JUAN FORNIELES Nepal
Nepal
Updated Saturday, March 30, 2024-00:26
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I have already written in these pages that Nepal is engaging. And that poison leads me to plan my return to the heights year after year. The mystery of the Himalayas.
The adventure.
The sacrifice. Find people who leave our
matrix
. Local friendliness. Pure oxygen with an open window to mysteries, metaphysical pleasures and
religious alternatives
. But what calls me above all is the mountain.
High altitude
trekking
.
Facing my fears and moving forward to discover and know myself better. As good old
Edmund Hillary,
the New Zealand giant who conquered Everest with
Sherpa Tenzing Norgay
, said: "The mountain teaches us that courage is not the absence of fear, but the will to act despite it." A truth like a fist that makes me pick up my backpack and walk vertically.
The
trekking
to the Gokyo Lakes, which coincides with the start of the itinerary to Everest Base Camp, meets these parameters. Nestled in Sherpa territory,
next to Chinese Tibet
, is remote Nepal where life is a miracle. The locals are
tenacity, resistance, resilience
. If you have 12 days, are fit and can spend a few euros, don't miss it.
Panoramic of Lake Gokyo.
Landed in Kathmandu, in the bustling tourist neighborhood of Thamel, it is time to close the excursion with the agency. Better not to improvise. Gokyo is a set of six oligotrophic lakes (low nutrients and little life) at 4,700/5,000 meters in the
Sagarmatha National Park.
A rarity that represents the highest freshwater system in the world. A wetland protected by UNESCO, neighboring gigantic receding glaciers and proud eight-thousanders. The
cost of the excursion
, 1,140 euros. The prices, one by one: the guide, 23 euros per day; the porter, 19 euros; Lukla/Kathmandu round trip by small plane, 400 euros; local permit, 19 euros; entrance to Sagarmatha Park, 27.5 euros. The rest: accommodation and food. And don't forget to give a final tip to the porters and guide.
The flight to Lukla is the
first adventure
. Get up early at 4:30 to board a Dornier 228, a 20-seater twin-engine that emulates a bird, fly for 30 minutes and land on a cliff. The runway, just 500 meters long, rises to 2,860 m. Also, there is no
plan b
.
If the pilot fails, you fall down the hill,
so it is not suitable for those who fear flying. If so, better opt for the bus.
You wake up in Lukla with your backpack full of adrenaline. The start is Spanish style: you stay with the guide and the
porters
in a bar and proceed to the introductions. From there, walk up the mountain in a pilgrimage of hikers to
Everest Base Camp
(EBC) or Gokyo. We share the path with schoolchildren in uniform who salute with the
V for victory
, with dozens of mules or draft yaks carrying butane, rice, drinks, fruit... and with people carrying aluminum doors on their backs, wood, hundreds of rolls of toilet paper... Anything if there is someone willing to pay for it.
There are no supermarkets, only small shops
. Everything else is custom. The higher the prices, the more expensive.
Namche Bazaar, the capital of the Sherpas.
Lukla's plane is the last motor vehicle in 10 days. Due to its orography and the very high degree of
environmental protection,
there is no place for cars, quads, tractors, cranes, motorcycles... Nothing at all. The exception is the noise of helicopters taking clients or injured people up and down. If you have 2,000/3,000 euros - to share between four people - you can rise and land at
the base of the eight thousand
par excellence. A few
selfies
and back down. Personally, I'm not interested. Rather, it disturbs me because of its deafening noise and pollution. The mountain without effort is not a mountain.
Between funerary stupas
The walk starts strong. The
trekkers
are eager and the elevation is gentle. The
porters
with their 25 kilos on their backs go at their own pace without losing their smiles. The first funerary monuments arrive, the stupas
with whitewashed spiers
that look to the sky in honor of Buddha, and very long Tibetan bridges over turbulent waters. As we ascend, we pass more cargo convoys. In addition to getting away, the lesson they teach you in Nepal is to protect yourself from these animals by getting close to
the mountains
. Never on the slope because you are vulnerable. On this occasion, we learned it the hard way. We saw a stampede of
animals down the mountain
and we managed to get out of the way, but a porter who was going up with a PVC door on his back ended up falling off the cliff. Fortunately, a log stopped a fatal fall. Some broken ribs, damage to the door that he paid for out of his poor pocket and continued carrying. No insurance, no apologies, just resistance.
We spent the first night in Monjo (2,835 m.) to begin to adapt to the altitude. The good
trekker
's manual advises staying lower, but the body asked for more. After a cool night, we continued to stay at
Namche Bazaar
, the Sherpa capital. A small city of services nestled on a slope at 3,440 meters. Meeting point and obligatory stop for those going to
Gokyo or Everest.
Acclimatization requires spending two nights in Namche. To fill the agenda, we visited Buddhist lamas during a morning ceremony over tea with salted yak butter (
goor goor
). The monks recite endless mantra prayers.
The experience is curious,
approaching
mindfulness
, but the language barrier prevents connecting.
A Buddhist stupa in Dingboche.
Beyond spirituality and drinking coffee and pizza at expensive prices, during those two days people shop and walk to gain height and lose it again, cloning the training of climbers. On that journey, we jumped to the neighboring town of
Khumjung
(3,790 m.), in whose monastery (
Gumba
) they keep some skeletal remains of the yeti... they say. Edmund Hillary himself pursued it without success, he even took those bones to the United States to be analyzed and... there was no confirmation. Since I don't believe in that monster, I prefer to visit the secondary school that this
New Zealand Himalayan
built in 1961 to honor his teammates, the expert Sherpas, the Nepalese who are not afraid of altitude. Thanks to his encouragement, the kids abandoned the condemnation of
chronic illiteracy
and were able to dream of careers. Dozens of testimonies attest to this: now, doctors, pilots, engineers, soldiers... not only shepherds and porters come from Khumjung.
After having a soup at
Everest View,
a kind of national inn built in front of the immense mountain and designed for the rich (from 200 euros/night), we return to
Namche
to sleep badly because the cold and altitude take their toll.
The next stage takes us hand in hand with those who travel to Everest. The eight thousand and
Ama Dablam
(6,812 m.) are a constant on the horizon. Walk as you walk, selfies, panoramic photos, group photos and search for peaks in Peakfinder. This is how the hours pass. Between laughter and thoughts. In
Sanasa
(3,600 m.) we separate from those who go to Everest. They have 34 kilometers left, we have 20, but these distances require more nights of acclimatization, colder weather and more turns in the bag.
Donkeys transporting gas in Sagarmatha Park.
As we walk, we see
yak poop
drying on the walls, future fuel for stoves, street markets with odds and ends, and solar cookers where giant kettles of water are heated. The days are very stable, especially at this time, with sun, but
very little heat
. During the evening, the mercury can drop up to 15 degrees.
Traveler as a way of life
The march takes us towards
Machermo
(4,470 m.). Along the path we come across travelers full of ideals: one Italian parents with two 14/15 year old kids who practice homeschooling and consider this excursion as part of a
Biology lesson
. A French plumber who has left his job in maintenance of a hotel in the Alps to discover Nepal and then jump to Japan, where he wants to look for work. The Argentine Isabel and her boyfriend, who work cleaning in a
desert mine in Australia
. A German who has been linking
trekkings
for two months ... A diverse human bouquet eager to talk, to share.
Breakfast and dinner are the meeting points. Tea in all its versions,
powdered milk, fifth-rate coffee
and the classic menu:
dal bhat
(rice, lentils and vegetable curry), eggs in any presentation imaginable as a source of protein, more rice,
chapati
bread , soups and Tibetan stew . Like this again and again. Off the menu, some cake to celebrate the end of the stage. The diet is so basic that mixed with
the effort and height
it implies a radical weight loss. From three to 8 kilos. in 15 days. The important thing is to drink a lot and not waste mineral salts.
The Cho Oyu in all its fullness.
The comfort of the
tea houses
or
lodges
, the Sherpa houses converted into hostels, is minimal: a stove in the dining room based on yak poop,
thick duvets
for rooms that are sometimes below zero degrees, and frozen bathrooms. But the important thing is the kindness, its human warmth.
As we climb, one of my friends starts to suffer from altitude sickness. The cold that he brought with him from Spain is complicated by headaches and a painful oxygen saturation, but no matter what, we continue forward until
we reach Gokyo
. The attraction is the desert landscape, the woolly yaks that look defiant, the frozen waterfalls and the water that flows from the
crystalline lakes
. What is surprising, bordering on worrying, is that we are at 4,750 m and have not stepped on an atom of snow. At most, an ancient glacier that is dying and which should be looked at from a distance because it contains many dangers. Climate change in rigorous first person.
After sleeping at the foot of the lake and seeing how altitude sickness wreaked havoc, we decided to retrace our path so that the symptoms disappear. In desperation, the guide of an American group gives us
Acetazolamide from Walgreens
, a diuretic that helps lower blood pressure. While two companions and two porters descend 1,000 meters at a stretch to find relief, the rest of us climb Gokyo Ri, a 5,357 m peak in front of the hotel. A 360 degree viewpoint open to Everest,
Cho Oyu
and the glacier tongue. Five hundred meters of unevenness that give rise to tears of joy and hugs. On the way down, and as the patient magically improves, we pass by the
Tengbotche monastery
to receive a blessing from a Buddhist monk. He ties a red rope around our necks, recites a prayer and anchors us to the Himalayas, to the eternal return.
PRACTICAL GUIDE
HOW TO GET
Qatar Air. or Etihad are the best options. Two flights and a stopover that add up to about 13/15 hours. Price: from 940 euros.
WHERE TO SLEEP
Tea houses.
You sleep in Sherpa houses built with simple materials. There is no heating and comfort is minimal, but sufficient.
Thanka Inn
.
An outstanding hotel. It is in Gokyo (4,790 m). Friendliness, comfort and delicious food.
MORE INFORMATION
Asian Hiking Team
Trusting Suman's experience and honesty is a guarantee in any
Nepalese
trekking
. The office is in Kathmandu. Internet: www.asian hikingteam.com
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