Rats and a new addiction

Humla continued... Having gotten everything we needed in three days, and having no desire to sleep with the rats one more night than was strictly necessary Charles and i decided to start back on the fourth day. Going the other direction the first day can still be the long one, you just pass Kermi (or Sarak, depending on your inclination to use the Tibetan names or the Nepali) and go on to Dharapuri. Dharapuri is where you stop for lunch on the first day going towards Yangar. I prefer making the first day the longest so that the second requires less energy when you have none left over from the first anyway. That is especially true going back as the last part between Dharapuri and Simikot is uphill. About 4 hours of fairly consistent uphill. Yeah, not my best day ever. Even the shot blocks did little to boost me up that last steep hill. I should explain. I have a new addiction. On this trip I tried, for the first time, Shot Blocks made by Cliff Bar. They must put Meth in these or something. They saved my ass on the way to Yangar. I highly, highly recommend them. Unfortunately not even that miracle food could let me keep up with Charles going back. I pulled out everything anyone had ever taught me. Drink as much water as possible going up hill (your body doesn't need as much going down). Eat something like a Cliff Bar for long term energy and something sugary like chocolate or a fruit rollup for short term energy. Take long steps because they take less energy. Use your inhaler, don't just put it in your pocket. Take deep breaths. Raise your arms up to expand your chest to allow more oxygen in. Don't overheat. (That ones mine) So a heartfelt and never-ending thank you to my dad, my mom, grandma, and my 6th grade PE teacher. See? I was listening all along. Who'd have thought. There are no two ways about it. That is a hard, hard, hard hike. Charles and I definitely earned some street cred from this trip. Once back in Simikot Charles and didn't move for three straight hours other than to take off our shoes and socks. Then we had dinner and continued our not moving for most of the next day. Unfortunately we couldn't get same day flights back to Kathmandu the day after we got back and given a choice between spending the night in a fairly comfortable Simikot or a 1000 degree Nepalgunj it didn't take us long to make that decision. We managed to walk just far enough to my favorite lookout spot to film last thoughts on Humla itself but even that hurt. The next morning we took off for Nepalgunj only three hours late. I pointed out to Charles that I'd rather wait anywhere except Nepalgunj and our flight out of there want until 5:30pm. That wasn't very comforting apparently. He had a point. They stop flying in and out of Simikot around noon because of the wind. We made it out just fine, though. Our roughly six hours in Nepalgunj were not the best ever but 3 Fantas, 4 Slices, 2 Sprites, and 1 mineral water later we were on our way back to Kathmandu. Neither of us could have been happier.