The Adventures of Guitar Boy and Flip Flop Girl
We’re just wrapping up our Annapurna Circuit trek which encircles the Annapurna Massif. It has been an amazing way for us to experience our first time in Nepal and see places from big cities to rural farms. After spending a few days in the hustle and bustle of Kathmandu, we caught a bus to Besi Sahar to start a three week, 100-mile trek in the Himalayas.
We’ve walked past monkeys, lizards, field workers, cows, raging rivers, suspension bridges, baby goats, small towns, big mountains, guest houses, apple orchards, pine forests, and other trekkers from all over the world. We’ve ventured from the jungle into the high alpine and over Thorong La Pass at 17,769 ft into an arid desert landscape on the other side.
We are settling into our traveling lifestyle, waking up with the sun around 5:30am and passing out by 9pm. Much of our free time when we’re not hiking is spent recovering our minds and bodies through journaling, playing guitar (yes we brought one all the way over the pass), yoga, hand washing clothes, listening to music, having tea, eating hearty meals, and just staring at the big mountains along the way. We’ve both become a bit trail famous. Larry has become known for carrying a guitar all the way with most of the curious travelers questioning his sanity in bringing such an excessive item when every step becomes more challenging at altitude. Mia has become known for hiking in flip flops even well into the high alpine. After many days of unhappy feet in shoes and a few sore blisters, she decided to free her feet and hike in flip flops at times. She even hiked the section from Thorong Phedi to High Camp in flip flops on a steep climb up to almost 16,000 ft. Maybe we’re both a bit crazy. We’ve enjoyed the comments and wild looks and gotten a lot of satisfaction in embracing anything that comes our way.
After a couple low key days recovering from a big hiking day to get over the pass, we’re flying to Pokhara to start another phase of our time in Nepal.