Changes in Latitude: TREKKING NORTHERN LAOS

I slept amazing last night. It was perhaps the best sleep I have gotten thus far. I woke up before my alarm because I think I heard a beetle near my head. I finally got some warm water for a shower. The guest house runs on solar power to heat the water and generate electricity. Yay for sustainability! It's fabulous :)

I had the most delicious breakfast consisting of mixed fruit pancakes drizzled in condensed milk. It was a cold morning with a heavy fog and mist. I enjoyed some fresh green tea as I caught up in my journal waiting for everyone else to wake up. Once again our groups were split into two, and we went on different treks. We won't see each other until tomorrow evening which is odd. I might have separation anxiety. Our trek took us through a ghost village and two other villages before arriving at ours. The ghost village is simply a deserted village because the people moved closer to another village in order to share a school. The trek was intense the first couple of hours. It was straight up the mountain. WHen it was lunch time we had a nice spread of green beans with chicken, mixed veggies, jeow and sticky rice. We ate with our hands off of banana leaves

On the trek, Isabel and I side swiped a giant tree. Naturally I would do something like that. We should have seen it, and I should have reacted to her telling me to watch out faster than I had. A little bit of iodine, and we were good to go again. It still hurts. The trees and plants in this jungle are gorgeous. The second half of the trek was lined with mountains. I had to stop a few times and take it all in. A piece of Heaven was right before me. One village we went to was full of life. The kids absolutely loved us. They are so fascinated by us. There was a little boy who just finished fishing. He had a mask on and handmade arrows. On his hips was a basket where he collected his fish.

We finally arrived at our village after several hours of trekking. Before we could finish taking our packs off, the women were lining up to sell us their handmade products. It was a bit overwhelming. They got upset if you bought from only one basket. Some of the women were breastfeeding while trying to sell their handmade goodies. They mostly had handmade purses and bracelets.

We moved our bags into our hut and went to wash in the river. We had to go in the river and bathe with our clothes on in order to respect the modesty of their culture. Now we are sitting outside and reading while the sun is slowly setting. The air is becoming cool as the pigs, dogs and chickens run around the village. Dinner was cooked over an open fire in our hut and was very good. It's so fresh. After dinner they made us tea with leaves that were picked along our trek. A fire was also built and some of the kids joined us. We played games and sang songs. There was a huge language barrier, but we were able to learn names and have a splendid evening all together. Bedtime came and the sounds of the frogs grew louder along the river.