Entre los muchos animales que se pueden ver en la Cordillera del Himalaya el más esquivo es la pantera de las nieves. Nosotros tuvimos la inmensa suerte de ver a un cachorro de un pariente más o menos cercano de una de esas panteras justo cuando salíamos de Manang, retozando en la arena después de acechar cucarachas durante toda la noche.
Manang es el pueblo donde acaba la carretera y por supuesto cuenta con un punto de venta de agua tratada. Lamentablemente la señora Agman encargada del agua en la zona había decidido irse de vacaciones a Pokhara por ser temporada baja. Nuestro gozo en un pozo (acaba de suceder el chiste de la actualización y ni os habéis dado cuenta porque estabais distraídos riendo con la broma de AGMAN-AGBAR).
Tuvimos que comprar agua embotellada y, ya que estábamos, dos chocolatinas que guardamos como oro en paño para cuando cruzásemos Thorong-La.
Manang resultó ser bastante pintoresco. Durante la primera hora de caminata nos adelantaron jinetes que montaban mini caballitos nepalís, nos cruzamos con grupos de niños y niñas que iban al colegio y vimos a un grupo de excursionistas como nosotros pero más lentos.
Un ratito después de abandonar Manang tuvimos la sorpresa del día. Volvimos a encontrarnos con Cristian, que el día anterior se había quedado en Manang en lugar de ir hacia el Tilicho Lake con Ina. De este modo el grupo pasó a ser definitivamente de cuatro valientes excursionistas.
Esta etapa del circuito es corta en cuanto a distancia pero dura en cuanto a altitud. Ascendimos unos 700 m, esta vez cargados con las mochilas, y entramos en lo que en inglés llaman “thin air” que sería como aire poco denso.
Pasamos de caminar a altas temperaturas con sol abrasador a caminar con algo de frío, viento y con el típico sol que sabes que te está quemando pero que ni siquiera calienta. Ciertamente se nota un cambio en la consistencia del aire: boqueas como un pez fuera del agua pero no experimentas la habitual recuperación.
Los músculos funcionan exactamente igual que siempre, pudiendo las piernas caminar a buen ritmo, pero los pulmones y la cabeza no acompañan así que hay que hacer el esfuerzo de ralentizar la marcha. Si no se llega al punto de que te falte el aliento no hay absolutamente ningún problema para ir subiendo tranquilamente. Hay que caminar sin cansarse, que suena fácil pero no lo es.
Parecía que caminásemos con un metrónomo. Dábamos un paso cada dos segundos e íbamos sin hablar (cuando llegamos a tramos más elevados descubrimos que lo de caminar y hablar al mismo tiempo era misión imposible) concentrados cada uno en sus cosas. Todos teníamos nuestra expresión de pensamientos profundos pero, como descubrimos al llegar a Ledar, lo que en realidad sonaba en nuestros cerebros no eran divagaciones filosóficas sobre el sentido de la vida sino el “Cheap Thrills” de SIA, el “Can’t stop the feeling” de Justin Timberlake e incluso el “Work from home” de Fifth Harmony, que hay que tener narices.
Este fue el único día en el que estuvimos todos algo serios porque quien más quien menos algo de dolor de cabeza tuvo o intuyó que tenía (el temido HAP hacía acto de presencia). Yo mismo tuve las lucecitas de la migraña pero son muchos años ya lidiando con ellas y, gracias a un gelocatil y a unos tres litros de agua con sueroral, no desembocaron en dolor de cabeza.
Llegamos a Ledar donde decidimos alojarnos en la guesthouse más elevada. Nuestras habitaciones estaban en el piso de arriba y subir las escaleras era un poco un suplicio, pero nos acabamos acostumbrando.
Esta guesthouse tenía una sala acristalada donde daba de pleno el sol de tarde y se estaba muy calentito (cosa que se agradecía después de la ducha de agua helada) así que Stefan y yo jugamos varias partidas de ajedrez y Cristian y Marina estuvieron leyendo mientras nuestros cuerpos se aclimataban a la falta de oxígeno en el aire.
RESUMEN DE LA ETAPA:Fecha: 8 de junio de 2016Hora y altitud de partida: 07:30 a 3540 mHora y altitud de llegada: 14:30 a 4200 mDistancia: 11,4 kmTipo de vía: CaminoClimatología: Alta montaña Condiciones meteorológicas: Sol y nubes con viento y algo de fríoAlojamiento: Churi Lattar Hotel con cama gratis y sin agua caliente. Creemos que en temporada alta ofrecen duchas calientes por los 200 Rs que costaría el gas. Precio del Dal Bhat: 500 Rs
Enrique & MarinaEnglish version
ANNAPURNA CIRCUIT DAY 6: MANANG (3540 m) - LEDAR (4200 m)
Among all the animals living in the Himalayan Mountains, the hardest to spot is the snow leopard. We were extremely lucky when we encountered a cub of a close relative of the snow leopard on the outskirts of Manang laying on the sand and enjoying some sun after probably spending the night chasing cockroaches.
Manang is the village where the road ends and of course counts with a safe drinking water station. Unfortunately the lady in charge of the stall decided to go to Pokhara on holidays during the low season. Therefore and for our disappointment, we couldn’t re-fill our water bladders.
Anyhow, Manang has heaps of little shops where you can buy pretty much anything you may need, in this town we found goods that are hard to get even in Queenstown. And these shops were of course perfectly stocked with mineral water. And chocolates, which we bought just a couple of them that will be our price once we will reach Thorong-La. Manang is a picturesque and quite cute town. Since it’s a common place to spend a couple of nights getting used to altitude, the place it’s packed with cafes, bakeries, guesthouses and movie theatres which, for the same reason as the water station, were all closed at this time of the year.
On day we left Manang, we met within the first hour trekkers riding Nepali miniature horses, plenty of kids going to school and a group of westerners like us walking a bit slower than us.
A little while after, we had the surprise of the day and we met Cristian again. He spent the night in Manang, like Ina the Russian-Israeli girl, but she was going to Tilicho Lake with her girlfriend who took the lower route in Pisang and we never met and Cristian didn’t have time for that. Once reached certain altitude it’s strongly recommended not to hike alone, so we welcomed him to join our hiking gang.
This day’s stage was comparatively short in distance but involved a great deal of altitude climbing. This time we ascended 700 m with our backpacks and that really took us into “thin air”.
The change in the landscape was finally obvious and we were now feeling a bit of cold, wind and under that sun that doesn’t warm you up but you can feel it will burn your skin if you’re not careful. And regarding the oxygen in the air, we could so much tell the difference: you feel a bit like a fish out of water, you’re breathing but that doesn’t help you to recover.
Muscles, however, work as good as ever and your legs can go as fast and well as you like, it’s only lungs and head that will give trouble and that’s why it’s so hard to keep a slow pace. The trick is never to be out of breath, in this way lungs and head remain fine. But, believe it or not, walking at your head’s pace requires a huge deal of self control, patience and mental strength.
We spent most of the day walking almost like on a slow motion military march. Taking a step and then a few seconds after another one. And we hardly talk, because talking made breathing even harder. But that was fine, let’s look at it as an opportunity to dive into our own thoughts. Ok, let’s be honest, despite having our Greek philosopher’s faces on display, what really went on on our heads was SIA’s “Cheap Thrills”, Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t stop the feeling” and even the embarrassing theme of “Work from home” by Fifth Harmony. Videos included. Yeah, now you’re disappointed.
For us that was the hardest day in terms of altitude, pretty much all of us felt the thin air in one way or another and our beloved HAP affected all of us. Moreover, the spaghetti with cheese we had the night before wasn’t too kind with my stomach and I can tell you that it wasn’t something extra I wanted to deal with at that point. Besides, Enrique, who suffers from migraine with aura, saw those lights that warn him about the following headache just after we got into the room where we’d spend the night. He quickly took a painkiller as he always does and, despite the altitude, the aura didn’t turn into migraine. We both drank heaps of water and electrolytes during the afternoon while resting in the guesthouse and our recovery was almost immediate.
We stopped for the day in Ledar, in the last and highest guesthouse of the village which counts with only four of them in total. Our rooms were on the second floor and going up the stairs was a huge effort and you’d become breathless if you had to rush up to the toilet for business.
We chose this guesthouse because we could see from the bottom of the village a huge sunroom that gets all the afternoon sun and was super warm. Considering the temperatures and the little guests they have, none of our hosts had turned the fireplaces on so far on the trail. However, in Ledar it felt like the temperature was going to get serious at night, so going to a warm place seemed a good idea. Also, the shower we had was cold (but cold cold, not normal or warm) and we definitively appreciated that sun warming up our feet while Cristian and I read and Enrique and Stefan played chess.
STAGE OVERVIEW:Date: 8th of June 2016Start time and altitude: 07:30 @ 3540 mFinish time and altitude: 14:30 @ 4200 mAprox. distance: 11,4 kmType of track: TrackClimate: Alpine Weather on the day: Mostly sunny and a bit of wind and chill at times.Accommodation: Churi Lattar Hotel. Free warm simple room with cold shared shower. It looked like in high season you can get a hot shower if you pay 200 Rp for the gas.Price of Dal Bhat: 500 RsEnrique & Marina
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