NEPAL | Damak to Ilam
I find it funny sometimes the way that God works. From my last blog, you can see that God is teaching me to stop relying on my flesh and only rely on him alone. At this time, though, I didn’t realize that I would soon be taking a 14-hour hike through the mountains of Nepal. But, God always knows what is ahead of us, which is good. Reuban informed us that we would begin hiking towards Ilam the day after that last blog was written. We would be doing 3-4 hour hikes everyday. In my head, when he told us this, I pictured flat rice fields which is what we had been walking on the week before. But, I was sadly mistaken when I discovered that the first destination was a remote village in the mountains.
The first day we made it to our starting point, with two big packs filled with only the essential clothes and items for the next week (two pants, three shirts, socks, shoes, and oh yeah…25 liters of water). The plan was to take the river route to the village, which would involve pretty flat terrain and 14 river crossings making sure we would be nice and cool. However, when we reached there, it began to pour making the river extremely dirty, fast flowing, and deep, so we would not be able to take that route. Reuban then told us that there was another way, that would be an hour longer (the river would have only taken 2 hours) and it would be through the mountains. At this point he pointed to a very rocky mountainous cliff to our left that we would be hiking over.
So, after the rain slowed, we strapped on our packs and began. I was the first to carry one of the two packs, and I have to say that the first 20 minutes was the hardest thing I have done this entire race. It was straight up hill, and I had to hold onto Carly and Chris to keep from falling over from the weight of the bag. At one point we walked across the very peak of the mountain where if we had stepped wrong on either side we could have died. But, after four hours, we finally made it. After taking off my shoes I discovered two huge (toe-like) blisters on my big toes.
We stayed two nights at Reuban’s father’s house in DungDunge and then started again our hike to Ilam. It would take two days, four hours each day. Our pack was a little lighter this time, with now like 16 liters of water, but seemed just as heavy with my worn out body and blisters. We crossed quite a few rivers, one that Chris was able to get baptized in, and climbed A LOT of mountains. We were able to walk through the beautiful tea gardens of Ilam that stretched in all directions. The first night we stayed at a believers house that had no idea we were coming. There were nine of us in total that were asking for a place to rest, and they opened up their doors happily. (There are few families in America that I think would happily allow 9 people to stay at their house with no notice) Such a testimony to their kindness. The next day we were told that we would only have to walk an hour and a half more to get to a bus that would take us the rest of the way. However, we should have known better that Nepalese timing is not always accurate, so four hours later we finally reached the bus stop.
Before jumping on the bus, we were able to swim/bathe in a big river. After walking for so long in the heat, my body and seven blisters that had appeared were grateful. Clean and tired we got on the bus and arrived at a pastor’s house that opened up his church for the night.
So, after 5 days, 25 and more liters of water, 14 hours of hiking, and 7 VERY large blisters we made it to what soon became known as the Promised Land filled with Milk and Honey (or in our Ilam the land of water and electricity). I would have never made it on my own, so thanks God for the prerequisite spiritiual lesson before the hike of a lifetime through the beautiful land of Nepal.
