Day 57: Tatopani

Today's adventures were short lived. The roads were covered with water, making the jagged hills almost impossible to tackle. I have enjoyed following Robbie during our off road travels. I have a GoPro mounted to my helmet, so I'm able to catch all of his falls on film. The fall in a large mud puddle was my favorite of the day. From his driving results, I am able to quickly find an alternative path, cruising by with minimal problems.

We arrived to a town called Tatopani. We were stopped by a security guard to make sure that we purchase the necessary permits for adventures up to the Annapurna mountain range. After we purchased our permits Robbie was unable to start his motorcycle. The local "mechanic" was trying to figure out the problem. At first, he called two young boys from Benni, a larger town about one and a half hours back the way we came, to see if they could fix the problem. They ended up suggesting that Robbie purchase a new battery, which would require them to go back to Benni; or we could stay the night while the local mechanic changed the battery acid and charge it overnight. Robbie chose the second alternative.

In Tatopani we were able to relax in the natural hot springs. While the water is natural, the setting was not. It was a man made pool, filled with locals and Trekkers. When we got there all we wanted was food; they handed us a menu and about after an hour there was no food to be seen. We later found out that we put in our order with no one who knew how to cook the food. We then tried to cook the food ourselves, but they tried to charge us over half price to cook our own food. Ridiculous.

We spent the rest of our day conversing with the mechanic to make sure that the battery would be ready early in the morning and explored the town.

Unfortunately, we were unable to make some real progress, so a day was wasted to repairs. However, that is what you have to take into regards while traveling. Like a fellow traveler told me, expect the best but plan for the worst.