Sunday, October 18: Victory!

This was the last day of our trek and was the easiest day even though we were very tired and sore. I have never been more sore in my life. For the next couple of days, I couldn't take a step without my calves screaming at me to stop moving. Fortunately for me, I wasn't as sore as dad and Phillip. Phillip's calves and thighs were sore, and Dad's calves and thighs were sore, and he also had bad blisters on his feet. We must have been a sight going up stairs. Elderly people probably could have raced us to the top and beat us.

German family we met on the trail.

Typical scene from the trail. Our guide waiting on us to catch up.

We started the last day of our trek early in the morning and made it back to Naya Pul by late morning. Dad did a lot better than we thought after he had trouble with his knee the day before. Phillip and I were both a little worried that he would have problems again this day. After we made it back, crammed into the backseat of a taxi. The taxis in Nepal were just wide enough that the three of us can fit in the back seat if Phillip sat in the middle and put his arms around us. Needless to say, after a few hours of treking, cramming into a car with Phillip's arm around me for two hours was not my idea of relaxing.

A victory candy bar in the taxi on our way back to Pokhara.

As we started on our way back to Pokhara, we came upon some kids in the street. They were singing and clapping and would not move for us. Our driver and guide tried to get them to move, but they wouldn't get out of the way until they gave them some money. We found out later that it was part of a Hindu festival called Diwali. On this day of the festival, children do what I just described. We learned in the evening that in the city, the children don't stop traffic, but instead they go from business to business singing and clapping and won't leave until they are given some money. On the way back to Pokhara, we probably were stopped by kids about 10 times. After about the sixth or seventh time, I was ready just to get back to Pokhara and was really starting to get annoyed. It was also annoying when children came around our hotel singing right about the time that we were trying to go to sleep. Luckily they moved on before it got too late.