DISPATCHES

Jimmy

Yesterday, Zahid tried to convince Brady and I that we should sacrifice chickens in order to bring my health back. Brady told Zahid that the pink Ciproflaxin pills were each probably equivalent to a chicken and we had a full course of them, which would be 10 chickens. I had a hard time deciding if I should bomb my system with more antibiotics or go with the sacrificial chickens. I went with the Cipro.

In the late afternoon, I headed out to the edge of Hushe. I sat quietly with 30 or 40 other villagers. The mood was somber as they watched huge sections of fields calve off into the raging river. Several sections of the lower fields had been washed out, many of which were our friend Rahim's fields. Rahim's home was also totally flooded.

I was moved when Rahim came up to greet me, smiling. The Balti people have a pretty extraordinary ability to roll with the punches. We spoke a bit and he never mentioned his home or his fields. He spoke only of the fact that the previous night Kande had been hit again by an even larger surge of flood water.

I asked around about what would happen to Rahim, his wife and eight children over the winter now that he had lost most of his belongings and crops. The answers were all the same, "No problem, Rahim good man, many friends. We will take care of him." Looking at all the nodding heads and smiles, I felt confident Rahim would be well taken care of. Natural disasters are very much a part of life in the high mountain villages and the people have cultivated a strong sense of community here.

Tomorrow, we will head up to the Nangmah Valley to visit the American/Canadian expedition and to do a bit of climbing/recon.

— Jimmy Chin, MountainZone.com Correspondent

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