So after our near-death experience flying to Lukla, we trekked 6 miles to a small village named Monju. The trek was relatively flat (vertical rise of only a couple of hundred metres), but took us forever. 9 hours later we arrived just as it was getting dark. The unusual thing about all of these villages is that 1) the toilets consist of holes in the ground (picture me squatting--not a pretty sight), 2) there is no heat in the building whatsoever so we freeze our butts off at night ( we do have wonderful sleeping bags that are paper thin but keep you VERY warm) , 3)the. swimming pools are not even heated. We are longing for a Radisson.
Today we trekked only about 4 hours, but the vertical rise was 2000'. This was an absolute bear of a hike, and we had some minor altitude sickness, but about 2/3 of the way through we turned a corner, and there was Everest in all of its majesty. It was probably one of the 3 or 4 highlights of my life. The weather is absolutely perfect, and the view was just something that cannot be captured in words. Steph cried. I, of course, did not (LLPOF). We arrived in Namche around 1, took a 3 hour nap, and we're now going to try to have some kind of food that doesn't have Cumin in it.
Tomorrow we hike to our guide's home so he can observe the 49th day of his mother's death, which is a big ceremony for Buddhists. The trek tomorrow should not be as exhausting as today's, but we continue to rise in elevation. We will get up to 11,500' tomorrow, then on to the Monastary at 12,500'.
No comments:
Post a Comment