Today was the day we fully finished prepping for the 10 day long trek. We spent all day discussing the terrain and area we would be hiking through and what necessities needed to be distributed among our bags. The food was all distributed and prepared by our entire crew. We weighed out portions and had an assembly line packaging the different types of food into clear bags. We had some music playing and we all worked together to get the food together for the next 10 days. It turned out to be a really great time. Later that night we all sat down for a short debrief and reflection. Vipul, one of our guides read us a story about expeditions because we would soon be on our own expedition. We leave tomorrow morning around 7 am and take a 7 hour bus ride up into the mountains. It is finally hitting me that we are actually going on this trek and I am nervous but very excited for what the next ten days holds. I am most excited for the views as well as going off the grid for a little, so this will be my last blog post for awhile. But I am also nervous for the environment and conditions that await as well as my very heavy pack! It is about 50 pounds, but I know I can do it and am willing to put in the work and carry my weight. I love having a challenge and this is definitely something that will challenge me. We will also most likely be hiking in the snow! Maybe even for 3 days of the trek. It is going to be an amazing experience and I know that through the good and bad, I can rely on my team to have my back no matter what.
Another couple of things I have learned and noticed during the last few days revolve around the cultural and ethical norms of the people who live in the local area. During the shakedown, as I wrote in my previous blog post, we came across a local town where we met a man who talked with us and offered for our group to camp on his land nearby. He was so kind and generous to us even though we had just met and were complete strangers from across the world. The culture is just so different than from where I am from. Even with complete strangers, the hospitality and generosity is amazing. They believe that if they do good for us that we can go on to do good for others.
After the shakedown we also reflected on the leadership aspect that played into our time outside camping and hiking. I think one of the biggest lessons I learned was that true leaders do not always lead or designate themselves as leaders but rather follow for the good of the group. I think that leaders can be followers as well. This showed especially during the hiking part of our shakedown because there were some who were speaking up and needed something like the pace to change because of the needs of the group, and those who agreed and followed that person were also leaders in their own way. This is because they were following in order to benefit the group and this is an attribute of a true leader. Because a true leader is someone who works to help others and does not think only of themselves but of the needs of the collective.
Anyway, I am headed off bright and early tomorrow morning for our expedition and adventure! I will hopefully be back soon with many beautiful pictures in my next blog post.
