I went to Kathmandu in September 2012 just after my youngest son graduated from High school and had gone off to USA to start his studies.
I know I was starting a new phase in my life.
I still did not have any idea where to live and what to do after having been a mother to three boys for 25 years- while working and living in Bali as a designer with my by now ex-husband, and having gone through a traumatic divorce and the death of our oldest son two years prior.
It seemed to me that I needed to do the highest/most spiritual thing possible to start this new phase . After this i was going to travel and find out where to live and how.
Dipak picked me up at the airport-a common friend had told him I was arriving- and brought me to the hotel I had already booked, even I never expected anything like this.
It surely felt good to be taken care of in a strange country. He got my permits and papers for that trek and also found a porter/guide for me, with whom during the 16 days trek I became very close, because when one day on a rest I cried thinking about my son, he told me about the recent death of his wife in a road accident leaving two young kids behind on his care.
I was lucky to come this early in the year because the highest roads up Annapurna where still closed. So we had a long time slowly trekking up the path .
At the height of 3500 m we stopped for 2 days to get used to the altitude. At that level was the meditation cave of Milarepa, a popular yogi of Buddhism, whose life and songs I totally admire. I got to immerse myself into the land where sages and yogis live who still inspire my daily life.
I loved the clarity, the clean, thin air , I loved the people I met during the trek, both the super friendly Nepalese and other travelers. I loved my solitude in the high mountains and the sacredness of some of the places i got to visit .
I am sad that I have not been back to Nepal since then and hope that the time will come soon when to go back for another dip into the sacred , secret world of Nepal’s high mountains.
I will always be grateful to Dipak for his support and care during my stay in Nepal and cannot wait to see him again for another mountain adventure.
Thanks for showing me a better path of life than ever before, and I want to highly recommend other thousands and thousands people of this sophisticated world of challenges to visit Nepal to find the peace in life and explore the true meaning of your life. You will be re-vitalized after any trek in the Himalayas, the mountains has a power to heal you.
Sabine Hildegard Butschkau/Indra, Germany| Email: isanuran@gmail.com