Chasing Fall.....(Dec. 21st)

Last night it was raining when we went to bed; this morning it was "raining" leaves through the beautiful sun rays! I felt like we were racing fall down the mountain toward the places where summer still exists. It was a crisp and glorious morning.....reminded me of the golden fall that just left Colorado last month!

Machhapuchchhre getting farther away. 

My Nepali mama, Purna. On the way into the sanctuary we stayed an extra day at her lodge in the village of Bamboo because I had a chest cold. Purna took extra good care of me!

Purna's lodge 

The Nepalis are master gardeners! I am not sure what kind of crop this is. 

All along the trail you see the drying of spices and crops every where. 

This is the stairway leading to the Chomromg Cottage Lodge. 

A typical home in Chomrong. 

This is what we climbed for hours!!!

The highlight of my day was a piece of the most amazing chocolate cake! Our plan was to eat lunch in Chomromg which took an enormous climb up another bazillion stairs but my thirst for the warm and moist brownie-like cake propelled my glutes and quads into superhuman mode! I'm sure there is drool still frozen on the steps leading to the Chomromg Cottage Lodge! As the sweat was pouring out of my pores I rounded the corner into the patio of the lodge.....my legs were shaking and my body was unsteady....there were customers inside eating and watching me when the only words that could come out of my mouth were, "do you have chocolate cake?" Seriously....couldn't have been more rude? And let me tell you I looked like a piece of work. The patrons inside immediately started to laugh because they knew exactly how I felt because they too had sought out this well known cake in the bowels of the Annapurna Sanctuary!  In fact, this lodge was noted in Time magazine for having the best chocolate cake in Asia! After our lunch we both enjoyed a piece of cake and the conversation reduced to groans of tastebud pleasure in between bites. It was all I could do to not lick my freaking plate to get the last bit of warm chocolate sauce they poured over the piece of cake. I could've eaten many more slices!

Seriously!!!!!

Do not get in between me and my slice!

Here is the article that brings so many travelers to this lodge. 

Do you think OSHA would approve these stairs?

We pushed on from Chomrong to the village of Jhinudanda, the same village we stayed at on our way to the sanctuary. We quickly dropped our packs off in our room and walked 20 minutes down the mountain to the Modi Khola river where there were natural hot springs right next to the river. It was getting dark as we approached the river and the moon was beginning to shine through the clouds. I do believe that these hot springs are now my most favorite natural hot springs. They are right next to a raging ice blue glacial river and they do not smell like an enormous fart (and we all know that we have enough of that with the Keller colon on international food)!  It was a magical evening with the moonrise and hot steam rising from the water. With our bodies fully relaxed and our minds at peace we walked back up the single-track trail to our lodge for a great night of sleep. Ahhhh....the hot soak was exactly what we needed after many days in the very cold high Himalayas!

I couldn't get any pictures of the hot springs because my camera would only focus on the rising steam in the dark but here is a picture of the Modi Khola river right next to the hot springs.