Trekking? Not So Fast – Alan

Not so fast says my body. Everything was going along swimmingly, I arrived on Friday, and as I said earlier I slept most of that day away! Then Saturday and Sunday I gradually increased my activity to the point that on Sunday I took the hike up to an old temple above the town, not once……but twice as a conditioning exercise. Here are some photos, first from town up to the temple….sorry you are barely able to see it with my 50mm lens, if you look at the roof of the temple, that is it in about the middle of the photograph and then at about 11:00 from that roof you can just make out a small white structure…let’s just say it is a bit of hike!

Here are a few photos, first the path that I took going up and then the view.

So I take the two hikes, go back to the hotel and they have a buffet of Indian food that is really good.  I ate what turned out to be too much of a good thing. I packed my duffel bag and day pack, put the rest of my things in my suitcases; and like Sarah the night before camp I had a hard time going to sleep. Well, I woke up at 3 am feeling really ill, and in no shape to be leaving on the trek. I think I was hit by a double whammy. One, I ate too much of a type of food that is not a consistent part of my diet, and two, I think the exertion of the two trips up to the temple put me over-the-top in terms of altitude sickness. I had been given some Diamox tablets to take as a preventative, but had not taken it regularly as I thought I was doing just fine……wrong!  Anyway I am now taking the Diamox twice a day.

The good news in all of this, one, I do get to join the trek already in motion. On Wednesday I will leave with a driver at 7:00am and we will drive to the village nearest to where the trekkers are, and then will hike in and meet up with them before they set up camp for the night. And two, the altitude sickness hit me while I was in the comfort of the hotel. If I had been out on the trail, that would have been a much more difficult situation!

Thank you all for your well wishes, I am signing off until Tuesday or Wednesday of next week when I can give a full report of the trek!   Alan