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Saturday, July 24, 2010

About the porters, from Mary

We had the best group of porters anyone could have. Along with Narayan, our guide, seven total. Seven is a lucky number, and a lucky number it was. Tek, our runner, always ran ahead to make sure we had rooms to sleep in at night. He was fun, and was always willing to lend a hand. Monoj was sweet and was always walking with someone and waiting if one of us was held back. Menesh was kind and always helpful. Roshan was a bit quiet at first, but warmed up quickly and was joking around. Lexman, who gave Ella the Nepali name Kangi, meaning younger, or smaller, was fun and always had an arm around Ella. Binaya was quiet, but also loved playing around with Ella. last, but not least, is our guide, Narayan, who loved joking around and was always checking to make sure we were ok, if the food was ok, and was always saying, "little bit up, little bit down...", which wasn't always the case. We had a race once, against Narayan and I, on the way to Jomsom from Kagbeni, and I beat him. Lexman called out, "Mary's won the Jomsom race, Mary's won the Jomsom race!!" It was sweet. Narayan had his back-pack on though. I think we should race again, without the pack. We also liked to arm wrestle. He beat me both times we played(I'll beat him next trime though!!!).They loved playing Barrel of Monkeys, and always wanted us to pull it out after dinner, or anytime we were resting. One night in Chele, after dinner, they brought out baked snikers. At first we thought it was a joke, but to our surprise, there it was, right in front of us, snikers rolled up in bread and baked like a crossaint. It was great!! After that when Narayan asked us if we needed anything else after dinner, Ella and I would say, "Can we have baked snikers?" It was fun. In Kagbeni, one night we served them their food!! They had always served us our food, and there we were, serving them!! We all had a good laugh out of it (Great idea Jenna-la!!). That same night, they sang us the trekking song. They all have beautiful voices. On our last night with them in Jomsom, Jenna, Jane, Ashleigh, Mom, Ella and I laid out little gifts for them and their children (If they had children), and when we called them up to see their gifts, it a treat to see the looks on their faces. They were so happy. Narayan has a little girl, and a newborn son, born on the night we were in Jomsom. Tek has a little girl, Lexman has a two little boys, not to mention he also has a twin brother, and Manesh has a little girl. The next morning, while we were getting ready to fly out of Jomsom, the time came to say good-bye. It was hard and heart-breaking to see everyone who we had been so close to for so long leave the airport slowly. Narayan and Lexman flew with us, but didn't fly with us to Kathmandu. We miss them all and hope in the future, when we come back, we get to have them again.

7 comments:

Carl Hoffman said...

Hey Mary!
This is such a wonderful post! You know that G'ma Rose, Ms Cook and Mama G would be proud of your prose, as am I.
I did not know you were going to have seven porters on your trek, that was lucky! And I was not surprised in the least when I heard that you 'earned' the nickname Jenna Jr. I can see you now, way out in front of the group and calling back, "C'mon guys!!!" I'll bet Narayan and the others were amazed at how fast you can run!
Mary, I am so proud of you. I cannot wait to hear about your adventures first hand. And when you get back, we'll make some baked Snickers, OK? That does sound yummy!
Take care of your mom and your sister, and tell Ella that we'll go to Mike's Grill every night for a week :) I miss you and I love you...
Dad

Joe and Carol said...

To Mary, Queen of the Jomsom race... I didn't realize you were such a runner :) Your journey sounds simply incredible...thanks for sharing some of your impressions with us back home! Your porters sound like they were wonderful companions for such an awesome trek...I can see why it was difficult to say goodbye to them. I hope you had one more chance to arm wrestle with Narayan...if not, next time :). Sending you lots of love from Blacksburg.
Hugs, Carol

Andrea said...

Hey Mary! Loved reading your post and learning so much about the porters who helped you with your amazing trek. I bet that baked snickers helped you win the race to Jomsom--way to go, girl!
Thinking of you often and looking forward to a big hug when you get back to Blacksburg!
Love,
Andrea

Unknown said...

Mary, I'm catching up on reading all of your posts and wow are they exciting and interesting! You have met so many kind, fun people and I'm sure when you go back some day you will see many of them again and that they will remember the girl who could run like the wind! Thank you for helping the rest of us understand and hopefuly appreciate the wonderful experiences you are having. Safe journeys to all of you, Suzan

Mary said...

Thanks, I'm doing my best. It was fun to write all the posts, as it triggered some heart-warming memories. Can't wait to see you all upon our return,
Mary.

Unknown said...

Hey Mary!We miss you so much.I am even missing Ella being annoying(I can't belive I just said that!)I have read all your posts and your trip sounds amazing. I can't wait to hear your stories firsthand. Although I disagree baked snickers sounds pretty good.(for chocolate lovers!)It's also pretty obvious that you one race for 2 reasons:1, you didn't have your backpack on and 2,have I ever won a race against you in my life, NEVER!!! As for Blacksburg it's about as hot as it can get, 100 degrees ever day! Summer has been fun but it is not the same without you to talk to and Ella to pester me. I can't wait for you to come home, but I will be at the beach when you arive, so I guess I will have to. Love you, Rachel

Mary said...

thanks Rach, we miss you too, though I REALLY don't miss ELLA right now. Anyway, I can't wait to see you when you get back from the beach. Love, Mary, (And Ella:)