Himalayas

Yesterday we woke up at 6am to climb a freakin' mountain.
I will be honest, I have been rejecting these plans since the very first day of being here on campus. Every time Dad would mention it I would roll my eyes. I just didn't see why a person would wanna walk up a MOUNTAIN. I don't even like to walk down the street!

I had an ommmmmmelet for breakfast.
Get it!?

Ok, then we got in the taxi. We drove up the scary roads that I'm not scared of anymore to McLeodganj... And then drove past McLeodganj. Up, up, and UP the mountains.

I have been scared many times here, as you all know. I have also driven in Costa Rica in a minivan on unpaved roads with my father as the driver on the edge of mountains. I have ZOOMED around Japanese mountains with an old man driver who claimed to be 'just taking little naps'. I have seen the light here in India already...But let me tell you something right this second- driving up to the start of the hiking trail yesterday was the scariest situation of my life.

Unpaved, loose, rocky, no guard rails, cliff-lined, one-laned, dug out of the side of a mountain, driver driving too fast, rinky-dinky car. Keyword: "cliff-lined"... Definition: WHEN THERE ARE CLIFFS OF DOOM LINING THE ONE-WAY ROADS ON A MOUNTAIN!!!

There is a possibility that I am being dramatic... But when I was driving to this place yesterday, my (big) muscles were tense the whole-dang-way. I was rehearsing my escape route in my mind constantly... Hopefully, if we ran off the road we would hit a tree first after going off the cliff. Once hitting the tree, our falling velocity would be slightly lowered- just enough so that I could get my head together to eject myself out of the car via door handle. Once out of the car, it would be imperative that I grab onto a tree or capture an handful of grass so that I wouldn't die on impact. Sometimes there were no trees past the edge of the road. It was during this time that I just hoped things would happen quick.

THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT OF ON THE WAY TO THE MOUNTAIN.
I think I'm more anxious than I used to be.


We made it, obviously. When I got out of the taxi I couldn't tell if I was shaking because of the rocky road or my fear. I made Dad by me my favorite masala (spicy) chips to apologize for putting me through that.

When I got done ranting about the taxi we started to climb the mountain. The trail was easy to point out. I should have robbed an REI before coming here.

We were climbing and climbing.

Dad: "This place reminds me of a certain kind of ice cream."
Me: "Rocky Road?"

Omg, this place was remarkable. I don't even hardly like nature stuff... But this place was something else. At first Dad and I couldn't breathe. The high altitude was really taking a toll on our oxygen intake for a good 20 minutes. I couldn't even laugh! But finally we adapted. (I just daydreamed about a goldfish flopping outside of its bowl and then morphing into a cat.)

We took pictures, don't worry. In fact, we too 278 pictures. I'm pretty sure Dad has a picture of every rock in the mountain range. Out of insanity I decided to
Wear a shirt I bought from a thrift store that only had the word 'HOOCH' written across it. I don't know what you think of when you hear that word, but I think 'hoochie momma'. So now I'm on a mountain lookin like a hooch in every picture.

So we climbed and climbed and I was in, literally, the best mood.

Lol, oh yeah- so then we get to a tea shop that was situated on The edge of the mountain about an hour up the trail. I got a chai tea, Dad a lemon tea. As we finished sipping this tea at a shop that I would consider is in THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE... A group of boys walks up laughing and singing.


Guess who.
"ANNA!!!"
"omg, SHEKDEMAN!!"
And they lauughhed and we took pictures. Oh I just plain out couldn't believe it.

But then we left them and continued our trekking.
We climbed that mountain. Pictures were taken. People were greeted. Fun was had.

I had some serious daydreams of causing major landslides while climbing. In some places, it seemed, if one rock moved, thousands would tumble to the base of the mountain. All I needed to do was dislodge one rock...

This place was magnificent. Rocks had crashed and been ripped apart after India collided into Asia.. So sedimentary rock layers were jutting our of nowhere all over!! Often I would be walking along the trail and I would look over to the other mountains. That would make me lose my balance because everything was so big.
Oh, it was wonderful.

After one more tea break halfway up, we made it. It took 3 hours. Maybe a bit more. 3800 meters up. We walked up to the huge flat spot that was the top of the hill and took photos of us against the backdrop of the snowy Himalayas the we now had a perfect view of. These mountains were BREATHTAKING. And I don't lose my breath because of nature very often.

We bought lunch from a shop up there. Delicious and spicy.

We walked around. A Shepard was walking his sheep up and over the mountain. We took pics, duh. I think those were the first sheeps I have ever seen!
Then... We began the journey back. This was hard on the knees, much faster... But much more dangerous. So dangerous. One of us was surely gonna sprang an ankle. Oh, my feet were aching! The cliffs were a rush.

We made it down with our ankles!!!!
Basically, I don't think I could ever twist an ankle in my LIFE if I didn't twist one yesterday! It was treacherous.
The taxi ride down to McLeodganj was much easier on my heart than the morning ride. Partially because this driver went slower. And partially because I just didnt think I could die if I survived that mountain climb.


We went to a pizza place for supper and I ate like a cow in a trash pile!!!

To summarize, I will never do that again... But I'm glad I did it once.
I climb up a mountain to prove I can, and I climb down mountains to get the heck away from the freakin' mountain. #pizzamotivation