The boots that saved my life and The Hangover I don't deserve

(Kathmandu 5/21) Charles is going to go back early. I am absolutely not envious. Anyway, back to Humla. Not only was our guide 2 hours late the morning we took off but we learned that, in fact, he was a deaf, mute. So, not quite the blind leading the blind but still challenging. In fact not really. He was wonderful. Very sweet and helpful. It's a 2 day trek to get from Simikot to Yangar. You spend the night about 2/3 of the way through in Kermi. Why staying in someone's house and sleeping on wooden pallets with dirty blankets should cost twice as much as I pay for my guesthouse in Kathmandu I don't know. Let's just say Chembal is a very good businessman and dedicated to infusing his district with tourist dollars. The first day takes about 10 hours for us which is super. Luckily the second day is only 5. Ha! Only 5. You loose and gain so much elevation on that trail. Why couldn't they just cut a straight line in the side of the valley? Why all this up and down nonsense? How come I was more scared of heights the second time around? Maybe it's Stingray Syndrome. The first time you don't know what you're getting into so your like "aww aren't they cool. Let's get in the water!" Once you're actually in the water, of course, and have a coffee table sized black thing swimming straight at you they don't seem so cool. I was, overall, very proud of my body. A definite improvement over the first time doing this. And I owe much of it to the lady at Biosports and my buddy from the Arlburg. I had my doubts going down that first gigantic hill. Half way through my right knee was starting to shake and my left foot fell asleep but they sorted themselves out in time. Thank god for my boots! On the other hand I did make a few wardrobe mistakes. One, my pants had no pockets. Big pain in the ass. Two, they are a size too big which means I was constantly pulling them up. Three, I didn't bring a synthetic t-shirt. My cotton one did not serve me well in the heat. Oh well. I owe another big thanks to the ladies at Performance Footwear for their patience and help. My other clothes all worked great. Poor Charles had it the worst. We've decided he suffered from elevation sickness pretty much the entire time we were up there. He refuses to eat daal bhat ever again because he got so sick after lunch he threw up on the side of the trail. We made a good pair. His stomach was so upset he couldn't stand up straight and I couldn't stand up straight because i couldn't breath. The second day did not get off to the best start since every part of my body hurt. Legs, feet, boobs, everything. Not a lot of talking went on since both of us where so focused on getting there and not giving in to our bodies complaints. At last we arrived, except not quite. Because of the big master being there at the monastery in Yangar everyone from all the surrounding villages spends their entire day there. Consequently we couldn't go to settle down in Chembal's house because no one was there. It is also worth noting that the monastery is a 30 minute walk from Chembal's house. Anyway, we arrived about 2:00pm and ended up stuck there until 6:00pm waiting for the teaching to finish so we could follow Chembal home. Our first night in Yangar didn't get off to a great start when we discovered we shared our room with a mouse/rat. Charles didn't sleep at all because of the mouse/rat and the bugs while I had difficulty because I was cold. The first 20 minutes of The Hangover didn't help. However, watching a little of The Hangover each night, probably kept Charles from going completely mental from lack of sleep, mouse phobia, bug paranoia, and a diet of Chinese top ramen. And on a side note, I just cannot get into that movie. Despite everyone saying it's great and Denise Vaughn (who is one of the smartest people I know and whom i trust implicitly) loving it, still can't sit through it.