The long anticipated departure date has arrived. My friend, Heidi, and I are en route to Bangkok where we will rest and recover from the 24-hour flight from Santa Fe, before resuming the trip to Bhutan.

A very generous patient, who has become a friend, gave me this trip  of a lifetime as a gift for which I am enormously grateful. She had been on a similar trip with her husband and loved it.

The Bhutanese government only allows foreigners to enter as part of a tour. The travel company that organized our trip, Boundless Journeys, has a reputation for excellence. The trip was planned for 2020, but was postponed multiple times due to the pandemic and the closed border into Bhutan. Just recently, they opened their borders to both the vaccinated and the unvaccinated.

Sunset on the mountains in Alaska, seen through our window on our flight to Tokyo

Recently Boundless Journeys informed us that the trip was finally on—two years later. By this time, all the people who had originally signed up for the trip dropped out over time—except for Heidi and me. The staff at Boundless Journey decided to go ahead with the trip, even though they only had two customers, because we showed such “perseverance and determination.” As you might imagine, Heidi and I are thrilled that we will have the Bhutanese guide all to ourselves! I’m guessing that might mean we’ll have more flexibility in the schedule, where we go and what we see.

Let me introduce you to my friend, Heidi. My friendship with Heidi began in the 10^th grade, in our AP English class. Three students in the class—Heidi, Sally, and I— were misfits, having lived abroad in various parts of the world growing up, and for that reason, not conforming to the conventional dress and mind set. We were probably regarded as refugees from outer space. The trio consisted of Sally Abbott who had lived in India, Burma, and Thailand, Heidi who spent her youth in Japan and teenage years in Paris, and I who first began school in England and was on my way to finish high school in Germany. We immediately recognized each other as kindred spirits and formed a tight bond.

Heidi and I lost touch with each other after I left for Germany. For almost 40 years she simply remained a fond memoir. Then in 2012, I got a knock on my door. When I opened the door the woman standing in front of me said, “Hi Rickie.” My mind raced around trying to figure out who would call me by my childhood name. She said that a classmate from high school had notified her on Facebook that “Rickie Merriam” lived in Santa Fe. Heidi had just moved nearby to a co-housing community modeled by The Commons, the co-housing community I lived in. In fact, Heidi and her husband, Zev, had come to a community dinner at The Commons to see how it felt to live in community. She sat at my table. We had a lively conversation, not having any idea that we were best friends in high school, but now going by different names. I made a mental note that Heidi and I could become very good friends if she ever decided to leave the East Coast and move into a co-housing community in Santa Fe.

Heidi and I hiking near the Chama River

Heidi and I now are sitting in the Tokyo airport, waiting for our flight to Bangkok where we will recuperate from jet lag in an airport hotel, then fly to Bhutan to begin our hiking trek.

The adventure has already begun: On the flight, one on the passengers fainted on the way to the bathroom. He got up and then fainted again and then a third time. I went over to where he lay in the aisle to offer help. His Asian complexion had turned ashen color, his eyes glazed over, heart rate was around 40 beats per minute, and his lower abdomen was painful on palpation. His wife said he had been having frequent episodes of diarrhea, and had just drunk a glass of wine before he fainted. He appeared to be severely dehydrated. We propped him up near the emergency exit, plied him with water. After drinking two quarts, his color returned and his blood pressure normalized. After an hour of observation by the stewardesses, he was able to return to his seat. This case definitely did not require a medical detective to determine the cause of his symptoms.

Looks like the patient will live!

On a different note, before we left on the trip, we saw a very touching movie made in Bhutan in 2019 by a Bhutanese filmmaker. The film is called “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom.” It won multiple awards and was nominated Best International Feature Film at the 94^th Academy Awards. The main character, Ugyen is a singer who aspires to go to Australia and become famous in the modern world.. The Bhutanese government mandates that he complete his compulsory service teaching in a remote, mountain village, called Lunana, where he falls in love with his native country. The film is available on Netflix.

Scene from “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom”

We have landed in Bangkok after a very long and tedious light. We will rest up for a day and then head out to Bhutan on Wednesday, November 2nd. Stay tuned for Part II of our Bhutan odyssey,