This is the 14th post of a three-week series. Please visit the “Adventure Journal” page of our website and start with “Why Nepal?” to read in order! As always, I have added perspectives from the kids (as they allow me to).

Cover Photo: Prayer wheels and the Himal…I’m grateful for this life.

*Please note that to see Cover Photo on email notification, you will need to click “Read On” at the bottom of the email.

Day 13: Namrung (2,630 m) - Shayala (3,500 m)

June 10, 2019

Stats:

Walked: 7hrs 6mins
Distance: 9 miles
Ascent: 3,247 ft
Descent: 883 ft
Elevation Gain: 2,364 ft

Today was largely uphill and challenging at times. Years ago, when I watched that Everest documentary, I remember one of the climbers talking about how she took very deliberate steps with every breath and just counted to 10 steps at a time. So, I took a page from her experience to conquer my mini-Everest-like moments. I made up a meditation exercise for myself to find a rhythm in gratitude. With each step of my right foot I said “I’m grateful for” and with my left foot I would say “my…” and name the quickest thing that entered my mind. When you are walking, the thinking time is for the gratitude is less than ½ a second so it really is about the first thing that comes to mind. I started with each part if my body—from limbs and brain to eyelash and toenail—and then moved on to naming family members, friends, colleagues, and blessings. It was really a fun exercise and I found myself concentrating on NOT repeating objects of gratitude instead of the steep inclines of the trail.

In an event ironically juxtaposed to my gratitude exercise, I was reminded of life’s impermanence in a matter of hours. At lunch, we were taken aback by sudden commotion and a thud way up the hill above us. We looked, just in time to see four village men hurl a mule over the side of the trail with considerable effort, after having carried it from ropes around its legs. Apparently, this mule had been sick and died on the trail. They unloaded the goods and transferred them to the spare mule (which every team has) and then unceremoniously dumped the body in an open area for vultures and other animals to feed on. It was pretty startling and eye-opening to see the end of a mule’s life.

Amidst the gorgeous views of the day, were two beautiful (and active) villages in Lhi and Lho—complete with colorful stupa entries, ornate prayer wheels, and intricately carved mandalas. As we passed through Lhi, we noticed that all of the adults in the village were helping to build a long fence for their fields. The fence construction consisted of digging post holes for very sturdy branches and then laying very long and skinny trunks horizontally across the posts. The fences were loose in their appearance and leaned into the field. If I hadn’t seen them building the fences, I would have thought that they had been bent and weathered by the elements. As we continued trekking, we saw that fence style in many villages in that region.

Just past that fence construction, was a large Gumba that was closed (presumably because the entire village was at the fence event). In front of the Gumba door, I watched the cutest little boy start doodling on bright white walls with black ash. He was so adorable. As he caught my gaze, he started to crawl to the edge of the steps and motioned for my help. Seeing no adult nearby, I picked him up in my arms and helped him sit next to a slightly older boy down below the steps. I started singing “Twinkle-Twinkle” to them both and completely amused the older child, but the baby started to get very concerned! His worry turned into a cry and then the village started looking at us (even more than they already were). The Dad came running over and embarrassingly told me that the baby was his and that he and his wife had too much work with the fence and couldn’t watch him. I replied, that I wish I could have watched her if we had more time and also embarrassingly apologized for making him cry! I tried once again to lure the baby back into my arms with a tennis ball I made Kaysee and Z give me, but the smarty baby gladly took the ball from my hand while clinging to his Daddy!

I wasn’t the only adult staring and engaging with kids along the way…the Nepalis do it with Zayan, Kenza, and Kaysee all the time. They continue to be amazed by the kids trekking past them. They can’t seem to figure it out...brown people who speak some Nepali/Hindi but also seem to have American gear! They always ask us where we are from and when we answer, they move onto their next conundrum...the kids. They are always surprised that I am their mom (particularly Zayan’s mom) and that Kaysee is trekking to the highest point on the Manasulu Circuit, Larke Pass. We are double-checking with the Nepali Tourist Permitting Office, but we believe that Kaysee might be the youngest tourist to trek the circuit...if so, I promised him, I’d inform The Guinness Book of World Records of this accomplishment!

Part of the reason for the stares might be because it is very low tourist season and the trail is empty. We have been trekking for 13 days now and have only come across four very small groups of people. Three of them have been Nepali workers who are trekking for work, to inspect a health clinic, check on post-earthquake construction projects, or to visit friends on their few days off. We have only met one group of American college guys, who amazed the porters with wearing the shortest shorts, even during a hard rain!

It has been amazing to be the only tourists on the trail. Aside from the fact that May/early June is still when schools are in season, this is the usual time for the Monsoon rains to start hitting Nepal. Low season means that we really have the trails to ourselves, but it also means that usual teahouse delicacies like Yak Momos are not usually offered (much to Zayan’s dismay).

As I write this, I realize that the theme today was gratitude and children, or perhaps more appropriately, gratitude for children. Spending 24-7 with our kids hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows. They can be argumentative, rude, ungrateful, whiny, and terrible listeners. But all too often, I forget that they are just kids. It wasn’t so long ago that they were like that baby I found at the step of the Gumba…and in a blink of an eye I have an teenager (Z turns 13 this year) just approaching my height, a tweener who listens to songs I’ve never heard, and my baby is losing all of his teeth! I am grateful for my children…indeed, this is precious time.

This crew was grateful for the peek of the peaks on Day 14.

This was my cute little friend tagging the Gumba!

Looking to the right of Kapil and the kids, you can get an idea of the types of fences I referenced. The one at Lhi was on a slope and had longer distances between the posts.

After lunch, we saw another dead mule (further along in its decaying process) dumped in a similar fashion…but at least we know the vultures like mule meat!

Along with the prayer wheels (see Cover Photo), these paintings on the inside/ceilings of entry stupas were common in this region.

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Excerpt from Zayan’s Journal (12 years):

I got my first view of the Manaslu Himal. It was far away but there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Today was a long day with a lot of uphill walking. There was not much conversation today because everyone was trying to conserve energy. Lunch was pretty normal. We sat. We ate. And then a mule died.

I was sitting eating my food, when all of a sudden, one of the porters pointed his finger to the top of the hill and shouted something in Nepalese. When I looked up, I saw a huge boulder rolling down and I assumed he was shouting at us to get out of the way. What he was actually shouting was “oh look, that mule just dropped dead!”

We all waited for a minute and then the porters just continued with their lives like nothing happened and so did I. But I recited a prayer in my head and hoped that the mule would be happy with its release from slavery.

On a brighter note, I really want the clouds to clear. Hopefully in the morning we will see some mountain peaks.

This is Zayan Verma. Over and out.

This was the beginning of our day. It was awesome to see the Himal as we hiked some tough uphill sections.

Excerpt from Kenza’s Journal (9 years):

Today Mingmar said it would be a half day, which it was, but it was really hard. I am super scared for Larke Pass which is in two days. Today we saw our first sight of Manasu Himal. I am getting really tired and homesick. I can’t believe that starting tomorrow, we only have 4 days of walking left.

Today we also saw a mule die. It was pretty intense.

At the end of the day Daddy said, “you go girl” which made me feel good. I keep thinking that nobody in the entire KAZ2K Family [KAZ2K is an acronym for our names—Kapil, Aila, Zayan, and the 2 Ks—Kenza and Kaysan] has done this, so if you step there or finish that trail before anyone else, you are the first in our family to do that.

Tomorrow will be tomorrow; today is today, so let’s play it easy and say what we say!

“You go, girl!” —Daddy and Kenza selfie #103!

Excerpt from Kaysan’s Journal (7 years):

Today it was a lot of up hill. When we were hiking Mommy told me a story.

When we were having lunch, I suddenlly needed to go poop, then I heard a bolder and I start running away. Then I realize it was a mule rolling down the hill. The mule was dyeng. Mingmar said it was because the mule was ready to die!!!!!