Where’s Reilly? 4.8.25

Hello hello!

I survived the Annapurna Circuit! Wow. What an experience. The trek was challenging, beautiful, and exactly what I needed. It’s still sinking in and I plan to share a detailed summary & reflection later this month, so I’ll hold off on sharing more for now.

Annapurna II in the distance

After hitting 5,416 meters/17,769 feet, I continued for a few days and then fell ill with a bad cold. I took it as a cue that my trek was over and stumbled down from the oasis of the Himalayas to Pokhara, Nepal’s hippie capital that gives the PNW a run for its money in terms of the number of dreadlocks and barefoot people.

The city was too loud for me after being in the mountains, so I worked on a farm for a few days in the hills. Yesterday, the farmer offered me (and the other farmers) a sample of his cannabis harvest and then I cut down banana trees with a sickle for hours. Does this count as a unique experience?

In retrospect, I wish I had offered myself a few more days to write and rest, but then again, it’s been difficult to get the words out. Until today, that is. This is poor timing because I’m off to a month-long teacher training in an hour.

You read that right.

And yeah, you’d be correct in thinking my body is not prepared for this as I haven’t done yoga since January and my muscles are tighter than a knot under tension after hiking & farming non-stop the past few weeks. And no, I wouldn’t say I’ve had a consistent or strong yoga practice throughout my life.

So why am I doing it? Great question. I’ll have to leave you on a cliffhanger because I need to finish my coffee and pack.

I’ll have my phone, but I’ll be waking up at 5:30 am and practicing/studying until 8:00 or 9:00 pm, so I don’t know how available I’ll be–physically and mentally. I’m going to do my best to sink into the teachings and stay off the interwebs. My last day in May 2nd? 3rd? Somewhere in there.

I’m not sure what I’ll do after. My visa in Nepal expires in mid-May, so I’ll have a few weeks to do something else here if I desire. At first, I thought I’d be trekking non-stop here, but lately, I’ve been wondering if I should take a bus south towards India and see if I can spot a tiger in the jungle 😉

After Nepal, I’m still thinking about where to go next. Vietnam? Indonesia? Asia is only getting hotter and I’d like to find somewhere to settle during monsoon season, but first, I need a beach. If you have thoughts or ideas, please share them with me!

Other housekeeping notes:

• I haven’t figured out the newsletter function on WordPress. Scratch that. I haven’t tried to figure it out, so I’m sending you updates via my email for now. Just wanted you to know that’s a me-issue and not a you-issue.
• Please don’t hesitate to share this blog with others who might be interested. Help them add themselves to my email list so they stay updated.
• You can reach me directly on WhatsApp. Same phone number!
• I LOVE reading your comments! So thank you, thank you, thank you for engaging with me in this way. I have to approve them before they show up (another function I can probably change if I try) so don’t be alarmed if it takes a while to populate.

I think that’s everything?

LOVE YOU. MISS YOU.

-R

P.S. I’ve been craving home extra lately. Pine trees. Ocean. Fruits and vegetables… and the people. I’m overdue for phone calls. If you want to catch up, please reach out. Let’s get something on the books for early May when I finish learning how to do a backbend.