Na pot / On my way

Prejšnji teden sem se vrnila s trekinga v Nepalu. V 18 dneh smo obhodili gorovje Annapurne: vzpenjali smo se po dolini reke Marsyangdi, mimo jugoslovanske alpinistične šole v Manangu, prek prelaza Thorong (5400 metrov nadmorske višine), vračali pa po dolini reke Kali Gandaki. Saj ne vem, kaj naj rečem, bilo je fantastično in tak treking priporočam vsem ljubiteljem hribov. Kako je sploh prišlo do tega, da sem se odpravila tja? Pravzaprav me je Marko prisilil (priznam, prav zelo upirala se tudi nisem). Namreč, ko sem bila noseča, je bil on na potovanju v Indiji, in zdaj sem bila nekako jaz na vrsti, da si privoščim malo oddiha. Ne ravno najbolj prepričana, da je to res dobra ideja, da grem na pot za 5 tednov in doma pustim leto in pol staro hčerko, sem vendarle odšla na uvodni sestanek z Mojco Petrič iz agencije Erazem, ki je vse skupaj organizirala. Od sestanka pa sem se vrnila tako navdušena, da so se vsi moji prvotni pomisleki v hipu razblinili. Kupila sem si nove pohodne čevlje, s katerimi smo šli z družino trenirat na Komno, vso ostalo opremo sem nabrala doma in nestrpno pričakovala odhod. Naključje je hotelo, da smo odpotovali iz Zagreba in to ravno na isti dan, ko smo v službi imeli ekskurzijo na sejem Interbiro, ki je potekal prav tako v Zagrebu. Tako sem se najprej zjutraj z vso prtljago vkrcala na avtobus, ki nas je skupaj s sodelavci peljal na sejem v Zagreb, popoldne pa sem se na letališču srečala s preostalimi 14 člani naše odprave in organizatorico Mojco. Vnaprej nisem vedela, s kom vse grem na pot, tako da sem presenečena ugotovila, da je bila v skupini ena moja nekdanja sošolka s faksa, pa trije moški iz Štajerskega konca, od katerih je bil eden doma iz mojega rojstnega kraja in smo hitro ugotovili, da so bili njegovi starši dobri prijatelji z mojimi starši. Majhen svet. Poleteli smo v Amsterdam, tam prespali, naslednje dopoldne opravili še zadnje nakupe, popoldne pa nadaljevali pot proti New Delhiju in od tam z Royal Nepal Airlines v Katmandu.

Last week I returned from trekking in Nepal. It took us 18 days to hike around the Annapurna mountain range: we ascended along the Marsyangdi river valley, visited the Yugoslav Alpine School in Manang, crossed the Thorong pass (5400 m altitude) and descended along the Kali Gandaki river valley. I am at a loss for words, it was fantastic and I would recommend it to all hiking enthusiasts. So how did I decide to go there? Actually, Marko talked me into it (to be honest, I didn’t resist much). When I was pregnant the year before, he went on a trip to India and it was now my turn to have some fun. Not quite convinced that it was such a good idea to go away for 5 weeks and leave my one and a half year old daughter at home, I nevertheless went to an introductory meeting with Mojca Petrič from the Erazem agency who was organizing the trip. I returned from that meeting so excited that all my doubts whether to go or not to go disappeared. I bought new hiking shoes, broke them in on a family hike to Komna, collected the rest of the equipment at home and was anxious to get going. By coincidence our flight was from Zagreb on the very same that that my employer organized a trip to the annual Interbiro expo that was also held there. So I rode to Zagreb with all my luggage on the bus that took my colleagues to the expo, spent the day with them and headed to the airport in the afternoon where I met up with Mojca and the other 14 members of our expedition. I didn’t know ahead who else was going and was surprised to find out that one member of the group was a college classmate and another was from the town where I was born and was acquainted with my parents. Small world. We flew to Amsterdam, spent the night there, did our last minute shopping the next morning and continued our journey towards New Delhi in the afternoon and from there with Royal Nepal Airlines to Kathmandu.