3/21 Second Day from Hell, In a Row

We left Jomson, and all of its amenities, by 8:00 AM with a good 18-19 mile day ahead of us. We were sure how far we were going to go, but wanted to push far down the mountain and see if we could still have enough time to add the Annapurna Sanctuary portion to our trek. We started well, and got to the first town (Marpa) in about an hour. We sent Seba ahead and stopped for the “world-famous” apple pie. While they grow all the apples locally, it was too early in the season to get fresh apples. So really we were going out of our way for nine month old apples. Padam first brought me some spiked apple cider. I thought that maybe getting drunk was their plan to help you forget that the apples were nine months old. Guess it worked, because the apple pie was great.

Shortly after Marpa, Padam fell significantly behind again. His new excuses were that his feet hurt, that I was an athlete, and I was too tall to stay with. However, after getting into a good groove I just went about my walking until a tractor pulled up honking. It was Padam. He asked if I wanted a lift. As we had discussed this the night before, I was a bit peeved. I had stated that we could hire a tractor for Seba, but that we should walk. So when I replied I didn’t want a ride, he stated that he would meet me in Lete and would I like him to take my pack.

I said no to him carrying my pack and before I could say anything else, he was gone. I didn’t even know where Lete was. I assumed it must be a small town just ahead. I was horrified when I pulled out my map and saw that it was a good ten miles down the road and past where we agreed to have lunch. I was totally pissed. To add insult to injury, I didn’t see Seba in the tractor which meant that any time saved would be lost when we had to wait for him to catch up.

The story continues...