Part One:
Part Two:
Part Three:
Chetana's body is incredible. After a two day bus ride out of the capital, today was the first day of actual hiking, and while it represents some of the most taxing climbing I've ever experienced, it can also be counted among the happiest days of my life, rivalled only by my marriage and the birth of my children.
Chetana is like a mountain goat! It is clear she keeps her body in tiptop shape in the months where she actually occupies it between clients. Understandably so, as her fitness is the only thing ensuring her body returns at all. It is hard to imagine that a woman so young should have been pregnant so many times, nor that her body remain as firm and flexible as it is. In the times when nature calls and I'm required to relieve myself, and am exposed to the reality of my situation, it is surreal to think that, at some point, babies were being pushed out of my body. And yet it looks so tight...
Even such basic things as breathing are a pleasure. Air never tasted so sweet. For the first time in ten years I am running, actually running up these mountains, and the hardest part of it is forcing myself to slow down.
The only sadness is the woman I leave behind. I hope she is coping okay in my body back in Kathmandu. I have left behind four months of my prescriptions and inhalers to see her through, though neglected to inform her of dosages before leaving. I'm sure she can figure it out.
There is no signal in these remote regions. Tomorrow or perhaps the day after may be the first video call to family back home, assuming wifi can be found at the hostel. That upcoming humiliation fills me with dread but I will try to enjoy myself today while I can.
My dreams have been surreal, though she sleeps very well, once I can eventually rest. Lying in my sleeping bag, dressed only in the scant pajamas she provided me with, the temptation to touch Chetana's body is almost unbearable. It has been a long time since I had a youthful libido. And she is so beautiful. 'No funny business' Chetana said but last night I lay awake for hours just playing with my
(Need to stop noting these down. Dorothy will kill me if she reads I've touched another woman, even if that woman is me.)