NEPAL 15 - DUNCHE PART 1 - Leeches

“Never let go of hope.  One day you will see that it all has finally come together.  What you have always wished for has finally come to be.  You will look back and laugh at what has passed and you will ask yourself. . .How did I get through all that?” - Unknown

“AAARRRRGGGGG!!!!” I kicked my frustration into a boulder along the side of the road. “Why am I so grumpy and tired and NOT enjoying this one bit?” I exclaimed exacerbated.

 Justin paused in the middle of the jutted, rock-ridden road, “I’m lethargic and grumpy too.  Wanna snack?”

“No.  Even getting a candy bar out of the backpack sounds incredibly difficult.  I feel like all the life’s been sucked out of me! This isn’t like us.”

Justin’s head drooped and then laboriously looked up the winding hill toward Dunche.  “I know, I don’t understand it either.  Maybe we’re just done.  But it’s not too much farther now.”

The journey thus far had been painstakingly slow, and the town became the light at the end of the tunnel that never got closer no matter how quickly you ran towards it.  Just this morning we had skirted huge landslides, slipped over large wet boulders, and walked across a raging river.  Nevertheless, we had survived it all.  The monsoon rains refused to relent, and the muddy trail - or rather stream - we were walking on became even more treacherous with every step.  And now, with Dunche within our grasp we were too drained to move on, but there was no other choice. 

Rounding the gently sloping hill toward yet another curve in the road I felt a sharp pain just beneath my belly button.  I lifted my poncho, coat and shirt to find a leech happily sucking away my life source.  I was too exhausted to shout so as though it was just another thing I said, “Justin.  Leech.”  He came to my aide and burned the sucker off.  “That’s my second one today.” I grumbled.  “I HATE leeches,” I raged through clenched teeth.  Our disgust of leeches was cemented into the core of our being as we continued to smack them off of each other with sticks as they tried persistently to crawl up our boots and find any skin they could bury their heads into.

The road made long sweeping switchbacks up the mountainside, tripling the distance. A narrow and very steep set of stairs cut its way up through the mountainside leading from the lower road to the road above.  Justin presented the options.  “Well, we can go up these steps and cut out walking the long way along the road, or we can take the easy slope of the road and take twice as long.  Shorter and more difficult or longer and easier?”  I pointed toward the stairs with about as much enthusiasm as a sloth.  The stairway led through a gut-wrenching putrid stench of garbage and feces, but eventually it came to an end and so did our torture. 

“Look for the Dragon Hotel.” Justin said lethargically.  We trudged through the dark and dingy town of Dunche looking for a hotel that had been recommended to us by one of the guesthouses we had stayed at previously.  Soon we found the hotel and after much bargaining to get a fair price we were escorted to our room.  Immediately we started stripping down for our customary leech check.  A flood of tears came to my eyes as a pulled off my pants and saw the reason behind my fatigue.  My shorts were drenched in blood that was trickling down from a hole in my side. It had been bleeding for so long that it was beginning to coagulate further down my leg.  I let out a long groan and Justin jumped back as a large, fat leech dropped from the pants he was holding.  It fell with a sickening thud to the bedroom floor, its once toothpick-thin body now engorged by my blood.  It stretched out its neck and strained to pull its obese body across the floor.  Justin and I shuddered in disgust. 

“No wonder we were so exhausted,” he said shaking his head. 

My shorts continued to soak in the blood streaming from the small dark hole.  “I must have picked this one up back when I had to pee in the bushes along the trail, but that was hours ago!” I flopped on the bed, disgusted by the thought. 

Justin began shaking off all the clothing – just then a leech flew through the air onto his neck.  My eyes widened, but I hesitated as I tried to sound calm, “Don’t freak out! But . . .” Before I could finish Justin instinctively spasmed his hands to the pain in his neck, exactly on the spot where the leech had landed.  “I said don’t freak out! You could have ripped out his teeth!”

“Two more days and we will be in Thailand.  Two more days.” He muttered consolingly.

I plopped down on the bed and sat Idian-style when I noticed another leech crawling across the floor, "Look!"

Justin's eyes turned wild as he searched for his lighter.  "Time to die! Does that hurt? Too bad . . . You're dead now!" he ranted while scorching the leech to death, and laughing maniacally, "Mawahahahahaha!"

After an immensely thorough leech check, four dead leeches, an ice cold shower to wash off the blood, a scrupulous disinfecting of the bites, and a bit of food we headed off into the night, aiming to buy our bus tickets.  The evening was turning to dusk, and the man at the front desk of our guesthouse informed us that all the buses were sold out for at least a day.  “These folks,” he said pointing toward a large group of people about our age, “have already been waiting for a day to buy tickets.”

“We don’t have a choice.  We have to leave tomorrow or we will miss our flight!” I told Justin, trying not to panic at this unfortunate turn of events.  This new development added one more straw to our already breaking backs, and I had to sit down.  Justin decided to run down the street to the small stand labeled ‘Tickets to Kathmandu’ to see what could be done, while I ordered us some dinner and waited . . .