I woke to the sound of heavy rains in the middle of the night. We were up at 4:40am for a 6:20 flight. It took us nearly half an hour just to load up our 8 duffle bag all of which weighed at least 50 pounds.
Arriving at the airport at dawn, not much was happening. The airline staff were waiting to see if the clouds would part enough for us to fly. Breakfast and chai were a welcome treat as we settled in to wait. More blue sky meditation and some cloud parting qi gong seemed to be working as the close slowly slowly melted.
By 8:00am we could see the foothills around Pokhara, and by 8:30 the first plane took off to Jomsom. We quickly checked in for the second flight and anxiously awaited its return. The single plane would shuttle back and forth through the mountains for as long as the weather held. The flights loaded and unloaded with great speed to keep ground time to a minimum.
We didn’t know it then, but in the 20 days of the late monsoon season, there were only 3 days of flights to Jomsom. We were lucky enough to catch one.
