Lazy Day and Trek Day 5

So yesterday was a recovery day, in other words, a lazy day. (: We stayed in Ghoreponi and could sleep in (even though we still woke up at five because of time change). At our tea house we have this really good egg and yak cheese sandwich (which I had three times). All day we rested, walked around town, played Uno, and had tea. My favorite tea is definitely Mint Tea. It is not too bitter but not too sweet either and I can always rely on it being the same taste from tea house to tea house. Unlike lots of food items. 

    Some of the types of food is Dhal Bhat, which is rice with veggies- pickled and fresh, chicken, and curry sauce. That is what the porters (ones who carry loads up and down the mountain) and guides eat. They also use no utensils only fingers. Other popular things for lunch and dinner is- fried rice w/ veggies, soups, soups with noodles. For breakfast is usually eggs, gurung bread- sweet circular bread, and toast. While us is all really tasty it kind of gets repetitive after seven days. So a pepperoni pizza sounds pretty good now. Also, tap water isn't drinkable so we rely on bottled water most of the time, we have to brush our teeth with the bottled water too which is okay most of the times. I look forward to getting tap water at home. But all of this is definitely worth it.

     

      Another thing I'm looking forward to having is a nice bathroom with a toilet, a sink with soap, a warm shower, towels, and toilet paper. Only three out of the six teahouses we have stayed at have had a working and warm shower. It's definitely something we take for granted at home, so is a towel. Not one bathroom in a tea house has a had a towel for drying hands or after a shower, and we lost our one towel too... whoops!

   

      One of the best things about Nepal is the people. They are all very nice and are willing to go out of their way to help you. They almost always say hello (Namaste) and I always feel welcomed and comfortable even in a place so far from home. It's so so cool to hear them speak Nepali, it's a beautiful language and almost sounds like music. During our treks Kewal our guide has been teaching me a very small amount of Nepali, I can count to ten and say mountain, up, down, fast (which is cheeto) and slow. I am also working on animals- dog, cat, monkey, mouse, and rabbit. Ask me when I get back and I can show you. 

     Anyway, today we woke up well rested at 4:30 AM to hike to Poon Hill which is supposed to have really good views. It is an hour hike up and a mix with just waking up, altitude, and walking in the dark,  it was not easy. But finally we made it to the top where unfortunately it was a bit cloudy. But in five minutes the weather had completely flipped to crystal clear just in time for sunrise. We saw the sun, a bright orange color, peak from behind the mountain. It lit up the mountains and was the most amazing sunrise I've ever seen. You could see the entire Annapurna mountain range and the snow capped mountains. Breathtaking. We even got a view of a couple of the highest mountains in the world. It was also the highest up we would be on our trek. As we were watching the sunrise we met a woman from Iowa, small world. It's crazy how many people you meet and what there story is. 

      We hiked down, and got some breakfast, an egg sandwich and got hiking.  In total we hiked about seven hours today. 

     

     Before I came to Nepal I expected the treks to be amazing but look mostly the same. I was right that is was amazing but definitely wrong that the terrain would be the same. We have gone through forests, next to rivers and waterfalls, over bridges, on the sides of mountains with no trees, downhill, uphill, valleys, and ridges. All very pretty. We arrived in the village, Ulleri, to spend the night. We are the only people her so it's kinda fun. The power has been out for a while so we go by candle light at night. 

     Tomorrow is our last hiking day and we will arrive in Pokhara tomorrow. We are planning to go to some good restaurants, walk around town, and look at some shops. We will be there for a couple days before heading back to Kathmandu. 

      Thanks to everyone who has been reading so far, it's really nice to reflect on what has happened and a good way to remember what happened. Also thanks for reading all of this, it's a lot! (: