Hiking Backpacks

That has a nice ring to it, huh? Hiking the Himalaya.

Surrounded by the tallest mountains in the world, seeing remote villages - and the enchanted smiles of the locals. The Himalayan mountains are spectacular, but the villagers made us feel at home. They showered us in attention, especially the children. We taught them the chicken dance, then they taught us a local dance and song. We thought about teaching them the Macarena, but decided to keep a shred of dignity :)

We taught them to play duck duck goose. They thought it was hilarious to “goose” us. We ended up doing most of the running. :)

We played cricket with them. They won :)

I was annoyed when I found out the trek I signed up for had porters (I wanted to carry my pack) - until I met the porters. Our porters bubbled over with excitement - laughing & singing, hopping and running - all with around 100 lbs strapped to their backs.

They taught me a call & response song in Hindi, I taught them Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. My favorite porter, Ramveer, only knew three words in English: “Hello”, “Welcome” and “Yes”. Somehow we managed to have a ton of fun together anyway.

I never asked to try on our porters’ packs :)