So now for the second half of our trek….2 days of hiking is needed to get to Ghorepani, from here you can climb 3210 m to Poon Hill which is suppose to offer amazing views of the whole Annapurna mountain range. Unfortunately, after waking up at 4:00 am, the weather was terrible so we knew that we will not be able to see the view. Still, Eitan decided he needed to hike to the top as an achievement (and his serious case of FOMO) and went with the guide while Sarah slept in the hotel.

It takes about an hour hike of only stairs up to reach the viewpoint. The weather did not improve so we basically just relaxed for a little bit there before coming down for breakfast.

You can see Ghorepani from the Poon Hill viewpoint.

After breakfast the weather cleared to show us the amazing scenery. Sarah was pleased with her decision to sleep in and is grateful she doesn’t suffer from extreme FOMO. You really need to look up to see this mountains as they are above the clouds. We actually thought that this scenery is more beautiful than Everest.

We continued our hike to the next town called Tadapani (2590 m). Eitan was tired all day for waking up so early to hike and Sarah was fresh that day. Our bodies are getting used to walking but also getting tired at the same time; it is a very weird feeling.

We walked through different types of scenery: forests, jungle, mountains, rivers. All of them absolutely beautiful. Eitan was so proud of Sarah because she was doing great. He was curious how she would survive 5 days of hiking but so far so good.

We still felt bad for Ernesto, our porter who was carrying all our stuff.

We arrived at our lunch stop. Same menu, more expensive prices, but we didn’t care because food was all included in our tour. We were ordering a lot of food lately (and finishing, or almost finishing it because it really tasted bad) so the guide got a little mad at us and asked us to not order so much if we are not going to eat it all.  This was frustrating because with all the hiking we were doing we really did have a huge appetite.

Sarah ordered her go to (the least likely thing they can mess up) which is the traditional local meal Dal Bhat, which is a lentil soup, steamed rice and Tarkari (cooked vegetables). The Tarkari varies from village to village as they give you what they can grow there locally. This meal has unlimited refills included in the price which is nice.

We continued our hike though different local villages where we watched how they prepare some of their food. Most of the food is left to dry in the sun, like this dry cheese here:

This villager is preparing bamboo shoots for cooking.

And we made it to Tadapani, our village for the third night.

Mushrooms is the speciality in this village, here they dry them to the sun in the main plaza.

The whole night was pouring rain but luckily by the morning the weather cleared and we enjoyed the view of Machapuchare mountain (Fish tail). With a height of 6993 meters, it is easily recognizable for its distinct shape.

Ready to start hike day #4!

Most of this day was downhill hike, which was less tiring but its very hard on our knees. We had rhythm by now and our bodies fully used to walking.

There were so many ladybugs everywhere.

We came across a river full of wish totems made by hikers. We made our own as well!

When you hike around the villages there are random dogs that join you for a couple of miles. These friendly dogs lead the way and sometimes protect you from other dogs along the way. We had this happen several times during our 5 day hike.

We were suppose to sleep in the town of Ghandruk which is the biggest of them all, but we decided to just eat lunch there and then continue for a couple more hours until we reached Syauli Bazaar. The last 2-3 hours of today’s hike were very demanding and exhausting. This town was near a beautiful river and only us and another french couple were staying there.

We played some card games while relaxing and waiting for our food which took forever this time to get cooked. The french couple’s guide was really nice as well and part of the Foreign Task Force in Afhagnistan under the U.S. command (an army unit consisting of people from all around the world that wanted to join the fight). It was very interesting to hear his life story.

We tried the local wine. What they call wine is actually a really bad vodka tasting drink. It goes without saying it was undrinkable, but it was good to try. The guide drank like 10 of these in about 2 hours and somehow was still standing.

The next morning we walked around 3 hours to reach Nayapul, our starting point of this hike.

We made it!!! We were exhausted but very proud of our accomplishment. We said bye to our french friends and waited for our transport to get us back to Pokhara. Tomorrow we will have a relaxing day around the lake to rest our legs!

Bonus Pic Of The Day: The Annapurna mountain range consists of 6 major peaks over 7000m – Annapurna I (8091m), Annapurna II (7937m) , Annapurna III (7555m) , Annapurna IV (7525m) , Gangapurna (7455m) and Annapurna South (7219m). The glaciers of Annapurna feed the rivers in the region turning the landscapes at the lower elevation into fertile land filled with lush green forests rich in wildlife and vegetation. Hence, the mountain was bestowed with the name Annapurna, a Sanskrit word meaning  ‘Goddess of Harvests’.