Just to be weird I’ll stop complaining about Nepal and for now I’ll contemplate something really esoteric about the experience. I’d like to tell you about the sounds I encountered while trekking through the mountains. Of course there were the countless footsteps of my boots shuffling over the dry, rocky trails. As I got to higher elevations the steps became more deliberate and my breathing became more rhythmic and laborious. Also depending on my elevation I would be nearing the sound of the rushing water in the violent river current at the bottom of the valleys. Crossing the suspension bridges in the open spans the breeze would drive through and carry the prayer flags and long strands of katas to flutter and flip in harmony with the din of the river. The prevailing concern at that height was the wobbling waves coursing through the steel cables miraculously supporting that feat of engineering. Not to complain all of a sudden, but my concern in crossing the bridges was for the eroded wooden planks loosely lining the walkways rather than for the integrity of the cables. I suppose you could imagine some sounds involved in that scenario.

Now that I’m clear of being jinxed I can safely say I’m lucky I never got sick or ever sprained anything during my travels. Now I wonder if I was overly paranoid, but I imagine nasty, little crawly microbes waiting at every turn to infiltrate my tender immune system. I was in the habit of washing my hands and supplementing with hand sanitizer, and I got out of my habit of picking up and eating used candy (or whatever those colorful clumps were) off of the sidewalk. Another important habit for some people to break (though I would never be so uncouth) is biting their nails or rubbing their eyes. I was careful about the fresh fruit and vegetables I ate too. Thankfully I only ate at restaurants that already go to great lengths to keep a good reputation so they only used treated or bottled water. The only real threat was the Lama in Pangboche who offered each of us some holy water from Mt. Kailash directly in our bare hands. I was quick to swipe out and douse my hands in alcohol just before he turned to me, but Richard took it straight up and swallowed a gastric time bomb. I don’t think the water itself was all that bad, but at any given time our hands were swarming with bacterial mayhem.