We got our first glimpses of Everest today!  Well, really our first glimpse of any mountains.  When we woke up, the fog had dissipated and we could see mountains from our campsite.  At breakfast, our guide told us that if we were able to hurry and make it up the hill behind the lodge in time, we’d get a great view of Ama Dablam.  So, we hurried, somehow I made it up the hill, and what a view we had.

A little while later, after charging up some more hills and stone steps…gosh, I felt slow….but, people in my group told me I was doing fine, so hopefully that’s the case.  Anyway, after some more crazy up, the clouds cleared, and we were able to see Everest….and Lhotse.  It was so cool to finally see the mountains I’ve read so much about over the past year.

With all the rushing, we made it to lunch about an hour ahead of schedule.  That gave us some time to see a nearby monastery.  Our guide knew the monk from his monastery days, so he gave us a tour and explained how everything worked.

The rest of the day was tough but manageable.  The sherpa sauna combined with decongestant worked wonderfully, and I woke up feeling much better than I have in days.  But, because we missed a day with the flight delay in Lukla, we had to combine two days of hiking.  Like I said, not bad, and would have been two really easy days if we had split it.

Once we got to the lodge, I basically found my tent and collapsed on the little mattress that goes under my sleeping bag.  At some point, I said, ‘there are a bunch of things I should do (open my wet for some reason sleeping bag, pull out the stuff I want to hand wash when the washing water gets here, etc.) but I’m so tired, all I want to do is lay here.

We’re camped by another lodge….it was interesting to learn that the lodges and villages we’ve stopped at grew up around the trekkers.  They have a main room where we’ve been hanging out – it has lights powered by solar energy and a small furnace that heats the place using Yak dung.  Surprisingly, it doesnt smell, though, it did try to explode earlier.

Tomorrow we have another acclimatization hike.  It’s basically several hundred feet straight up.  Hopefully, at some point I’ll be better at these hills. I’m beginning to get a little worried about the Kala Patthar hike at the end of the trip.  Hopefully I have the strength to make it…or they let me crawl.  I gave in and started taking the Diamox, maybe that will help, along with getting over the sick.

Other than that, I paid $6 to get both garmins charged so we can continue to track our treks.  I have no idea what the phone battery looks like, it had half a few days ago, but things tend to lose battery life in the cold.  I’ll figure it out the next time I use it, I guess.  Maybe there’s a coffee shop with free wifi here too…I’ll explore tomorrow.  I don’t plan on paying $9 an hour to use it at the lodge.

Ok…time to brave the cold and head to bed.

Somewhat long hike today, just over seven miles, I think.  Most of it wasnt bad, but the rest rivaled the crazy hill going into Namche.  It was especially tough going up to lunch and then getting into town and to our campsite (after the hard part was supposedly over).  Of course, our site was at the top of town, which will come in handy tomorrow since we need to leave from the top tomorrow.

I still havent managed to shake the congestion…it almost seems to be getting worse with the altitude.  And climbing hills is the worst, since I already cant breathe.  Hopefully slow and steady will get me through tomorrow.  Two of our guides gave me a sherpa sauna after dinner to help clear the congestion.  Basically, it’s a bowl of boiling water with some Vicks that you bend your head over and breathe deeply.  It felt and worked wonderfully.  Hopefully that coupled with some decongestant will help get rid of it.

We still havent really seen the mountains.  We may be able to see Ama Dablam tomorrow if the weather clears.  But, the weather for base camp on Friday looks clear, so that’s exciting.

Ok…off to bed.  Hopefully tomorrow’s hike wont kick my butt as much and maybe I’ll start to feel better.  

A couple of notes….first, I am really enjoying reliving my trip as I post each of these blog entries.  It was totally the trip of a lifetime, and I hope people are enjoying reading about the adventure.

Second…we got a kitten the day after we got back…typical…haha.  His name is Hubert, he’s grey and white with medium length hair.  He’s adorable, but he’s so skinny and tiny, I’m afraid I’m going to break him.

Ok, back to the travel blog…..

So, the congestion is kicking my butt, and I really need it to go away.  I woke up at some point last night with a really sore throat and needing to pee.  I decided that I should have taken two of my Nepalese Nyquil, since it only put me out for two hours.  I decided to get up and brave the cold and the toilet tent, precariously perched on a small cliff.  After popping actual Nyquil (thanks Heather!), I began my journey.  Almost slid down one flight of stairs, but other than that, made it ok.  The whole experience was a little frightening, I was pretty sure I was going to fall the entire time.  One thing I wont miss – days when getting up to pee at night involves an outdoor bathroom and a parka.  I only had one cup of tea today, so hopefully that will eliminate any midnight adventures tonight.

I woke up at some point later horribly stuffy, to the point that my ear was pounding.  Not fun….cue more Nepalese Nyquil and about a million tissues.  Hopefully the ‘easy’ day today will help it go away.

Today’s adventure was an acclimatization hike up to the Everest View Hotel.  Tough hike up some crazy hills, and some areas that I’m pretty sure weren’t part of a trail.  Again, I was thankful for the poles, especially on the way down in the rain.  The way up was pretty tough, especially with the congestion…it really needs to go.

We passed the Tyngboche airport, pretty much closed now, but there was a chopper loading gear that we guess came down from basecamp when the expeditions got cancelled.  On the way back, it was too foggy to see it, but we’re guessing the weather was too bad for it to really go anywhere.

The view from the hotel was supposed to be amazing….views of Everest and the rest of the range.  We waited about an hour, maybe a little less for the fog to clear, but it didnt happen.  At that point, we realized that we could make it through the entire trip and never see Everest.  Hopefully bad weather now will mean for good weather later.  We enjoyed $12 cokes and candy bars, then headed back down to Namche.

We were welcomed back with lunch and warm tang (I will miss that stuff), then our guide took us to his home.  He has two houses, one here in Namche and one in Kathmandu.  His house here is steps from the hotel and is a traditional Sherpa home.  It has three rooms – a kitchen, a party room, and a prayer room.  The party room is used to entertain guests and host Sherpa parties, which involve drinking and dancing.  We all left wanting to attend a Sherpa party.  The party room is also used for sleeping if guests stay over.  They have mats they pull out for people to sleep on.

The prayer room was gorgeous – he hand painted everything in the room, and uses the room for prayer and painting.  He told us about the statues in the room, the prayer books, and how they’re used.  He also showed us the National Geographic medal his father was awarded for his work on Everest.  He also showed us his paintings, which were gorgeous, and post cards (we all plan on buying those).  Before we left, he answered all of our questions about his religion, Everest, the Dali Lama, and I cant remember what else.

Overall, a great day.  Tomorrow, we depart for Phortse (another village), gain some elevation, and hopefully leave the congestion behind.

Wow….what a day.  The hike was only just over three miles…maybe three and a half, but the total elevation gain was 2000 feet.  There was some scary downhill – slippery slopes and such (very thankful for the poles), but the end was a mile and a half straight uphill.  We took it slow, but it still kicked my butt….whether it was the altitude or the sick, I’m not sure.

The hike ended at Namche Bazaar, the “city” of the Khumbu region.  It’s a really cool town cut into the side of a mountain, with stairs everywhere.  Once we got here, I thought we were done with the climbing, but then had to climb up to the lodge where we’re camping, snow lodge, I believe.  We’re camping on the terraces behind the lodge (because nothing in Namche is flat).  Brian and I are on the upper terrace, maybe ten feet up, with no railing and some steps that I’m sure will be crazy in the dark.  Here’s to hoping I don’t fall if I make a bathroom run in the middle of the night.

We walked around the village for a little while before dinner – found a couple of places to get a yak bell on our way back through and a coffee shop with free wifi.  I had my first coke in I dont know how long, usually it has way too much sugar, but I must have needed that today.  I also found a pharmacy and asked the woman working there what I should take for a cold during the day and night, and got a decent supply of medicine for $8.  Hopefully Nepalese cold medicine works well (and I can guess the dosage since there arent any directions).

So far the most interesting thing I’ve seen is cell phone usage.  We’re in a very remote area – no roads, no cars, and everything here was trekked in from somewhere else.  But, cellphones are everywhere, and everyone (even the kids) seems to have one.

The things I miss the most – pizza and showers…and probably clean clothes, but I dont think I’ve had to wear anything twice yet and we might be able to do laundry tomorrow.  The food has been amazing, but I can’t tell you how badly I wanted pizza when we got here today.  And of course there’s a pizza restaurant down the street, but we cant eat it because we’ll get sick from food we arent used to.  The lodge has a solar shower, but the guide warned us not to use it if we werent feeling well because of the heat loss between being done and getting dressed.  The temp also varies – one of our group members got a shock of cold water and had to have someone come fix it.  However, it may become too hard to resist before we leave.

Other than that, its been great getting to know our group.  After only a few days, it’s like we’ve been friends forever.

Traveling while sick is anything but fun.  Travel that includes a 4am wake-up call and a 27 minute prop  plane ride over the mountains while sick is definitely not fun.

Flying into Lukla is an adventure, it’s basically an uphill runway into the side of a mountain, and conditions have to be perfect or the plane doesnt fly.  We were supposed to leave at 6am, but faced delay after delay due to rain and weather.  After 6.5 hours of sleeping on the airport floor, (I can only imagine what I was breathing off of that floor – luckily or unluckily, I was too sick to care), we finally took off for Lukla.  We had about a 30 minute window to get on the plane, take off, and land, due to incoming weather.  I remember being woken up and having to quickly run out to a bus to get on a plane….complete whirlwind…

The flight was beautiful?  Terrifying?  Probably all of the above.  Beautiful views of the mountains, and then the shortest runway ever….you can see the end of the runway when you land, and the whole thing slants upward.  Google it – it’s crazy.  Typically, I’d be terrified, but once again – too sick to care.

Because we got in so late, and not all of our bags made the flight (of course mine was one of them), we spent the night at a lodge in Lukla.  There werent any lights, but there was a bed, a pillow, and a bathroom in the room.  Perfect place to curl up and sleep for fourteen hours…or at least try to.  I feel like I spent more time waking up and rolling over than I did sleeping, but I dont have a clock, so I’m not really sure.  The two rounds of Nyquil given to me by a fellow traveler (thanks Heather!) were definitely a big help.  After visiting the health center behind the sketchy blue curtain at the Kathmandu airport in search of a cold pill, I was wishing I had gone on an adventure before we left.  Although, who says the health center at the domestic terminal in the Kathmandu airport isnt an adventure…..

This morning, we were woken up with hot tea and began packing our bags.  Breakfast was a mix of porridge, hardboiled eggs, and a tortilla looking thing.  Most of which I dont typically eat for breakfast, but did enjoy.

Then, the trek began.  And, other than being sick and sliding down a flight of stairs, it was amazing.  The beautiful architecture of prayer wheels and stupas and prayer flags pop up around every turn.  The local children couldnt wait to give us high fives and call out Namaste as we passed.  Or, they would just follow us down the path until our guide shooed them home.  We were treated to beautiful views of the mountains and steel rope bridges over an amazing glacier river.

I started to feel a little better, thanks to some dayquil from another fellow trekker (thanks Larry!).  But, I was still ready for a rest when we got to Monjo.  We’re camping outside of a lodge, but we’re allowed to sit inside and use the lighting until we head to the tents.  Tomorrow we have a short hike to Namche, but a huge gain in elevation.  It will be interesting to see how I fare, both with the altitude and the sick.