I think the beard might need to go. This might be one of the last pics with it around.
Oct
28
Bintang is the beer of Indonesia. Although it did not have my favorite label. Some beer there quoted “made from the best quality ingrediants available”. Ahh the beauty of that one word, available.
EKI from the basque region in France Spain
Some wine from Spain. I miss the free wine with every dinner. Mmmmmmm wine.
Everest the beer of nepal. Well that and Nepal ice. I haven’t thought of “ice” beer since college. Also since alchohol does not mix well with elevation, I did not drink as much as I would have thought. Thank god I like Playing cards.
Marpha is the apple capital in Nepal. So you can get marpha brandy. It simply says that the alchohol content is greater than 25%. You have been warned. Honestly even watering it down with apple juice did not help.
Oct
28
It’s interesting to hear people from other countries talk about our election. I have yet had someone tell me they wanted maccain to win. But a few nights back I was talking to this Dutch girl and she was pretty upset that there is this “major election that effects the whole world” that she cannot vote in. I think she wanted to vote more than me.
Just the way she talked about it, she took it a lot more seriously than I do and I ended up feeling a little bad for not caring more.
Oct
24
As some of you might know, being at high altitude can cause problems (and even death) for people. The begining symptoms is called AMS (basically altitude sickness). When we slept at 4000M I had a headache. This scared me as there was already a couple that turned around when the woman started puking and had bad headaches. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to finish another trek. Luckily, the next morning, the headache was gone.
Going over the pass we saw a bunch of people suffering. I had a small headache, someone else was clearly dizzy, I heard reports of someone puking, and my friend Luke couln’t put a sentance together for 30 min on the way down.
Unfortunatley it seems that I have a “condition” which I will be bringing home with me. It seems I picked up HAFE while going over the pass. The clinic says there was nothing that could be done, however being at lower altitudes should help. Well I am in town, and the HAFE has not gone away yet. It seems like I might need to suffer through this “condidtion” for the rest of my life 😦
Oct
24
Well I made the trek around the Annapurna Circuit. It was a great trip. Everyday it felt like we were hiking through a new area. One day was freezing with many days in shorts. Somedays we followed a river, somedays through a dry riverbed with lots of wind and sand. All in all a great trip with lots of great pictures. I hope to post many of them when I get somewhere with a good connection.
I met a river rafting guide and his new wife. I think we are going to go raft a little. Not sure what the rest of this week has in store, however I head to Lima at the end of the week.
Oct
18
So yesterday we woke up at 2:30 am and walked from 4,500 meters (abiyt 14,500 ft) over the Thoroung-La pass which is 5416 meters (17769 ft). Crazy day. 9 hours of hiking. Lots of UP and then even MORE down. LONG LONG day. But I made it and we are in the middle of 6 hours of flat walking today.
Some things I have learned:
1) “The rest of the way is flat” means something completely different to someone who grew up in the himilain mountians than to someone who grew up in the midwest USA.
2) If you come around a bend and see the place you are stopping for the night at the same altitude as you are standing KNOW that there is a 600 ft drop to a bridge followed by a 600 ft climb in front of you….
More to come, but I am really enjoying Nepal….
Oct
11
I am currently sitting in Chame, Nepal. I have done 4 of 16 days of hiking for the Annapurna Circuit. So far the IT Bands are holding out ok. In fact I feel pretty good. Everyday is a lot of climbing so far, but with my Spanish Training, it has not been that bad. In fact I have really enjoyed my time so far. I am currently hiking with a guide and a married couple from Australia (they were married last Sat and we started hiking on Mon). The weather has been good (although its starting to get cold at night and when you stop walking). We have 2 more days of hiking before we stop for a day to get used to the altitude. Friday is our hard day when we walk 3,000 feet up followe by 6,000 feet down (we also reach a hight over 17,000 ft). Pretty crazy but as long as the legs work (and the lungs) I am looking forward to it.
Hope all is well with everyone else. Not sure the next time I will get an Internet connection.
Oct
06
Well I have arrived in Kathmandu without issue. One interesting thing is my phone does NOT work here (although AT&T says it should). So I think I will be without phone and internet for the next 3 weeks while I trek. I will be doing blog updates on my phone, but you won’t see them for a few weeks it seems. So basically this might be it till I am done with the trek.
There are two others in my “tour” An Australian couple who just got married (this is their honeymoon). We have 1 guide and 2 porters for the trip (so I don’t have to carry any real weight, just my daypack. So that should make the whole thing a little nicer than Santiago where I did have a little more weight on my back).
I must admit I am a little scared. I just want my legs to hold up. I counted and we are basically doing 16 days of hiking. Tomorrow we leave and drive all day to the start of the trek and in two days we start our walk…
Remember, love and energy to my legs….
Oct
04
I really thought the Cuba would win this year. This was due tobrue fact that I would soon be hiking in areas with no Internet and this would have no clue about the party going on in chi-town
Little did I know that this trip home would allow me to be in the states for the ENTIRE sweep of the cubs.
As always, wait till next year.
Oct
04
Well I am back in sfo waiting for my flight out of the country. With a brief stop in la followed by a 17 hour flight to bangkok (I get to fly through there again to the second time on two months) I will hop a 3 hour flight to Kathmandu. With a night there followed by a long bus ride on Mon, I should be walking again on tuesday.
To be honest I am a little scared. I just want my legs to make it through. I am excited, but with my poor performance in Spain, I am a little gunshy. I will just go slow and stretch a lot and hopefully I will be fine.
I probably won’t have great Internet access from the trail, however I will try to type something at night and have a large update when I do have access.
If everyone could send positive energy to my legs, I would appreciate it.
The Wiggen's Travels 