Nepal - Flora and Fauna

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We met fellow trekkers on the trail and in the tea houses.  Our first encounter was with a young, dread locked Israeli guy.  He was hiking alone, without a porter or guide.  He was more interested in spending his money on marijuana, he later explained.  I wondered if he just plucked it from the ground, it grows wild along the trail below 9,000 feet.

The first two times I greeted a pair of English gentlemen they looked me right in the eyes but didn't respond.  I gave them the benefit of the doubt as they were in their mid-sixties and probably out of breath.  I later realized they were the snooty old empire types.  When someone wished them luck on their trek one responded "Trek?  We are on a whole long expedition!"  We saw them many times on the trail - they had two female Nepali porters who trailed them dutifully and did the "women's work" (their words) of washing the clothes.

The Japanese were always easy to pick out.  They were covered head to toe, not a square inch of skin showing, even at the sweltering lower elevations.  They had the best gear, always two adjustable hiking sticks and nice sunglasses.

The Swiss couple were on a six month sabbatical from work and had just come from India where they did a two week Ayurvedic treatment.  The woman was explaining how they got massages for hours a day so I said it sounded great.  The man raised a finger in warning.  "It is not just that", he said, "they also put herbs us your....."  He was doing a hooking motion with his finger.  Um, on second thought, no thanks.

The young lady from Toronto and her Australian boyfriend described themselves as "unemployed" which I found refreshing.  They were hiking alone and seemed pretty rugged.  She recounted how they took a wrong turn near the glacier and had to scramble across a rock slide.  It added four hours to their five hour hike and they just laughed it off.  During dinner they studied their map intently.

The young California couple walked right out of an Abercrombie and Fitch ad.  He had his shiny hair pulled into a ponytail and she looked like she'd been made in a genetics lab.  She neither smiled nor talked, he was the opposite.  He was working in Hong Kong and she never divulged where she lived, though I asked her directly.  Ahhhh, they gave me such sweet memories of my time in San Diego.

The trio of Belgians were very talkative and friendly.  The young lady had just defended her PHD and was here to celebrate before returning home to find a job.  Her younger brother was along for the ride.  Her husband took a six month sabbatical and told us that his employer had to, by law, give him a job upon his return.  Though, he explained, it doesn't necessarily have to be his old job or even a good job.  We met them close to the end of our hike and gave them our clothespins.