and in my mind, I lost the battle. For some reason I convinced myself that after making it from this town I would not face any ups or downs we are down, when it was completely none sense, if I managed to go to ABC at 4630 m height from a 1000 well I needed to make it down to the village to take the ride, but my leg was making a lot of noise to get me to understand that it’s not happening as I hoped and help is needed. I gave up and acknowledged that going down wasn’t as easy as I thought, and the motivation I had going up was expired, leaving me all alone with the effort my body made all these past 9 days.

Now that I know my limits, I know that going down isn’t easy and a plan is needed if I want to avoid injury, my plan for going up worked perfectly, but I forgot that some effort is needed and also to come down. I’m thinking about the mental side mostly as if I took it for granted, and that is my lesson.

Last but not least just go out there and make mistakes it’s necessary for our growth