Mera Peak: Snapshots

It has been months (yikes, 6 months!) since our trek in Nepal, and I have been struggling to capture the essence of our journey in writing. It was such a beautifully varied and immersive experience. I wish I could bottle up the quiet joy, tired sense of accomplishment and excitement that we experienced every day. It was hard work, but we were constantly rewarded with stunning landscapes.

It's also difficult to capture what the group dynamics were like. My fellow trekkers were a funny, well-traveled and interesting group of people. I don't know if we just got lucky or if this is just what happens when you put a bunch of like-minded people together, but I truly enjoyed hearing everyone's experiences and stories. In fact, we were such a chatty group that our sirdar, Domi, kept telling us that we were talking too much and that we should be saving our energy!

Rainbow encircling the shadow of our plane into Lukla

I may not be able to do the full trek experience justice, but I can share a few moments in time that were memorable to me.

One of the Sacred Lakes at Panch Pokhari

Our sixth day took us through Panch Pokhari, an area with lakes that are sacred to both Buddhists and Hindus. Every summer, people make pilgrimages to these lakes to celebrate various religious festivals. It was so nice to see both tridents (the symbol of Lord Shiva) and prayer flags at the same place, peacefully coexisting with each other and nature.

My favourite lunch spot	We stopped for meals in many beautiful places on our trek, but my favourite lunch spot of all was a small clearing in the Hinku valley, near Kote. We had a picnic surrounded by giant mossy boulders and trees, next to a stream and a small cascade. It was very Lord of the Rings!
"More soup, more hot!", Domi's favourite saying, proved to be spot on. Every dinner on the trek began with a bowl (or two...or three...) of hot soup that really did warm me to the core! If only all my backpacking trips could begin with a delicious soup. And it wasn't just the soup that was good. We ate remarkably well on the trek. We had everything from pizza to birthday cakes...with icing...at 5400m! And did I mention the Tibetan bread? I could have lived on soup and tibetan bread alone. All the tasty curries were almost a bonus!	Where the magic happens...fresh Tibetan bread!
Feeling less than sparky	The trek wasn't all fun and games, though. I caught a cold towards the end and was a real mess. While everyone else got to do a bonus hike on our spare day in Khare, I spent the day in bed looking like this. I will never whine about catching a cold at sea level ever again!

If there is one upside to all of my nightly bathroom runs, it was that I sometimes remembered to take a moment to just look up at stars. The night sky was truly beautiful. I also saw a few incredible sunrises. It is almost (almost) enough to make me wish I was a morning person!

Sunrise at Thuli Kharka