I hike, but not always by choice.

The villages here are about 2 - 5 kilometers apart. As I don't have a car, my preferred method of transportation is my legs. 2 - 5 kilometers sounds really nice, but I think that this is measured with a ruler from village to village. In actuality, every village is around one million curves as the road follows mountain sides, goes up steep inclines, and down again. Getting lost on a daily basis doesn't help. Sometimes I'll find that I've walked ten minutes in the wrong direction, which usually means that I've either walked too far downhill and have to go back up (sorrow!), or too far up (wasted sorrow!) and have to go back down.

Today, Cam and I headed out of Sitla for a visit at Sonapani (http://www.himalayanvillage.com/) with the famed Ashish and our newly found friends, Nathan and Jen from Seattle. The walk was meant to take 45 minutes - down the hill, past the village shops, through the blue Ashram gate, past the Ashrams, and turn off after the stone path turns into dirt. It took more like 4 hours, as we walked too far on the dirt path. Our hike led us past farm houses and through orchards. At one point, we came across two little boys playing cricket in an isolated field. A little girl in the forest nearby bounced on a branch while she watched a herd of goats mill about the scant underbrush.

We finally made it to Sonapani, just in time for an awesome Kumaoni meal. After hang-out with Ashish, Nathan, and Jen, we began our hike back. Unfortunately, this led straight-up the side of the hill. As Cam and I puffed along, four little boys ran behind with no breathing problems to speak of. I have been humbled by the hills and the little boys who disgrace me with their seeming excellent lung capacity every day, but at least I'll leave here with tight quads.