Picture album from Nepal

We've posted a bunch of pictures on Picasa. Hopefully this link will let you see them.

Nepal pictures

Picture album from Chile and Argentina

We've posted a bunch of pictures on Picasa. Hopefully this link will let you see them.

Chile and Argentina pictures

Patagonia visit

Since we were coming to Argentina to spend the some time during the Holidays with my mother, Steve and I decided to do a side trip to southern Chile and visit the National Parks, Torres del Paine and El Calafate in Argentina. The trip started with multiple flights to get to Punta Arenas, Chile on December 15th. It is the first time both Steve and I have visited Chile and the remote south is really beautiful and with very nice, warm and welcoming people. After 5 flights we arrived to Punta Arenas after an amazing flight over the Andes and the souther Cordillera Blanca, we were able to see the third biggest ice fields in the world, exit glaciers and Mount Fitz Roy from the plane. The next day after a morning run along the Straits of Magellan we took a bus to Puerto Natales, a small chilean town were the busses that go to Torres del Paine depart and we're able to secure other busses to go to El Calafate and back to Punta Arenas the following week. The trekking in Torres del Paine was amazing, there are two circuits, a big O that usually requires stay in tents some nights and the W which we were able to do staying in Refugios along the way. We did not need to bring a tent, sleeping bags nor food or cooking gear, the Refugios provided bed linens or sleeping bags and gave us breakfast, dinner and a bagged lunch. The scenery is fantastic, green valleys, waterfalls, glaciers, huge granite mountains, rivers and lakes, the trails are well maintained, December is not too crowded and most people we met were from all over the world and great to share a meal, a room or the trails (France, South Africa, England, Germany, Australia, America, Spain and more). We finished the W in 5 days, with the longest day being 10.5 hours of trekking and the shortest 4.5 hours. Back in Puerto Natales on the 22nd with some time to do laundry and have a nice fish dinner. The past two days we spent in Argentina in El Calafate, where we went to see a huge glacier, Perito Moreno at Lago Argentino. The visit included a boat tour that brings you 300 meters from the glacier and then walking in a series of catwalks to look at the glacier crack and break and fall into the lake. We spent almost 3 hours looking at one spot that kept cracking till the last 5 minutes before our bus left the whole section of the wall fell in the lake making an amazing view with sound effects. Tomorrow it is Christmas day and we will be in busses back to Punta Arenas and on the 26th we will visit a penguin colony before going back to Buenos Aires to meet my mother and go to the beach. More to come.

8 days in Nepal

Trying to summarize one week in Nepal in one posting is impossible. I have a 7 page journal I am keeping… So here it is my attempt:
Part one: Tucson to Jomsom, Oct 28-Nov 1st. This was a true “journey”: 4 flights to Katmandu, and two more to Jomsom. Steve and I stayed apart for two nights, his luggage and the medical boxes were misplaced. It was really sweet to finally meet in Jomsom on Nov 1st. Jomsom (at 9,000 ft) is where the airport in Mustang valley is and where the main hospital (clinic) was located. The flight from Pokhara to Jomsom was 20 minutes of wonderful views of the valley and the Himalayas and surprisingly smooth.
Part two: Medical mission, Nov 1st to Nov 5th
The team for Mustang had 3 dentists, 3 primary care docs, one OBGYN and several nurses and support staff. We all stayed in Jomsom the first day, even though it started a little chaotic, we managed to see 80 primary care patients of all age, lots of pretty severe high blood pressure and very little resources to care for them. My favorite was the oldest patient I saw this trip, an 85-year-old man who came for a well exam because he had no complaints. We started to get acquainted with Dahl Bat, Steve’s favorite new dish (or not) we had most days for lunch and dinner, the typical Nepali meal of rice and watery dhal made from small beans with some curried veggies and greens. Next day we went by jeep with Siddhartha, the other family doc to Tukuche Village to a health post to care for people from lower Mustang Valley who usually don’t have access to the hospital or any physician. The town was smaller with very little tourism, the health post building was newer but bare of any furniture but soon after we arrived the nurse midwife (an older alcoholic man) brought one exam table and a couple of desks and we were in business. The turnout of patients was amazing; they came from all the adjacent little towns and we managed to see hundreds of them in 2 and half days. Patients of all ages, most of them “untouchables” with access to no health care came with multiple pain complaints, rashes, colds, coughs. The most memorable patient was a 5 year old brought by the mother because she had not learned how to walk, with one look I could determine she had cerebral palsy with spastic paralysis, with no services or special education available for her. Steve was extremely helpful, sitting next to me for hours while seeing patients, he would take the blood pressure, or make dogs out of balloons for the kids and kept a detailed record of all the patients I saw, over 110 in 3.5 days! While in Tukuche we did a couple of short hikes, one to an amazing Buddhist monastery that the community is renovating. The weather was very cold, with no heat in the buildings or hot water. We had 3-4 layers of clothes day and night. The dentists and the other general practitioner came on the 3rd and 4th and we all went back to Jomsom by bus in the evening of the 4th. The bad news was that the weather was bad in Katmandu and Pokhara and there were no flights, the only way to come out of Jomsom if not by plane is by bus, very slowly and bumpy… 180 Km in 13 hours!
Part three: Muktinah, back to Pokhara Nov 5th-Nov 8th
After most of the volunteers went back on the 5th Steve, Bob (one of the nurses) and I stayed behind and went to Muktinah to visit some amazing Hindu and Buddhist monasteries, the trip by jeep was also very memorable: dusty, bumpy and long. The views of Nilgiri and Dhaulagiri were amazing and we walked in spite of the feeling of thin air at 12,000+ ft. On the 6th we woke up to very cloudy skies to the south, which meant no plane, and so we started another unique journey of 13 hours in 3 buses on a narrow dirt road that was very rocky or very muddy at times through a beautiful canyon.
Now it is our second night in Pokhara and we had other challenges, but today the weather cleared, we walked all day in shorts and t-shirts, we’ve had multiple hot showers and were able to eat other things besides Dahl Bat… life has been good to us. Tomorrow we fly to Katmandu for two days and then back home.

Logistical challenges

The good news is that we're both in Nepal and so is all of our luggage and equipment. The bad news is that Patricia and I have been separated for a day and our stuff is spread over 3 cities and towns. The high point was making it to Kathmandu with our bags and medical gear. The first complication was the Nepali medical society's requirement that all of the physicians leave the airport to go meet with them before allowing to practice in Nepal. This meant that the docs would miss our flight to Pokhara and have to spend the night in Kathmandu. OK so far. I took the medical boxes and my bag and headed for the flight to Pokhara. When I got to Pokhara we found that Buddha Air had left about a third of our bags behind since the plane got full. This of course included all of my stuff. 40 hours of travel and I'm stuck in the same clothes :-(.

This morning several us were up early to head up to Jomsom in the Mustang valley. Weather delayed the flight and of course now Yeti Air decided to leave a few more bags behind so more of us were without luggage. Patricia's flight was delayed so now the earliest she will get to Jomsom will be tomorrow morning and who knows how many of the bags will make it.

We started working at the hospital today (really a small clinic). It's been hard to get much productive work done with so many key people and supplies missing.

On the plus side - Jomsom is right next to Nilgiri I which is a little over 23,000 ft. Wow! I will see if I can get a few pics uploaded.

To be continued....

Made it home

After a 23 hour travel day we made it back safely to Tucson will all of our gear intact. Although you can see from the pictures that the integrity of the Amtrak bike boxes was somewhat degraded :-) It was raining in Newark when we got there and the boxes must have gotten a little wet, not a good combo with cardboard. A few challenges along the way but nothing that couldn't be overcome. Patricia enjoyed her thorough pat down from Copenhagen security - by a guy.

We're sorting through pictures now and starting the difficult process of reducing them down to a reasonable number (starting with 1500). We'll probably do a slide show sometime in the fall, let us know if you're interested.

The next adventure is a medical mission to remote parts of Nepal in 2 months. That should be a little different. Then next year maybe southeast Asia for some more touring.

Back to Copenhagen (again)

Through the magic of 2 rolls of saran wrap we made it back to Copenhagen today. We were finally able to attach the wheels to the bike frames on the side with even more wrap, which enabled me to carry both bikes and the wheels. Patricia was left with the 4 panniers which were quite a load. We came early for the first train and it was already in the station. We loaded up with no problem even though there was no bicycle approved car. Our tickets were checked and we were on the way. We dreaded the transfer to the bus halfway to Goteborg. Fortunately it was a short walk from the train to the busses. There was room in the baggage compartments and they had no problem with me sliding in the bikes. Whew!

Upon arrival in Goteborg we were dropped off a good distance from the train terminal, so we decided to have Patricia go ahead and get the tickets for the rest of the trip to Copenhagen while I started re-assembly of the bikes. That went pretty well and soon we were riding the bikes (instead of carrying them) to the next train. 3 hours later we're in Copenhagen and a short ride across the city later we're at Ignacio and Lindsay's for our final night's stay. Most things are repacked now, it's off to bed soon and an early taxi to the airport. Looking forward to being back in the USA and being back home :-) It's been a great trip - 5 countries, countless bike paths and beers!