In my sleep I had been dreaming of a world shattered by a never ending continuum of problems, and in the final moment of that planets existence a singular angel stood out above the smoldering ruins, it looked down and reached out to me. Just as the angel reached me, I felt myself being shaken awake, it was Michael and it was time to get Blake back.I left the Hotel alone and walked through the now busy streets of Manali's central district. It was quite early perhaps 7 or so, and everyone it seemed was very much awake and full of purpose. As I walked down that road I saw a man with no legs riding on a kind of skateboard with what I can only guess was his 4 year old son at the front. He steered and propelled the board with his back hand, while the boy warned those ahead of their presence. It was a touching sight to be sure, but one that I would see again a few times through out our journey.When I got to the bus station, (basically an empty lot the size of a football field full of buses and people waiting to meet and greet their friends and relatives or to get on a bus and leave themselves) I really had to go to the bathroom, but no matter how many people I asked, the location of this mysterious place was always in another direction.I waited for about 30 minutes, and then a large (Volvo Rip off) Bus came into the lot. It parked, 10 or so people came out and then there was Blake. As soon as I saw him I started yelling out, "Taxi, Hotel, Motel, Food, Taxi!!" All the while the Indian guys whose jobs I was taking looked onwardly at me with amusement. A foreign girl was there too, she looked quite confused and at a loss as for what to do, so we let her come along with us, we found her hotel, and bid her farewell.When we all met up again back at the hotel, Vinay and the girls suggested we go Zorbing, which is basically 2 people strapped to the inside of a rubber sphere and rolled down a hill. The ride there was beautiful, lots of rivers and scenic mountain views, and all kinds of thrill seeking tourists. when we got there it was more of a county fair then anything else. There were booths for food and drinks, games and activites and plenty of people to fill the seats. There were these crazy tailed horses there too, being led by what must have been indian versions of rodeo handlers.Sandeep went up the hill and was going to do it but came back down and said it was way too dirty and smelly for him, of course that all was true but we still gave him a hard time about it. I think Wadood just came to see what it was like, he never even planned on trying it, which was fine cuase the more people that came the cheaper it all was. Next up was Varsha and Nillma, they payed a little extra and went up the hill a little higher than everyone else. They said it was fun and it obviously would have been, but they wouldn't let Blake and I go from the top of the mountain so we didn't do it either, a fact that I think Sandeep appreciated quitely to himself. For the rest of the day all we did was eat, Blakes favorite activity.We made arrangements to leave for Leh and at 1:00 am said our goodbyes to Michael, Jerry, Clement, Wadood and Sandeep. It was a sad moment because we had bonded really well with everyone, but a moment of excitement non the less, for we were about to go yet another step forward into the eternal mystery of adventure.At 2:00 am we go on the "force" van and from that point on began our never ending journey through out all the scenes of The Land Before Time series, minus the thick jungles and forests. It would be the craziest, most painfull and dilerious one way journey of our lives, in which our greatest mistake was choosing the back of the van as our seats. Imagine a rollercoaster ride that does nothing but bumb you up down and all around without interuption for 18 hours, now imagine that the temperature is freezing half the time and burning the rest of the time. At one point for about 4 hours Blake and I were wrapped in our Sleeping bags doing all in our power to fall asleep as the cold chill of night came from all sides. It's a ride you cannot get off of and cannot take a break from, truely a vision of the 7th circle of hell. On the other hand the views were breath taking and the air pure as freashly fallen snow,which there was a ton of every which way you looked, sometimes we were driving on the road with 8 feet of snow on either side of us, and even though it might have been self induced psychosis we did fall asleep for minutes at a time, or so it seemed anyways. On the way to Leh, we stopped a few times at little camps that I can best describe as businesses that exist souly for the purpose of tending to the travelers that come accross this road during the 3 month period that it is free of snow. After which time they disappear and return again the following Summer.When we finally got to Leh there was no pleasure greater than leaving that god forsaken van for the last time. A man from Thailand that I had met and had noodles with in the camps before our arrival was supposed to join us but decided on finding his own place. Blake and Vinay set out into the night to find us accomodation while the girls and I tended to the luggage, but even that didn't last long, the girls got tired of waiting for them to return and left me to fend off the Heathens and mad men all by my loansome, which I found amusing to say the least. Vinay returned what seemed to me like hours later and we took a taxi to our hotel. We had Dinner at the Leh View Resturant and our waiter was a total hybrid of Anthony Hernandez and Patrick Landes, (two people we know from back home, one of which is blakes cousin) he got all the prices of my food wrong but the pizza was still very good. We got back to the hotel and I curled up in my sleeping bag to welcome with open arms the sweet release of a good nights rest.
Chapter 16: The Curse of Alexander
It was morning, my eyes opened and feeling once again returned to my mind and body. Lifting my head from the pillow I looked to my left and laying beside me sprawled out in classic drunken form was Sandeep and beside him curled up in a cacoon of blankets was Wadood. I didn't leave the room at first, I couldn't unless one of them was awake, because the door couldn't close unless someone on the inside locked it, thus I went to the balcony and watched the river flow endlessly beside the hotel.It was the cleanest looking river id seen in India and yet off to the side where the water stood still, there floated countless plastic bottles, tin cans and waist of all kinds, a sad picture anyway you looked at it. Wadood woke up first and so I left the room in search of something to keep me occupied.Vinay, Nilma and Varsha were already awake but Michael, Jerry and Clement were still fast asleep, so I took a walk by myself around town and eventually found a little "German Bakery,"sacrilege to be sure but a bakery non the less. I bought a little chocolate filled crossant and headed back to the hotel, by that time everyone was awake but no one was ready to leave. Once all our things were all packed and we were ready to go it was past time to check out, thankfully we didn't have to pay the fee.We walked down the street to the pick up corner and sat waiting for our ride to come, during which time we saw a number of screw loose characters that easy ranked as heritics in most eastern european block countries. This one guy had dreads down to his ankles, sporting only a pair of ragged brown corduroy pants with a cloth belt, no t-shirt and no shoes, he was walking into a barber shop, I found myself wondering how long it took him to grow that barbarian worthy mane of his, and if I could ever loose enough sanity to do the same.Our Ride came and thus we were off, not 3 minutes into our drive we noticed that one of our bags was missing, we turned back and sure enough there it was sitting alongside the road... and off again we went.Our next stop was Malana, an ancient mountain village claiming to be direct discendants of Alexander The Greats army. To get to Malana we first had to pass through a mining site and something like a boarder check, I was the only Foreigner so I had to show my passport to the gaurds. Once we passed the check point we started through the blasted out mountains of the camp, driving past mining tunnels and through tunnels to get to the inside of the Malana Valley. Vinay told me that it took Alexanders army a long time to get here and thats why they stayed long enough to breed with everyone lol.Even once we got to the middle of the Valley we had to leave the car and walk a good 2 miles uphill before we entered the village. I was walking ahead of the group out of sheer will to get there and get it over with. Everyones legs were in complete ruins, courtesy of our reckless discent of Sur Kundi Pass the day before.I was walking along the path and out of no where comes a guy asking me some crazy questions. I recognized him from the hotel we had just left, as strange as this coincidence was I wasn't interested in what this mumbling buffoon had to offer so I merely turned around and continued walking.Everyone caught up and we entered the place together, it was a village like you might see in Zena Warrior princess, one of those upper class barbarian towns with a sorceror or witch lurking somewhere within the perimeter, spreading its influence and generally creeping the fuck out of anyone unlucky enough to enter. We were told not to look anyone in the eyes and not to touch them or their property, failure to comply would result in a hefty fine. We were walking along when a group of "women" came from behind us, we got out of the way but they didn't feel that we had moved enough and shushed us away, snarling, laughing and spitting all in disguting unison. In truth these people were nothing more than arragant and pompus wretches, merely pesants that have been stuck in a backwards line of thinking for hundreds of years that discovered the lucrative properties of weed and used that to continue the lifestyle and belief system of their most precious and deluded folk tale. A number of children came up to us with the intent to take us to their respective places of business, which in Malana is one of only two things, Weed and more Weed. You see Malana has its own government and has recieved special status from the Indian government to remain independant from all outside influence, although in truth I think that the mining company in the valley below used its own influence to make that happen, and when they have nothing left to exploit in the Malanan valley that Special status will quickly dissapear. The dilusion that had run the lives of these people for so long would fade away into history and all that would remain is a society with a drug based economy and nothing left to protect them from outside governance and the ever tightening grip of taxes and corrupt officials.We went to the highest point of the village and had some snacks. Some within our group were interested in buying (cream) a special type of weed thats made into a paste for either eating or smoking, supposedly this cream has won numerous awards world wide and holds the prestigious title of worlds best Marijuana, an award it recieves almost every year in Amsterdam. Even with all that said the price for a single gram was more than any of us were willing to spend, and so we moved on.I took one final look at the face of true ignorance and shook my head with total incredulity. We had all followed the rules, but somewhere inside me I had hoped that Blake could have been there with his friends from back home... I would have paid top dollar to see that spectical, knocking over vases and the elderly, tipping the live stock and running through their houses, it would have been a great shock to those stuck up bastards, an awaking for them that Im sure they will one day have to face.We left that god forsaken place and got dropped off not but 200 feet from babeli base camp, a place that we would all rather never see again. An hour of waiting in the dark later we stacked into yet another packed bus to Manali, it was midnight when we got there and the only thing on anyones mind was food, so we found a nice restaraunt and chowed down, we finished at 1 am and found a place to stay after that. As per usual for the past couple of days I passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow.
Chapter 15: The Truth Of Life And Truancy
You can Imagine the scene, the 10 of us dirty, beaten tired and packed the brim with cameras, packs, hiking gear and other assorted items, standing along side the road like a bunch of freshly escaped prisoners just waiting for a chance to get the hell out of dodge.I can't be sure how many minutes... or hours passed after that, but sooner or later the bus came, and we couldn't have been happier. We threw our packs on the roof one by one and got on the heavily packed bus. Inside there were numerous people of interest in every nook and cranny of its rickety interior, you could tell that they were real and hardy individuals by the marks of hardship, time and experience vividly defined upon all their faces. It was a look that I come to admire and respect through out all my travels in second and third and hell, even first world countries. In America you can you only find such people if you know where to look, but in India there's no escaping them.Inside the bus a television playing a Hindi drama was on. As far as I could tell it was about a guy filming at a wedding who was in love with the bride, I couldn't understand a word being said but it was worth a round of giggles for Blake and I.When we got to Manali we found ourselves on a street packed with people not from there, Wadood told me that this was the place to be for people all over India and that it is a very common place for marriage and honey moons. There were also many kinds of foreigners there, there were the obvious rich or well off type that spent money just because they had it, the cautious yet driven, the newbies and of course the wild (I can't let go of the 70's mind set) kind, who sported dreaded hair, tattoos and piercings.We spent the better part of an hour wondering the streets looking for a Massi (Muslim) restaurant for Wadood, but eventually settled for someplace else. Blake ordered a half fried chicken but everyone ate it all before he even knew it was there. Part of our escape plan involved one of us going back to Raveesh's house to pick up the rest of our gear, and through the ancient and noble art of rock, paper, scissors Blake was chosen for the task. I gave him 500 rupees for the journey there and took him to his Volvo bus then said goodbye. It would be the only time in our adventures in India that we would be separated for even a single day.We returned to YHAI base camp in babeli to reclaim our baggagebut when we got there they were very upset that a member of our crew (Blake) had escaped them. The leader of the camp brought me to his little council of elders and basically interrogated me. I told him what had happened and he started threatening to call the police in Delhi and have Blake thrown in Jail. He went on and on.. " Forging someones signature is criminal is it not? In your country, my country and every other, you think you and your friend are special? You think that the rule of law does not apply to you, or that we are lawless here in the mountains?" I have to be honest, I was convinced that this man had been oppressed or badly influenced through some misfortunate event or run in with jackass American tourists in his life. The whole time he was giving me his glorified power trip speech, I was thinking about what Blake must be doing, and how he would have reacted had I lost the rock, paper, scissors match and he were to be standing here instead of me. "Are you threatening me?" was all I said in return, and this quickly brought an end to the tyraid that frankly I would hear no more of.I basically had to sign a paper taking full responsibility over Blake and that I wouldn't do this or anything like this ever again. We finished up there and headed for Khulu, a town like many other towns in this region overflowing with crazed Israeli, Russian and European tourists all hungry for Adventure and unity in their common struggle against the norm, but most importantly they come for the weed, which grows on every patch of ground arable enough for life to grow, which here is pretty much everywhere.I went to sleep first, Wadood came in when I was already asleep and sometime much much later Michael and Jerry carried Sandeep in and laid him down, he drank a lot and smoked and apparently had a grand old time that night, at least thats what they told me happened.Things were getting more and more interesting for us now, I could feel the pressure of the unknown and the mystery and wonder of what lie ahead pulling me forward. In truth our experiences in India had already taken me on a path entirely different from that of what I had expected and that of my dreams. Naturally while talking with the many colorful and wonderful characters within our group I learned of the things we might see or do, but as with all things spoken or written, the truth and spendor of your own experience cannot be compared to the words of others.
Chapter 14: Downhill Battle
8:30 am, 10 out of the 41 trekkers in Sk-23 leave Camp 5, Clement, Micheal, Jerry, Waddod, Sandeep, Vinay, Nillma, Varsha,Blake and I are those 10 daring souls. The rest of our group would be staying on the trek for another 2 days, for us the entire trek had been too slow, 2 more days wasn't in the cards for us, so we set out to claim our own destinies, on the unknown and unsupervised road of life.Anyone whose hiked Sabranais, Shasta or any other steeply descending mass of earth and stone knows the damage ones legscan take while short stepping on the way down, but this descentwas on a whole other level of sickness. Our goal was to make it from camp 5 to the bottom in roughly 4-5 hours, we based this calculationon our guides testimony as to his ability to make it in 2 hours or less.We neglected however to factor in his natively honed skill, generational aptitude, and our own skill level into the equation.As always Blake and I were ahead and out of sight of the group 90% of the time, during which period we were descending at our usual reckless and dangerous pace. While hiking through the tree groves and hillside pathways it seemed as though we were running for our lives or something direly important to us both, to anyone looking at us from a distance it must have almost seemed as if we were half running and half falling down the mountain.Sometimes the paths were too numerous and not obvious enough for us to continue on our own, so we would sit and wait, taking in the sights, sounds and smells of the area until the group caught up to us,then quickly disappear again into the trees once the guide showed us the way. This went on for a good 4 hours until finally an hour from the bottom I twisted my ankle for the 3rd time, which turned out to be to much for me to handle and so I fell behind.Blake and the guide hadn't noticed my falling behind and I was happy to let them continue at their relentless pace. It didnt matter muchthough, camp 6 was moments away, and we would be resting there a good hour once everyone had caught up. Camp 6 was literally a 2 story wood and stone house straight from the Germany alps, I was very surprised to see it and a little disappointed that such a nice accomadation hadnt been waiting for us at any other point during the trek, one way or the other though I think we were all glad to be getting off the mountain.When we left camp 6 it was Blake the guide and me leading the way, a few minutes later a few dogs, seemingly bored and in need of company, joined us in our journey, just as another dog had done on our way up the mountain days before. I couldn't tell if they were leading us or just going with the flow, and really I didn't care. This went on for 10 minutes at least, until we came to some houses, our guide stopped and told us that it was his home. He invited us in and sat us down in a well furnished living room with two glasses of water soon after that. When he left the room both Blake and I took one look at the water then a long and unsure look at each other. I twitched my nose a bit and drank the whole glass, Blake followed. One by one everyone came in got their water and repeated Blake and I's process, a coincidence that we found very entertaining. The real suprise was when we were all gathered and he came out with cocolate cookies biscuits and chai, all of which was deliciously good, especially the Cookies ^^ We thanked him and his mother for the treats and set out once again, this time in the rain.After one final descent we finally reached the bottom of the mountain, the path we took brought us out right next to a snack shop and the bus stop, how utterly convenient. Blake was finally able to get the coke he was babbling on and on about the entire trek and I was able to rest myself down. It wasnt long after our arrival that the rest of the outcasts joined us. It was a nice period of reflection and ingestion of all those little things denied us a top the mountain. We bought chips and drinks and shared all around, it was a beautiful moment really, one I'll think about at random intervals for the rest of my life probably.
Chapter 13: Goodbyes at 10,000 feet
camp 5 was rather large, it stretched from one plateu to a large flat area below where the camp crew and one of the tents for the trekkers sat. Hidden in the shadow of the mountain and blocked by the valley beside us we could no longer see the vast mountain ranges that we had hours earlier, only a cockeyed view of the very tips remained in sight.Our tent was settled between the other mens tent and the first womens tent, as soon as we got inside we could tell it was going to be a long night. Rocks and uneaven surfaces were rip through out the tent and the wind blew easily through the improperly outfitted enclosure at the back, even so the places next to the opening seemed to be the smoothest in the tent, so thats where we made our beds.An hour or so after arriving and settling in, tea and a welcome drink was offered, and an hour after that there was food handed out, but blake and I were sick of the food in the camps and choose not to go down the hill to eat. The guys came back in the tent and sat in a circle choming down on something, the smell quickly overcame us both and we joined the circle, we took the crunchy potato slice like food and ate it, we immediately ran out of the tent and down the hill to where the food was. Whatever this stuff was, to us it was nothing short of ambrosia and it was all that mattered in our minds. Blake had no container so he shoved the food into his shirt while I filled as much as I could in a container Raveesh had givin me. Whatever we couldnt carry we stuffed in our mouths and headed back to the tent to gorge on our prize.A short while after that, perhaps one or two hours later, dinner was ready, it was a type of bread mixed with radish and pudding for dessert, which actually was pretty damn good. Blake was passed out in the tent when I came back, he woke up a little bit latter to ask if there was anymore of that (good shit) left from lunch, I said no and told him what was for dinner instead, he rolled his eyes in dissapointment or disgust, I couldn't be sure, then fell back into whatever realm he had awoken from.During that night those in our tent and those from others discussed our desire to leave camp early in the morning and hire a guide to show us down the rest of the mountain without the group. Many things were said and much more was felt, everyone had an opinion about this or that, much of it was focused on repercussions wed face from the camp leaders at the bottom. After much debate and a few well placed calls and messages we ajourned what to me must have closely resembled every pre-cue/assassination/escape/fraud attemp in history. The camp fell silent with the exception of the wind blowing through the sheets beside me, and for a long time I wrestled in my sleeping bag, which was far to small for me. The night didn't pass well but thankfully I slept the last few hours before the dawn.In the morning we had breakfast, and moments before our departure said our goodbyes to the friends we'd made and the people we'd remember from this long and eye opening trek. I gathered what emails and addresses I could from everyone and then both Blake and I came to Raveesh, we shook hands and thanked him for all his help, it was a mixed bag of gratitude and other feelings, we couldn't have known in at the time but it was a parting that would send us into a much grander adventure in the weeks and months ahead.
Chapter 12: Ascension to Discension
At 100 Percent Very few times have I ever opened my eyes to a new day feeling revitalized to such a noticeable degree as I did now, it felt great yet at the same time I was cautious of my new found strength and proceeded with condition. Being well certainly brightened my day, but a shadow was quickly cast over it by Raveesh. You see Raveeshes mind was set on letting Blake choose our next course of action, If i was too sick to continue onwards Raveesh refused to go as well. Blake agreed with me, all those to sick or injured to move on would be left behind at camp while those healthy enough to go went, Raveesh asked Blake to make the decision a grand total of 6 times! Always the same thing, "now Blake you know how I feel, what is your decision?" Blake's answer was every time will go without him, but Raveesh would simply warp the expression on his face and ask again as if the last answer hadnt registered or hadn't even happened. Finally though we convinced him and we could rest ourselves from that mornings never ending ordeal.On the brighter side of things I was feeling good but even better when I saw breakfast, Boiled eggs and toast with butter and jam, ohh the humanity... How sweet it was. After being unable to eat for the better part of 2 days this was truly a welcomed change of pace. I told Raveesh and Blake that I felt good enough to go and so we prepared ourselves for the trek.It was time to go, Sk-23 lined up before the gates of camp and all the groups before ours were lined on the outside of the gates to see us off. We waved and shook hands with all the friends we had made in the few short days we spent at Babeli base Camp. We got to the bus and climbed the ladders with our packs to the roof, Raveesh chose to ride inside the bus. After all that time thinking about not being able to go and having to remain sick at camp the cool air flowing over me, everyone laughing and enjoying themselves on top of the bus, the beautiful mountains surrounding us and the mighty river flowing right beside us brought a great sense of happiness to me and a smile of triumph slowly etched itself across my face. About 70% of the way up towards our first base camp Blake and I were resting below a newly planted tree at the bend in the road, He turned looked me in the face and let his mouth hang open for a bit, then simply said "Im abouts to throw up" "Don't lie to me" I said, he turned his head and vomited rather gracefully I might say beside himself. With the entire group only a few feet away he managed to vomit for a good 2 minutes without anyone even noticing, his professionalism coupled with my calm and oblivious demeanor that pulled that little trick off. In the end though a few of the guys came over and gave us some vicks drops, guess we couldn't pull off a total containment. An hour later we reached camp and Blake threw up again. A little after that everyone began running out of their tents and looking into the mountains across the valley, someone grabbed me and took me to see what it was. A double rainbow... How ironic, after eating Double Rainbow ice cream for the past few years I finally get to see one. It was feint but definitely there, Ive never seen anything like it. One of the guys that was a professor in the group stood there explaining rainbows to me and all the ways we can view them. He even told me of the fabled full circle double rainbow, which is nearly impossible to witness, all the right events need to take place and you must be at exactly the right place to see it.That night the group of youngins we had made friends with gathered around the Maggie noodle bar benches and told stories of all our favorite foods, I told them all about my mothers cooking and which was my favorite, then everyone started talking about their mothers favorite foods, ohh boy was that hard to listen too, the food for the past week hadn't exactly been gourmet, and one food after the other sounded better than the last.During most of the next days trek Blake and I went ahead of the group and hiked alone, for a long time we saw no one heard nothing and talked little. When we arrived at the second base camp we had a welcome drink and then went back down the hill a bit to see the waterfall that everyone seemed to think so highly of. When we got there, of course it was a total waist of time, but we did get some good pictures in so it wasn't a total loss. We slowly made our way back to camp and waited for dinner to be served... lol "to be served" sounds funny.After dinner I met up with the two traveling Architects whom I proceeded to have a long and drawn out discussion with about the duality of man and all things inherently good and evil about our nature. At campfire that night everyone played a singing game in which whatever syllable the the song ends with must be the beginning syllable of the next song, that was a lot of fun to listen to and watch but unfortunately there wasn't much I could do to contribute, and when the whole group looked at me and asked me to sing I got up and said I was cold lol, it was the perfect plan really, the whole night I had only worn a t-shirt and everyone kept asking me if i was cold, so at least I exited cleanly and with a good laugh to boot. During the night Blake and I both agreed that we didn't want to do sur pass after surkoundi so we told the camp leader and tried to get a refund, we quickly learned that refunds were somewhat of an endangered species in India and that we should expect things to work as they do in other parts of the globe. In reality though We couldn't care less and only wanted Raveesh to stop trying so hard to get everything done for us.At morning light I woke up had bed tea and went with the camp leader who showed me a much better and much more beautiful way to see the waterfall. On our way to the next camp we encountered what would undoubtedly be our steepest ascent yet, It was at places almost vertical and very unforgiving, I'm not sure how any of the older hikers managed to make it, but I'm sure it was with the help of the other members. After a break in an open field I went on alone and hiked at the fastest pace I could, until finally I found myself completely alone and in front of a large stretch of uphill plains, seeing as how I had no idea which way to go I waited for a few minutes until the guide came up behind me, he pointed to something barely visible up and to the right of the mountain, after 10 minutes more of walking I realized it was the banner for the 3rd camp.I got into camp and the camp leader was none other than the guy who had got me to play pittu days before at base camp. He wasn't very happy that I was coming into camp on my own though, so he made me put on a jacket and sit outside to wait for the others, which actually took a long ass time so i took off the jacket and laid down in the tent. When all was well and good and everyone had come at last me and some of the guys went out for a walk, we got the edge of the treeline and there they were, the fullest view of the Himalayas we'd seen yet, and what a view it was, it seemed as if I had been placed in a position to witness a gathering of all the worlds great mountains all set side by side in area that a single person can cover with only a glance.That night I once again found myself discussing the baffling rituals, secrets and little wonders of man, this time with other members of the group, we talked about love, war, meditation and karma. It became more and more obvious to me that the Indian people above all other hobbies love to have discussions and debate all day and all night, which suits me just perfectly ^^After that Raveesh took me aside and told me the story of his life and how he had come to be the man that he was now, it was a fascinating story one that in some ways paralleled my own life, after that little heart to heart I went to my tent and fell asleep. At 9 am the next day we headed out for camp 4, at lunch point we could see storm clouds amassing on the other side of the valley. We both wanted to get to camp as soon as possible but everyone else was in no such hurry. Blake just wanted to take a safe shit and I just wanted to get away from the storm, so I took a deep breath to relax and blake wondered off into some crevasse and took care of his business. When we got to camp Wadood asked me how Raveeshes Family and mine had met "all those years back.." I told him our families had never met and that we had only met him a week ago. Wadood and everyone else in the tent looked kind of surprised. Wadood told me that Raveesh had been telling everyone that our families had been friends for over 30 years. "this story goes back 30 years" he would say as he twisted his finger in a spiral motion upwards. It kind of threw me off my day and cast a shadow of doubt on everything Raveesh had told us thus far, including our little discussion last night.
Final Push We again left camp at 9 but this time we ran straight into snow, it was one of those don't slip or make a mistake unless you want to slide down the side of this mountain and slam into a crevasse or some bottomless pit kind of deal. Which was scary enough for me but for the rest of the hikers... well I'm just glad we all made it.After coming to the highest point of our journey and having taken one of the girls mothers packs because she couldn't make it otherwise we rested on the hill, watching all around us in ever direction as the panoramic view stunned us all. How breath taking a sight it all was, to bad I had to spend this time confronting Raveesh about his extra curricular activities... He told me he would stop but asked me what he should instead tell people about us, i told him he should just tell the truth, that we met in delhi and decided to do this trip together not a week ago, he didnt like that idea very much, he said that in India that isnt a good way to meet people, so i just told him it was better to say nothing than to tell a lie. We glasseided (lol have no idea how to spell this) down the mountain for exactly 1 minute then rested at the camp, had maggie with egg and tried to get dry. It seemed like forever that we were just sitting around and we were all getting colder by the second.
Then the same storm clouds we saw the day before again rose to defy us, Blake and I weren't going to wait regardless of what the others were doing, so we broke off and headed for the ridge line. The moment we got a good 50 yards away from the group a snow storm encased us all and as we looked back at the group threw the haze Blake screamed (enjoy your extra coffee and maggie you bastards, see you in hell!) a dramatic and well characterized vocalization that I felt perfectly fit the situation. We traveled onward for about another 20 yards until the wind combined with the snow was to much for us, so we climbed to the edge of the ridge and found a small alcove to rest in. It was pretty much the equivalent of half the size of those plastic portable 2 foot high pools for toddlers. After 5 minutes one of the girls from the camp stood over the little ditch and I got her to join us, a time after that the wind and snow died down and we resumed climbing. We started Descending so fast that soon there wasn't much snow around and we could even notice it was easier to breath. At a point on the way down we waited for the rest of the group to catch up, and when the girls and their father came he asked me to hold his smallest daughter and keep her warm, she sat down in front of me and curled up between my legs and my chest, I wrapped my arms around her and was astonished at how cold and shivering she really was. 10 minutes later she had stopped shaking and we started once again on our way down to camp 5. After a little confusion on how exactly to get there we arrived at camp, and from there the conspiracies began!
Chapter 11: SK 23 In Sickness and in Health
Something like 5 am they come in our tents every morning yelling "bed tea, bed tea" which is just Chai at a ridiculous hour, they do this I suppose as a kindness to the residence of the camp, to Blake and I however it was one of the first things we hated during the beginning of the trek.An hour after our (bed tea) our group number SK 23 was lined up then set out for a short morning run and then stretches and exercises. After that we put on our packs and went for an acclimatization hike, only 1,000 feet from base camp. On that little trek Blake and I both got to know more of our group and actually got to see a bit of what was ahead of us. also on the trek a native women wearing traditional mountain dress walked by us with her newborn baby son and a newborn lamb, (very cute)We ate then had our orientation, during which we should really have been more serious but honestly couldn't be because the whole thing was in Hindi and we couldn't understand a word of it, so we just messed around the whole time making faces, laughing and having a good time with the few other attendees willing to share in our boredom.Dinner was abominable, I was only able to finish 3 bites before wisely deciding to excuse myself and dumping it in the trash. Before the ceremony started that night I started to feel uneasy and then gradually to a state of total sickness. Laying down made it feel better but Raveesh didn't like that at all and actually came over to sit me up when I refused to sit up myself. His excuse was that I was to sit as everyone else was sitting.During the 1000 foot climb our leaders had been chosen, Raveesh was second in command, and surprisingly Blake had also become elected as the master of ceremonies! Oh and what a master he was... It was truly a show to see and everyone enjoyed it, especially me, that is until I felt to sick to watch anymore and went to my tent to lay down.In the middle of the night, say 2 am I woke up as if from a terrible dream and jumped to my feet and out of the tent just in time to vomit all across the outside of our tent. That was about 3 minutes, afterward I felt much better and returned to bed. 3:10 am rinse and repeat, again up to my feet and out of the tent, this time I felt not only sick to my stomach but woozy in every other way as well. Sometime around 4 am I wake up, but this time it isn't the same story, this time it's worse..I get to the bathroom as fast as I can and thankfully make it in time. Let me tell you though, loose motions in a Asian squat toilet... well um lol it's NOT pretty, one of those experiences you don't go bragging about but just have to tell. I had loose motions again 2 more times that night, and at the end of it I sat naked in the shower sick as hell shivering, washing my body and my shirt like some lunatic in an asylum bent on cleansing himself till the evil that was his humanity was washed away.I returned to the tent just as light from the east began to dimly illuminate the morning sky. In my soaked shirt and frozen body I got into bed noticing only the pain in my body and hoping only for sleep and better days ahead.Obviously I didn't attend breakfast, grappling or exercises in the morning, instead I tried to convince myself that last night was nothing but a bad dream and that I only felt bad now because the dream was so real... it wasn't a perfect system but it seemed to work half the time at least.At lunch I felt good enough to get out of bed and mingle among the camp. I knew I had to eat sooner or later so I got my plate and headed for the kitchen area. Rice seemed like a safe bet so that's what I asked for, but the cook obviously didn't understand English or basic barbarian sign language and gave me the rice I wanted with a vegetable paste on top. I joined the pittu friends Id made the other day and said hello, they were all enjoying the food so much I felt as if It might be safe.In all honesty I believed things were going to work out, half a bite later as some one turned to ask me how I liked it I raised my finger closed my eyes and immediately excused myself. Got just far away enough from the dinning area as to avoid being seen by the entire camp and threw up whatever I had left to give, and then went into those dry heaves that give nothing but punch a hole in your ribs instead.I tried all the medicines I could find but in the end the youngest camp leader, who was actually the same age as Blake gave me some tiny homeopathic balls, not even the size of a bb. It was late and I fell asleep as fast as I could, while I was asleep Raveesh and Blake had returned from an errand in town, and Raveesh saw my discomfort and put 2 extra Blankets on top of me, which brought the total of blankets I had to 4. In the morning I woke up in a sweat but noticed Blake was shivering, he was doing so becuase he had only 1 blanket on him. I gave him one of mine at which point I noticed that I had 3 spare to give.
Chapter 10: Game Day
We woke up to the sound of Indian music Playing and the group before us leaving the camp for the mountain. Before trying to leave our tent some random guy (whom later we would come to understand was the head hancho around camp) told us we weren't allowed to wear shorts in camp. The reason we would also come to know was due to the conservative ways of southern Indians.We ended up playing bat mitton with him later in the morning, and one after the other he beat us, it was a little embarassing but all in all I feel pretty good about it, especially since hes pretty much mastered the game during his reign of terror over the camp, however many decades that might be is anyones guess, in our defence though the sun was facing us and thus we were pretty much blind the entire match.During the course of the morning and of the day itself we've been meeting the most interesting and kind hearted people, I was certain at first that we must be having some sort of golden streak of luck in finding such wonderful people, but after a while that was becoming less and less likely to be the case. What I eventually found to be the truth was what I would unknowingly be announcing to the camp in a few short hours.We had some free time so we hitched a few rides into town and went off looking for some naan to eat. Of course we wondered for what seemed like hours without any success but eventually came to a humble stand beside the road, there we had some wonderful and very cheap potato filled naan breads that came with 2 different dips, costing only 10 rupees (20 Cents roughly) they were a great find, we had three each and were stuffed, and all for only 60 cents!On our way back we kicked off the shoes and let the river wash the wear from our feet away. Then we went for some ice cream, and this is where we would meet (Zie German) a man whom I'm certain neither of us will soon forget. He came up to us and struck up a conversation as if we had been aquainted for years yet purposely avoided greetings or aknowledgements of any kind for the sake of quick and easy ear fulls of none sense.Only seconds into his apperance he hands blake some money and asks him to buy some cigarettes, which for reasons I have yet to comprehend he does without any complaint or question. Upon his return he mutters 3 sentences all of which begin and end with rum, the rest of which only a seasoned linguist and mastered guess artist could hope to decipher.When I realized he was speaking High German I did what I could to speak with him, this of course was futile but a attempt was made. By attempt I mean to say that I just nodded and spoke affirmatives such as "ha ya, Naturlich and aecht" at random intervals during his long monologue like blabberings. It was honestly a single sided conversation, i might have been one of those bobbing heads that continuously nods its head regardless of the input it recieves.At one point he randomly ordered a person of the street to bring his bag to him, when the person walked off in sheer confusing Zie German scoffed and continued with his ridiculous speech, only this time in the absence of our presence, since during the time of his attempt to order random people off the street around we had all silently agreed to walk off without any sound or warning.Afterwords Raveesh swore to us both that he was nothing but a crazy Sheik pretending to be German, I of course had to disagree for the following reasons; He Spoke High German, he wore socks with his sandals, he loved rum, he was aragant, rude , smoked cigarettes like there was no tomorrow, batshit crazy and a total drunk, the very definition of a crazy old german.When we got back to camp Raveesh (advised) me to charge the battery on my camera, and despite my objections it couldn't have worked out better. You see while I was at the Charging station (basically a palapa from mexico with sockets) I met the other kids from the camp, one of them invited me to play Pittu, it's a game in which each team must pick 3 players that have 3 tries each to knock over a stacked pile of 5 or so rocks over from a certain distance with a ball.If they succeed then they must hurry and restack them before the other team can aquire the ball and hit any member of your team with it below the waist. It was really a fun game, and would have been better had not more than 70% of it been childish arguing and complaining from all sides involved. The game ended, some of them tried to teach me how to play cricket but that prooved to be a complete failure, I was more confused afterward then I had ever been about the sport.We had dinner and afterward we all gathered around a mass of christmas lights that were to lite in place of a real campfire sue to regulations forbiding them. During which time anyone who wanted could perform a talent of there choosing. At the end when all those that wanted to perform had done so, I got up and introduced us to everyone and also told them something along the lines of "India is an amazing place and Indians are the nicest and greatest people in our planet." With great applause and a warm feeling deep inside me I sat down next to Blake and when all was said and done we went to sleep inside our tent, with all the camp now eager to spend more time getting to know the only foreigners in camp.