vaga #7/1 towards the Himalayas

PART I

TO EVEREST BASE CAMP

June 2018, at beginning of monsoon season, low season. Rafael, my eldest son was finishing his semester of exchange in Barcelona, and it was the only possible window to coordinate to see each other before returning to Chile. Nepal, it was my idea and inviting him to do the trekking to the Everest Base Camp, he was very excited. I didn't know anyone who had done it, so I looked for information, I started reading the generalities, I knew it would take between 14 or 15 days, and it was strongly recommended having a guide. At that time I was settled in Jakarta, Indonesia, in the middle of dental treatment. I tried to find a gym to prepare, which was not possible, so I settled for walking in the many malls since the humidity in Jakarta was unbearable, (which in my opinion that does not count as training for trekking to Everest). I told Rafa from the beginning - I’ll get as far as I go, I will take a book, and you continue with the guide, and they can pick me up when you return. Just being in those mountains anywhere was the maximum and a joy of sharing whatever time I could with Rafael.

I arrived in Nepal a few days early to start coordinating even without having anything very clear in mind. In the "house" on the outskirts of Thamel, with Khem, the manager, who offered me a program with the agency they work with, well I told myself, I am staying here, and it will be easier. He took me to the office, and from there I set the dates, payments, I received the list of clothes and necessary things to bring along with the itinerary. Rafa arrived in 5 days, and we left two days later, it gave him just enough time to recover from the trip and prepare the equipment. Khem introduced us to our guide and finished the preparations with him. A young man with a Tibetan face with slanting eyes and tanned skin, I found him so skinny, a man, physically almost weak, but very focused. He took us to the office to coordinate the final procedures, to see the insurance. They're with the boss, and the guide and I half in jest asked him if I will get to the base camp, they looked at each other, they smiled, they shrugged their shoulders, I just wanted to make them uncomfortable, I had no intention of arriving at the base camp. The guide checked the whole list of things, and we went out to rent two sleeping bags, a couple of canes and to buy medicines for altitude sickness, antidiarrhoeal and some powders to disinfect the water. The guide spoke English quickly and fluently, I asked Rafa - do you understand him, because I understand 40% of what he says - and he answered - me, 80%, - (I, who fully trusted his English, was bilingual). It was his Hindu accent, with the days we got used to his accent. Then I would say - I can't remember the name of the guide, - it was hard for me too - look, "Go" to go in English and "Pal" from Nepal. Perfect was recorded forever Gopal. We agreed for the next morning at 5:30 to pick us up to go to the airport.

The photos below, looking among deposits of things left by the trekkers who do not take them back, are hundreds of piles of clothes, shoes, sleeping bags, one finds everything, and they are rented, the guide took us to a place that he knows for the best quality equipment, and they do not ask for a guarantee, and so we got the sleeping bags and canes. At night, we were very focused on leaving nothing since we will not find how to supply anything, there are no ATMs, you have to take the tips to give the guide and the porter, money for emergencies, medicines, chocolates bars as far as they can go.

You have to fly from Kathmandu to Lukla, located on the mountain and where the trekking begins. We arrived at the counter of the airline at 6 am, and they told us that there were no flights due to bad weather. The plane was in Lukla, meaning at the destination, and only returns if there are passengers to take down to the city. In Lukla the weather was bad, in Kathmandu it was thick clouds, dark greys, threatening, but without rain. Generally there are several small planes, but being low season there was only one on that day, they seat 25 passengers and the flight takes 45 minutes. If he managed to take off, he might be able to return immediately to Lukla. Gopal, says that you have to wait for the weather to improve, it can be a short or long time.

At that time the airport was empty, we sat down, and they started running, the minutes, the hours. The airport began to fill up, the seats ran out as many internal flights were waiting for better weather. Gopal, always on the phone, with the office, the office coordinating with Lukla. We had to keep waiting. You sit, change seats, walk, in a small enclosure with a cafeteria, a restaurant and nothing else.

as I said I have no other journals, and trips with my children are important and that is why they appear a lot and there are photos not interesting for others, but the humour among us are the ones that always remain in the memory.

the waiting area was small, there is an altar of Buddha in the access where people pray, they are prepared, they take food out of the bags during the eternal waits, a place designated to wash the dishes, with detergent, drinking water was distributed, and I was impressed by the airline "Buddha Air", you fly well entrusted,.....it helps ......

at one point a small plane arrived at the runway, Gopal and another guide ran to the window to find out if it was from Lukla, -it was not-, I told myself that is the type of information with which the thing is being handled, look out the window to see if the plane arrived. !! PLOP!! then this ad appeared on the screen, for how long would there be no electricity, one asked, it is not known, it is the answer and no more was known about Lukla at least for a while.

There were other young Europeans there, and we passed information between ourselves about the weather, planes, helicopters, we wondered what would be the best, maybe wait another day, but it could be several days of bad weather. There we all said what could be or not be, also thinking about the possibility of taking a helicopter together. Because it has to be full to take off or between all of us pay for empty seats, but we were inexperienced in all these matters and how the system works. In the end the Europeans left and opted for the next day to take the other alternative to reach Lukla (which was not in our program), to arrive by land. It meant ten hours by jeep plus two days walking. Gopal, said that those two days of walking are very hard to go up and down narrow valleys after valleys always within the jungle and are of very steep inclinations, they are killers. I mean, it's an extra three days to get to Lukla by land.

move, walk, order coffee and repeat all the same thing

At noon Gopal told us about the possibility of taking a helicopter, they can fly with less visibility and that we should not tell anyone, (the Europeans). We discussed it with Rafael, and we approved the idea, however it meant an additional payment, although the cost of the plane is subtracted since it was not used, and it is added as well and a whole extra substantial payment. But stayed stuck before leaving knowing that the conditions of the contract specify that if the weather is not favourable they are not responsible and there is no refund. We are in this one we must move forward. On the other hand the idea of the helicopter made me very nervous, I had never in one, let alone in bad weather and flying to the high mountain and I already doubted the connection with Lukla, and I was even more burdened to put my son in this situation. It was a tangle of intense, contradictory sensations, I asked myself silently, will it be the right thing to do? I was clouded by the desire to start the trekking, and I was not thinking of the cold? I was with my child, if I were alone I would not have so many knots in my stomach, but it is something else and very different having the responsibility for your child since this was my decision.

At 2:30 pm, Gopal said that there was no possibility of flying, and we would have to try it tomorrow. They were 8 hours of tedious, uncertain, anxious waiting, where there is nothing to do, go around and ask every time if there is news. Back to the hotel, at least I got a picture with a smile when we were already walking towards the taxi.

the next day it was all the same and I could repeat the photos and conversations.....

in the same routine of the previous day Rafael that day picked up an English  newspaper that was thrown away and found this article.... we looked at each other and laughed nervously... puffff could not be at the most inopportune time for it to fall into our hands. The European Union had taken Nepal off the list of safe aviation and my stomach tightened even more, I was already burning  inside.

we looked for new entertainment to kill the 8 hours of the second day, I went to I do not know why, to the computer and Rafa I do not know why he took my cell phone and took about 200 photos in this sequence, that was his entertainment .......

At one in the afternoon we decided to eat something, then we played cards and Gopal was always on the phone coordinating. With the card game that he taught us, it was very entertaining and fast, he always won until I told him: -if you keep winning maybe your tip (which was due at the end of the trekking) will be affected- .he got up from the chair and doubled in two with a laugh, he did not stop laughing at full volume,  there I realised that we were going to get along; "the sense of humour". Just in those three days we had exchanged a couple of sentences,  he mainly talked with Rafael, it is usual and comfortable for him to talk to a young adventurer, one more of all his trekking than with an old woman, which is not at all common to be in these wanderings and happened to be a problem for him. Attending to her limitations, difficulties, lowering the pace of walking normally scheduled, overweight and with the equipment for a tourist (I did not plan to walk much that is why I did not have everything appropriate) and not mountain gear, it was going to give him complications to take care of "Madam" as he called me.

Finally, the expected phone call arrived, Gopal got up from the table, he looked excited and told us: !!!! we are  leaving now, by helicopter, but now!!!!! We hurried off outside to the helicopter office, the manager appeared and told us the final price, it was more than I was told the day before. And we went back to wait, but the helicopter had already been reserved. We waited one more hour for the weather to improve, but there were possibilities and there were the designated people. That was another issue to whom they give the other spaces, we will have to pay for empty seats, they do not explain anything to you.

In this new wait with clearer hopes and at least a change of scenery of where we waited, now outside the helicopter office, and again we were looking for how to kill time and Rafa returned to take my phone and another 200 photos until I caught him and rushed to take it off him, and I in turn annoyed him taking pictures of his boredom all came out with his hand covering his face.

at the time Gopal gave us something like a scream, but it was not a scream, a voice of firm command and urgency !!!! take things to the office we are going !!!!! and everything begins to move in an accelerated state, fast to go to pay, once inside the office there was a great photo of a helicopter in the mountains on a splendid sunny day, I told myself - on such a day no drama in flying, I would take it blindfolded, it looked wonderful-. Then we saw that we were accompanied by a young Nepalese couple, I do not know how they paid that price, there is a move among the Nepalese for sure. Technically I only paid for Rafa and myself and not for Gopal, they make everything very entangled and complicated so that you do not ask more, and they hurry you since the weather can change. I gave up, and I passed the card, and surely I ended up paying more than I should for both of us. Then we quickly had to weigh each one, each box, package, backpacks. Rafa, bothered me he told me -that because of me we were overweight, and we had to leave someone behind- because there was an empty seat, we passed the airport police ... puffff..... then we left although never certain of anything, a lot of uncertainty and felt the level of improvisations of everyone ........ "surrendered into the hands of God," as my mother would say.

Rafa, is reserved, he doesn’t express his feelings a lot, he did not express his impressions to me and if taking helicopters on one side is common or travelling with that climate of storms and uncertainties too, perhaps he would have to show himself as strong to me, and as a mother to invite him on this adventure that got out of hand the level of risk also I remained silent,  as how I was going to tell him my apprehensions or that this seems very risky to me, no, I could not show my intimate concerns. Yes, I saw him and overheard him talking to the girlfriend in Chile it was night time for her telling her the details and his emotions about flying in a helicopter and the uncertainty. Meaning, both in calm attitudes, but both anxious. Finally, we left the 16 hours we had spent at the airport and started the long-awaited adventure to which we had come.

We arrived at the runway, we got on a minibus that took us to the helicopter always in a state of urgency, the weather could change at any time. The helicopter was a red, small fly, with big eyes and a long black tail, nothing to do with the one in the photo in  the office that was large, another knot was added to the large, small intestine and never loosened for almost two hours. Rafa, who will be the pilot? I asked him disguising my voice of concern because there were a couple of young Nepalese loading everything into the big mosquito, he told me - I think that's the pilot - in three minutes we were sitting inside, and we could confirm that it was the pilot, when he sat in front and started the engines. The pilot was about thirty or so many years, perhaps he could be Australian, American or Canadian he did not speak a word, not even a  "hello" to us, he looked so absorbed, focused on his task, it was a good respite for me that this is the pilot and not one of the young Nepalese, although full of tattoos, earrings, bracelets and a frayed cap,  an image I wouldn't have expected of a helicopter pilot, it was closer to "Rambo".

Rafa sat at one window and Gopal offered me to go to the other to see the landscape, I told him no, I wanted to be close to Rafa just to pinch him out of nerves or emotion or all together, which I did until landing. It was almost a two-hour  flight, at first we flew very close to the hills almost touching the trees, you could see houses and rice crops, the slopes of the hills were impressive. The noise of the propellers overwhelming, deafening, we had no helmets, no devices in our ears to mitigate the noise, so zero possibility of communicating, only through signs and elbows to show us something special to look at. Clouds crossed permanently, all the time, many times we were in total white,with zero visibility, there Rafa did get strong pinches until a piece of sky appeared, we did not get rain. Then we entered the final valley very high, the Nepalese girl sitting next to me rubbed shoulders with me and showed me the airport in the distance. That was the first time I felt Rafa get serious, restless, then I knew he knew more than I did about the danger of the airport.

Already flying I realised that I was not the only one who put our lives ...."in the hands of God" (I, had my little angels) there was a golden statuette of Buddha and Ghanaian (black elephant on the board) meaning, the pilot also entrusted in God, spirits, can be either Buddhist or Hinduism, whatever or perhaps both entrust for double protection for the trip and to guide us to the landing safely.

We landed without incident, under a thick layer of threatening black clouds, my stomach began to unwind, large intestine, small intestine, guts, various visors, and I was  able to breathe deeply again. We arrived "safe and sound" as they say and here it is appreciated.

!!!!! a relief, a joy !!!!

Then I understood why there was an empty seat with so many who wanted to travel, they changed it for those 7 drums of benzine. Someone evaluated that it is the most urgent because it is not known when you can travel again, even weeks can pass. After a while another helicopter arrived, there were no trekkers, the preference is for Nepalese who live in the area, loads of food and basic necessities to supply those huge valleys and their population.

We went to a "tea house" to eat, and drink a well-deserved beer and cigarette, to let go of our nerves and change the "switch" to trekking. The porter (Sherpa) was waiting for us. Rafael already after two beers and relaxed told me how dangerous Lukla airport was he had already read it and never told me anything until we arrived.

google copy/ paste "

"Most Extreme Airports" placed it in 2010 as the most dangerous airport in the world for more than 20 years. The factors that make the "Lukla airport" considered the most dangerous in the world are: Being surrounded by mountains- The length of the runway (only 450 meters) -The runway has a slope- The presence of a wall at the end of the runway, which makes landings very risky.- The presence of a cliff at the beginning of the runway- Being located at high altitude,  about 3,000 in height, which makes less oxygen reach the engines and have less acceleration with a track that has a slope. There are no instrumental landing aids, only a control tower.

every two years on average there are fatal accidents, the last in April 2019

google photo

We finished eating finally we got to our feet to walk, happy to move them after 16 hours of airport, to release the muscles and contracted nerves, and begin to enjoy the walk in a magical place because it is magical and all the difficulties, anguish, uncertainties already related to arrive, disappeared in less than a second.