Goin' On A Hike

Where should I even begin in a rather weak attempt to capture the last week? Should I begin with our slightly anti-refugee guide, or the porter powered by raksi who carried some of our team's bags (raksi being the local rice wine, the spirit of choice in the mountains)? No. None of these stories capture the essence of what it meant to sneak away in to the mountains and be surrounded by natural cathedrals (not my words) on all sides. Battered, bruised, and blistered, we reached towering spectacles that are not testament to humanity but rather to something ancient, something that is beyond human. Standing there, at the Annapurna Base Camp (from here on ABC), I could see mountains in every direction in which I looked, and I felt... so free- like the Colin Hay song, "Beautiful World," I was where a man could still be free, or a woman if you are one. It really was a place that was both everywhere and nowhere all at once. I felt so complete and yet so empty as I stood in the shadows of such skyscrapers (the largest were 8000m!). Over the last week, I probably wrote more than I have in the last few months, years maybe, and it served as truly great introspection. And, sorry to disappoint, but I think that's all I can write right now.