The unpredictable weather paused for a bit and I got a 2 day window of sunshine and low wind, seeing this I took the chance and decided to do the Huemel circuit (4 days, 3 nights). As it was quite a last minute decision, I spent the evening packing up my bag and preparing food for the coming days. Carrying more than I need as I love to share food and saw this hike as a practice for heavier hikes in the future.

As I started on the hike alone, I felt fantastic. There is something about being far away from civilisation, that helps brings back attention to the small things. The way the clouds form, drifting from the ice capped mountains. The way the birds flutter, jumping from a tree to another warning other animals the human is on the way. As the view in front of me shakes left and right with each footing, I realise this is what we humans have seen most of our lives. Just primates, looking at nature in front of us shaking as we move forward. Sometimes thoughtless and sometimes thoughtful. We tend to forget how different life of a human is today from the human few thousand years ago.

I met fantastic beings on the trail from all around the world. As I setup camp at night, the first thing I do is prepare mate, the local drink I have learnt to admire thanks to my Chilean friends. As I share my sandwich, Dahl which I cooked for my hostel a few days ago and keep boiling water for more mate, I get asked did you carry too much and are trying to get rid of the weight?

My answer was no but that this is part of my culture to share food and that is what I love doing. I love sharing food and cooking for others, something I learnt from my mom growing up. It is part of the Sindhi culture that I am proud of. Growing up, if someone came to visit us unexpectedly we would offer them all our food. Sometimes even lying we have already ate food and this is all for you. Never let anyone leave your house with an empty stomach, that’s what I was preached.

I don’t think it’s fair to label us with countries. A north Pakistani might be much more similar to a north Afghani than a south Pakistani. But I think we belong to many different tribes. I belong to the tribe of Sindh, where I embrace a lot of values from. Similarly, I also belong to the tribe that pushes for freedom of expression and open borders or the tribe that loves to explore mountains. I belong to many tribes, they don’t identify who I am as a human but I do connect with people who share those values. This is why I so quickly felt at home in the Netherlands, not because they share food (they don’t at all) but because I do share many values with their tribe (directness, honesty, social equality).

As I walk these mountains, feeling every kilo in my backpack pressing into my shoulders and the fatigue of hiking over the last several days creeping in, I realise how lucky I am to be able to do this. In the next 20 years, I won’t be able to do what I am able to do today. I can sense the regret in me if I am too old to hike and haven’t seen the places I want to see.

I don’t know how all of this shapes me as I move forward with my journey but I do know I am embracing more of who I am as I take each step forward. As I look at the cloudy ice field, sometimes seeing the mountains in the distance sometimes all covered with fuming clouds, I can’t but realise how similar this is to the journey I am on. The path in front is cloudy and I do not know where I will be a few months from now but just like I do know the ice field exists without seeing it in front of me, I do know a Umar who is even more self-content exists.