[ENGLISH FOLLOWS]
Benvinguts a l'any 2075! No, l'últim destí del viatje no ha estat el futur sino que a Nepal no compten els anys segons Crist! Els seus mesos tampoc van del nostre 1 al 31 sino que van del 15 al 14, dia amunt dia avall. Això em fa pensar en tantes coses que donem per suposades perquè a la nostra societat són així però que no tenen perquè ser així a tot arreu.
Vaig venir a Nepal fa 3 anys amb l'Ivan, la Mercè i la Isa (que també van venir a veure'm a Filipines), va ser abans del terratrèmol, vam estar per la vall de Kathmandu i després vam anar a viatjar per l'India. Nomès van ser 4 dies però l'amabilitat nepalesa i veure els himalaies, on les muntanyes petites són més altes que la muntanya més alta d'Europa, va fer que ara torni a ser aquí.
La Nona, una super bona amiga de la piscifactoria (el meu grup de teatre), vindrà d'aquí 8 dies a viatjar amb mi pel Nepal durant 24 dies. Mentrestant, decideixo anar a Pokhara, una ciutat a vora d'un llac a 7h de Kathmandu. Visito una mica la zona i parlant amb el propietari de l'hostal, el Vishnu, em diu que ell és d'un poble de la muntanya a 3h d'allà, jo també li explico que sóc de la muntanya i em diu que si em fa gràcia pot parlar amb la seva família i que m'allotgin uns dies allà. Sona molt bé així que parlo amb un australià, el Jeremy, que havia conegut a Kathmandu i també s'apunta. Anem a buscar el jeep i allà ens trobem amb el tiet del Vishnu que també va al poble.
La "carretera" s'acaba 10min abans d'arribar i fem l'últim tros a peu. Arribo i conec a la familia, els avis, un dels fills d'aquest, el Ganesh que és professor d'anglès, la seva dona i un dels seus fills que té 8 anys. L'avi em fa seure i després de preguntar-me pels meus pares, avis, germans, si tenia dona i fills (és força típic nepalí), em diu "on tens les cartes?", li dic que a la motxilla i em diu que les vagi a buscar. Es veu que el tiet que ens va portar em va veure les cartes a la motxilla i el primer que va fer va ser dir-li a l'avi perquè li encanta jugar a cartes. Em va ensenyar a jugar al Romi i així vam passar cada nit.
El menjar típic de Nepal és el dal bhat i el típic nepalí el menja per esmorzar, dinar i sopar. Consisteix amb arròs blanc, vegetals, sopa de llenties i un curry que pot ser de patata, pollastre, carbassa, mongetes, de fruita jack o del que sigui. A l'hora de menjar anem a la cuina, que és un passadís molt petit, ennegrit pel fum, on l'àvia de la familia seurà al fons a terra, a la vora dels fogons i tots seurem a terra al llarg del passadís. L'àvia ens servirà un deliciós dal bhat a tots, ens mirarà com ens el mengem i farà un somriure immens cada vegada que li diguis "mitho cha" (deliciós en nepalès). Al primer àpat em van donar una cullera per menjar però vaig veure que tothom utilitzava la mà dreta per menjar, així que al següent àpat ja els hi vaig dir que tampoc em feia falta cullera, em van ensenyar el truquillo de menjar l'arròs amb la mà utilitzant el dit gros de palanca i a partir d'ençà ho feia així.
Els dies em passàven volant, un dia vam fer una excursió on el petit de la casa ens va fer de guia, un altre vam llaurar un camp amb les mules i les aixades per preparar-lo per la plantada d'arròs, el Ganesh em va ensenyar una mica de nepalès. Abans de marxar, l'avi em va donar un barret tradicional que els senyors grans nepalesos porten i es va oferir per acompanyar-me, juntament amb la seva dona, al poble més pròxim, més d'una hora caminant, per agafar el bus i que no haguès de matinar per agafar el jeep. El camí va ser molt bonic i coneixien a tot deu, la gent sortia de les cases a saludar-los i a preguntar qui era jo.
El bus local va arribar, anava tant ple que havia d'anar de peu i gairebé no em podia ni moure. De sobte el bus va haver de parar perquè es va punxar una roda i vam baixar a estirar les cames mentre canviaven la roda. Un noi se'm va apropar i em va preguntar d'on era en nepalès, jo no el vaig entendre i m'ho va preguntar en anglès. Em va dir que com que portava el barret tradicional, la gent del bus comentava si era extranger o local. El noi va aclarar-li el dubte a la gent del fons del bus i em va convidar a un refresc. Vam estar parlant molt i al tornar pujar em va fer passar fins al fons del bus i em va aconseguir un seient privilegiat al terra del passadís.
Torno cap a Kathmandu i m'allotjo a l'hostal per anar a buscar a la Nona a l'aeroport. La Nona no en sabia res, així que parlo amb el propietari de l'hostal al que la Nona havia reservat el taxi per recollir-la a l'aeroport perquè em porti a mi també. Allà vaig esperar-la amb el gorro nepalès i un cartell "Namaste Nona", va ser molt emocionant la trobada!
Vam fer una mica de turisme per la ciutat i a preparar-nos perquè l'endemà marxàvem per començar el trekking del Manaslu circuit. Pel trekking del camp base Everest necessitàvem agafar un vol intern i el circuit de l'Annapurna ens van dir que era extremadament turístic, la gent el feia sense guia i havien construit una carretera, així que vam optar pel circuit del Manaslu, que era molt menys turístic, es necessitava guia i me n'havien parlat molt bé. Després d'un bus local de 10.5 hores per carreteres no asfaltades i plenes de sots, parades múltiples per recollir gent, paquets o litxis dels arbres, xarrades amb locals que ens preguntàven d'on som, si som parella, fins i tot un astròleg em va llegir les mans i va predir que tindria 3 fills, després li va dir el mateix a la Nona i que viuria més de 85 anys, arribem al poble des d'on comencem la caminata, Arkhet.
Caminem cada dia 6-7h, dormim en tea houses, ens dutxem amb aigua congelada, sovint amb un cubell, i mengem gairebe sempre el mateix. El paisatge comença a canviar, de boscos tropicals a boscos que podrien ser del pirineu. Comencen a apareixer muntanyes nevades colossals al voltant. El nostre guia, el Tenji, ens diu "aquest es el Manaslu", un dels 8 gegants de Nepal, 8156m. Després de fer-li un book de fotos i passades dues hores em diu, aix no, no es el Manaslu. Vaja... A la segona també va fallar. El nostre guia és sherpa de la regió de l'Everest i no ha vingut moltes vegades al Manaslu. Arribem a Lho, un poble a dalt d'una muntanya des d'on veiem ara si, per primera vegada el Manaslu. És molt impressiomant veure aquesta muntanya totalment nevada i amb les dues puntes que la fan molt especial.
Anem creuant cares somrients, vestits tradicionals, nens dient Namaste (hola en nepalès), d'altres demanant xocolatines, venedors de pollets, gent cultivant els camps, dones rentant roba al riu, gent carregant coses amb el cap (fustes, portes, cistells amb pedres o branques), monjos, monestirs, parets amb inscripcions i dibuixos budistes (mani walls), gossos maquíssims i d'altres pollosos, vaques, bous, yaks i moltíssimes mules carregant provisions. Pel camí trobem un dispensari i la Nona, que és metgessa de família, vol entrar-hi. Allà hi coneixem a un noi que és "paramèdic" i ens explica tota la feina que fan amb els pocs recursos que tenen al mig de la muntanya.
Arribem a Samagaun, un poble a 3550m envoltat per muntanyes nevades espectaculars. Aquí som concients per primera vegada que la carretera més pròxima està a 4 dies caminant o amb mula. Com que vam arribar aviat vam anar a fer una excursió a un llac preciós al peu d'un glaciar juntament amb els guies, un francès i un belga que hem conegut. Per la tarda surto amb la Nona a donar una volta i treiem el cap a una escola propera a l'allotjament on vam conéixer a un professor americà que porta la guarderia del poble. Està gestionada per l'organització Mountain Child i ensenyen a nens de 3-5 anys nepalí, tibetà i anglès amb professors locals i extrangers. També els hi donen un àpat al dia, una dutxa calenta a la setmana i es raspallen les dents. Ens diu que per ell aquesta és la millor època ja que és final de temporada i per tant no hi han molts turistes, però encara fa bon temps i podem veure tot verd i ple de flors. Just en aquesta època hi ha recolecta d'un èsser molt curiós, mig cuc mig planta, que és un curatot i es ven molt car al mercat xinès per medicina tradicional i potenciador sexual (per variar).
Continuem la ruta i els arbres van desapareixent, ara nomès queden camps verds i muntanyes rocoses i nevades. Per camí de sobte veiem una marmota, i una altra, i una altra... N'hi havien un munt, són d'un color més clar que les del pirineu i més exhibicionistes.
El 25 d'Abril de 2015 va succeir el primer d'una sèrie de terratrèmols devastadors al Nepal. Hi van haver més 9000 morts i moltíssims damnificats, alguns se'ls hi va destruir la casa d'un dia per l'altre. Segons els locals, justament ara, 3 anys més tard, el govern ha alliberat les ajudes rebudes per la reconstrucció de les zones més afectades i també ha posat un plaç de 6 mesos per construir, així que a tots els pobles estan construint com bojos per rebre els ajuts.
Avui fem nit a 4400m d'altura, cada vegada es fa més difícil pujar i demà és el gran dia que pujarem a 5106m. Dormim a una cabanya de pedra amb els guies i fora feia un fred de deu, però per sort anàvem ben abrigats.
Ens aixequem ben d'hora i comencem a pujar, avui si que es fa dura la pujada, raletim el pas però ens mantenim constants. Aquí ja no hi queden ni plantes, ni flors i gairebé ni gespa, només hi han pedregals i neu. Finalment assolim el Larke Pass, és incrïble pensar que estem a més de 5100m i al nostre voltant només hi han muntanyes que encara són més altes, pedres i neu. A mesura que anem baixant no em trobo massa fi, tinc una mica de nàusees, suposo que serà l'altura. Quan vaig estar a Bolivia fa 7 anys, vaig fer el Huayna Potosi (6088m) però portava més temps en altura i no em va afectar gaire. Vam baixar bastant i de sobte em vaig trobar molt millor. Vam parar a casa d'una dona que vivia a una tenda al mig de la muntanya amb la seva filla i un gos. Vam fer un té i un xapati amb el pernil que em van enviar els meus pares i això em va recuperar del tot.
Aviat acabem el trekking i ja anem de tornada a la civilització passant per una part del circuit de l'Annapurna. Es fa extrany veure cotxes, sentir pitades i no estar envoltat de muntanyes tota l'estona.
[ENGLISH]
Welcome to the year 2075! No, the last destination of the trip has not been the future but in Nepal they do not count the years according to Christ! Their months do not go from our 1 to 31 but go from 15 to 14, more or less. This makes me think of so many things that we take for granted because in our society they are like that but they do not have to be like that everywhere.
I came to Nepal three years ago with Ivan, Mercè and Isa (who also came to see me in the Philippines), it was before the earthquake, we stayed in the valley of Kathmandu and then went to India. It was only 4 days, but the nepalese kindness and seeing the Himalayas, where the small mountains are taller than the highest mountain in Europe, caused that I'm here again.
Nona, a super friend of mine from the "piscifactoria" (my theater group), will come here in 8 days to travel with me for Nepal for 24 days. In the meantime, I've decided to go to Pokhara, a city on the side of a lake at 7h from Kathmandu. I visited the city a bit and I spoke with the owner of the hostel, Vishnu, who told me that he comes from a town in the mountain 3 hours from there, I told him that I also come from the mountain and he told me that he can talk to his family to stay there for a few days. It sounds great so I spoke with an Australian, Jeremy, who I met in Kathmandu and he decides to join. We went to take the local jeep and there we found the uncle of Vishnu who also goes to town and helps us to reach there.
The "road" ends 10 minutes before arriving and we make the last part on foot. I arrive and I knew the family, the grandparents, a child of them, Ganesh, who is an English teacher, his wife and one of his children who is 8 years old. The grandfather makes me sit down and after asking about my parents, grandparents, siblings, if I had a wife and children (it's quite typical nepali questions). After that, he told me "where do you have the cards?", I told him that they are in my backpack and he told me go to take them. The uncle that took us saw them in my backpack and the first thing he did was telling the grandfather because he loves playing cards. He taught me to play Romi and this is how we spent every night.
The typical food of Nepal is dal bhat and the typical nepali eats it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It consists of white rice, vegetables, lentil soup and a curry that can be potato, chicken, pumpkin, beans, jack fruit or whatever. At the eating time we go to the kitchen, which is a very small corridor, blackened by smoke, where the grandmother will sit in the end of it on the floor, next to the stoves and we will all sit on the floor along the corridor. She will serve to us all, she will look at us as while we eat and she will make a huge smile every time you say "mitho cha" (delicious in Nepali). At the first meal I was given a spoon to eat but I saw that everyone used the right hand to eat, so at the next meal I told them that neither did I need a spoon, they told me the trick to eat the rice with the hand using the big finger as a lever and from then on I did it that way.
The days we were flying, one day we had an excursion where the little one of the house was our guide, another we worked with mules and farming tools to prepare the field for the rice plantation, Ganesh taught me a bit of Nepali. Before leaving, the grandfather gave me a traditional hat that the old Nepali men wear and he offered to accompany me, along with his wife, to the nearest town, more than an hour walking, to take the bus in order that I didn't to take the jeep early morning. The way was very beautiful and they knew everyone, people left the houses to greet them and ask who I was.
The local bus arrived, it was so full that I had to stand up and I almost couldn't move. Suddenly, the bus had to stop because a wheel was flatened and we went down to stretch the legs while changing the wheel. A boy approached me and asked me where I was in Nepali, I did not understand him and he asked me in English. He told me that as he was wearing the traditional hat, the people from the bus didn't know if I was a foreigner or a local. The boy clarified the doubts to the people at the end of the bus and invited me to a drink. We were talking a lot and, when we got back, it made me move to the end of the bus and I got a privileged seat on the floor of the corridor.
I came back to Kathmandu and I stayed at the hostel to go to pick up Nona at the airport. The Nona did not know anything, so I spoke with the owner of the hostel that Nona had booked the taxi, to bring me also to the airport. There I waited for here with the Nepali hat and a sign saying "Namaste Nona", meeting her was very exciting!
We did some sightseeing in the city and we prepared everything because the next day we left to begin the trekking of the Manaslu circuit. For the Everest base camp trekking we needed to take an internal flight and the people told me that Annapurna circuit was extremely touristy, that we didn't need a guide and they've built a road, so we chose the Manaslu circuit, which was much less touristy, a guide was needed and they recommended it so much. After a 10.5 hour local bus for unsealed roads that were full of bumps, multiple stops to collect people, packages or lychees from the trees, talks with locals that asked us where we come from, if we are a couple, even an astrologer read my hands and predicted that I would have 3 children, then he said the same to Nona and that she would live for more than 85 years, we arrived to the village from where we started the walk, Arkhet.
We walk every day 6-7h, we sleep in tea houses, we shower with frozen water, often with a bucket, and eat almost always the same. The landscape begins to change, from tropical forests to forests that could be from the Pyrenees. They begin to appear colossal snowy mountains around. Our guide, Tenji, tells us "this is the Manaslu", one of the 8 giants of Nepal, 8156m. After taking a photo book of the mountain and continuing for two hours he told us "this is not the Manaslu". Oh... The second one also failed. Our guide is Sherpa from the Everest region and hasn't come many times to Manaslu. We arrived at Lho, a town on top of a mountain from where we saw, for the first time, the Manaslu. It is very impressive to see this mountain totally snowy and with the two tips that make it very special.
We are crossing smiling faces, traditional dresses, children saying Namaste (hello in Nepali), others asking for chocolate, sellers of chicks, people cultivating fields, women washing clothes in the river, people carrying things with their heads (wood, doors, baskets with stones or branches), monks, monasteries, walls with inscriptions and Buddhist drawings (mani walls), gorgeous dogs and others with fleas, cows, oxes, yaks and many mules loading provisions. On the way, we found a clinic and Nona, who is a family doctor, wanted to enter. There we met a boy who is "paramedic" and explained all the work they do with the few resources they have in the middle of the mountain.
We arrived at Samagaun, a village at 3550m surrounded by spectacular snowy mountains. Here we are aware for the first time that the nearest road is 4 days walking or with a mule. As we arrived soon, we went for an excursion to a beautiful lake at the foot of a glacier along with the guides, a French and a Belgian we met. In the afternoon, I left with Nona to walk around and we entered to a school close to the accommodation where we met an American professor who manages the village nursery. It is run by the Mountain Child organization and they teach Nepali, Tibetan and English to 3-5 year old children with local and foreign teachers. They also give them a meal a day, a hot shower a week and brush their teeth. He told us that for him this is the best time to do the trek since it is the end of the season and therefore there are not many tourists, but there's still good weather and we can see everything green and full of flowers. Only at this time, there's a very special being, half-worm half-plant, which is sold very expensive in the Chinese market for traditional medicine and sexual enhancer.
We continue the route and the trees disappear, now there are green fields, rocky and snowy mountains. On the way, we suddenly see a marmot, and another, and another ... There were a lot, they are of a clearer color than those of the Pyrenees and more exhibitionists.
On April 25, 2015, the first of a series of devastating earthquakes in Nepal happened. There were more 9,000 deads and many victims who lost the house from one day to the next one. According to the people, just now, 3 years later, the government has released the aid received for the reconstruction of the most affected areas and has also set a 6 month period to build, so all the towns are building crazily for receiving the aid.
Today we spend a night at 4400m high, it is becoming increasingly difficult to climb and tomorrow is the great day that we will climb at 5106m. We slept in a stone cabin with the guides and outside it was so cold, but luckily we were very warm.
We got up really early and started going up. Today, it is harder to climb, we go step by step but constant. There are no longer plants, no flowers and almost no grass, there are only stones and snow. Finally, we reach the Larke Pass, it is incredible to think that we are more than 5100m and there are only mountains that are still higher, stones and snow around us. As we go down I do not feel so well, I have a bit of nausea, I guess it will be the height. When I was in Bolivia 7 years ago, I did the Huayna Potosi (6088m) but I spent more time in height and it did not affect me much. We went down quite a bit and suddenly found myself much better. We stopped at a woman's house that was living in a tent in the middle of the mountain with her daughter and a dog. We took a tea and a chapati with the spanish ham that my parents sent me and this completely recovered me.
Soon, we finish the trekking and we are going back to civilization going through a part of the Annapurna circuit. It is weird to see cars, hear honking and not be surrounded by mountains all the time.
