I was/am HERE?!!!!!

Where to begin?!

I’m out!  The Himalaya have digested, sculpted, and spat out a body and spirit soaring.  WOW.  I want to resort to explicits and the range of euphoric onomatopoeia to convey the rush that the past five weeks of trekking give me.  Thank you Meg’Seil for a spirit rivalled only by those himals we wandered!  Around the staggering Annapurnas and into their Sanctuary, then West towards the ancient Tibetan land of Dolpo; these days of walking feel surreal.  I am exhausted – but momentum could carry me onwards, over the next pass.  The metronome of right-left stride is an adrenaline-inducing meditation that induces perfect synchronicity between body and mind.  I have not felt so good since I left last September.  This on a white diet of rice, chapati, potatoes, ramen noodles, and biscuits – and only a worrisome-ly low ratio of lentils to the heaping feasts of bhaat and starch!

So quickly and jarringly I am shuffled back into civilization: a general strike violently enforced by Maoists consumed all of Nepal for six days earlier this week, halting all but ambulance transportation and shutting down supply routes into every reach of the country.  We were fortunate to miss the attempted power-grab (Maoists are trying to coerce the PM to resign), but it’s not over.  Nepal is still without a constitution and is almost certain to miss the May 28th deadline for its writing.  By then, I should be back in Canada, preparing plates and pots over which Meg and I hope to regal you with some colour, savour, and sound, if you can make it to the neighbourhood.

In the next days I will post some notes from my journal; but nary a chance I can convey the breadth and beauty of this experience!