Number One in Nepal
Anyone who knows me knows how little numbers mean to me — the number of followers I have, the number of likes I get on social media, or even the number of stamps in my passport. However, I would be lying if I said the number one didn’t mean something to me during my trek to Annapurna Base Camp. At the beginning of our hike, our lead guide from Discovery World Trekking assigned each of us in our group a number. That number would be what they called when ordering and serving our food throughout the entire trek. Out of the twenty-two hungry hikers in our group — I was number one.
We ended each night with our breakfast order for the next morning, and we started each day with our lunch order before continuing the hike. While eating lunch, we put in our order for dinner. After hearing our numbers called multiple times a day for our food, it was no surprise that they became our nicknames and an inside joke with the guides. There was a point where I even believed my porter may have forgotten my name throughout our journey to base camp and just started identifying me as number one. Annapurna Mountain is named after the goddess of food and nourishment, “Anna” meaning food, and “purna” meaning full or complete, and I couldn’t think of a better nickname than one derived from ordering food.
When we arrived at base camp, you couldn’t see a thing. The clouds covered almost the entire view of Annapurna I, Khangsar Kang, Gangapurna, Annapurna III, and Machhapuchhare Mountain. That didn’t hinder us from celebrating our accomplishment of finally making it to base camp. We yelled, high-fived, and danced with each other below a sign that said, “Namaste Annapurna Base Camp (A.B.C. 4130 m)”. Our dancing subsided when our legs reminded us how tired they were after four days of hiking. We headed into the tea house to change out of our sweaty clothes and anxiously wait for the clouds to clear. In the tea house, I couldn’t focus on anyone’s conversation. My eyes kept darting towards the window so I didn’t miss the moment the mountains decided to show. A group of us distracted ourselves with a Nepalese card game called Dhumbal. The strategy is to get the lowest number of points, and I didn’t win once. I was surprised that I was able to focus enough to play the game in the first place.
My eyes widened when I caught a glimpse out of the window. The mountains are out! I dashed outside with my camera as the clouds started to break apart like gates opening to heaven. I spun in a circle while trying to take in the view. I was surrounded by some of the tallest mountains in the entire world, and I tried to take as many photos as I could before the clouds closed up again. It was fleeting, yet peaceful — fleeting because I knew this view wouldn’t last forever, and peaceful because in that moment the view was the only thing that mattered. I saw the others from my group slowly head back into the tea house as they watched the clouds begin to cover the mountains again. There was only one thing left to do after seeing Annapurna, and that was eat.
“Number one!” My porter yelled as he gingerly placed my dinner in front of me. I lit up with excitement and couldn’t wait to dig in. I smiled in between each bite. In that moment the only thing fuller than my stomach was my heart. I know I said before that I never really cared too much about numbers, but that was before I hiked to 13,5550 ft. with 22 incredible people. That was before I saw the 10th highest mountain in the world standing at 26,545 ft.
That was before I was number one.
