Friday, November 7th, 2014
Kathmandu, Nepal
I'm staying in the Hotel Shanker, which is an old Rama palace. You can tell; it has an old world feel to it, very ornate. The grounds are beautiful and the staff are kind and attentive.
I decided to get a taxi this morning and visit the monkey temple in Swayambhunath. I noticed a lot of things on the ride there, (1) Even though the guide book insists you could walk there from where I'm staying (in Thamel), I wouldn't even consider it, as I'm alone. (2) There are no other women on the streets that look like me. I stick out horribly. (3) The taxi was a good choice. The ride there and back is $15, which believe me, is an excellent deal.
I mixed in with the other tourists but I'm still the only blond girl to be found. I found Charity a Christmas present and successfully bartered for it (still probably paid too much, but the people here are so poor it's hard to haggle very hard).
The traffic still amazes me! There are no traffic signals and it really is one chaotic mess. There is no other way to describe it. Not sure what I'm going to do with the rest of my day...
November, 12th, 2014
Namche Bazaar (Nam-Shee)
There are no words to express how beautiful it is here or how hard the trek has been so far.
The first day of trek, Monday, wasn't too hard. It was similar to many of the hikes I've done in Utah on Saturday mornings. It took us about three hours and wasn't too grueling except I did sprain my ankle rather badly near the end of the day.
The flight into Luckla that day was also uneventful. it is a scary landing because, as you prepare to land, you are flying straight into a wall of mountains, onto a short runway, on a cliff!
Day 2
Today was challenging. The first part of the day wasn't too bad. We left Phadking around 8am and went up and down numerous times. We saw waterfalls and crossed swinging bridges. I took lots of pictures. Around noon we stopped for lunch. My room mate, Megan, had a really bad night last night (vomiting all night). She is still weak and can't eat lunch. I'm amazed she can do today at all. I don't think I could.
After lunch the next 3.5 hours are pretty much straight up the mountain. My ankle doesn't hurt but I have it wrapped and I'm using poles to add strength to my left leg and I'm breathing pretty hard the entire time but I don't have any signs of altitude sickness, which is good. I take a step, breathe, think "I can do hard things" take another step, breathe, think "I can do hard things... I felt victorious and very tired at the end of the day. Everyone else in our group is beginning to feel the effects of altitude sickness but the others are from India and Australia so I have quite an advantage, being from the mountains. They don't eat much and they have horrible headaches. I'm ravenous, eating a lot, and full of energy.
Day 3
There was something sad that happened last night. Our guide, Aziz's mother died so he had to catch a helicopter back to Kathmandu. He was very sweet; we all felt for him. We hugged him, gave him some of our funds, and wished him well. Another guide will be with us now. His name is Rishi and he is just returning from EBC so this will be his second trip, with no rest in between and no time to see his family. Today we only climb just a little bit; it's an acclimatization day. The Namche Bazaar (where we are staying) is surrounded by unbelievable big, beautiful mountains. We stand in awe of their beauty and majesty. We come back from our short hike and visit the many shops that are here. I bought some hats for the kids and a scarf and a jacket for me. Things are very inexpensive. Then, Megan, David, and I went to see a documentary about Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay's ascent to the Everest summit. It was quite interesting. Then we came back to hotel, which is called "The Nest." I'm looking forward to tomorrows adventures.
Saturday, November 15th, 2014
I took my first bucket shower today. We have stopped for the night in Dingbouche and there are no real showers or flush toilets. What you do is ask the manager to heat you up a bucketful of water then, you go into a room (like an outhouse minus the toilet) that has a solar panel on the roof, strip down, pour water over yourself with pitcher (which is provided with the bucket of warm water) and proceed to wash. It was tricky because I had to make sure a lot of the water went back into the bucket, after I poured it on myself because I had to reuse it a couple of times to rinse all of the soap from my hair and body. I felt so much cleaner though. It has been three days since I bathed last. The amount of dirt that came off my feet alone was so gross! It was well worth the 350 rupees ($3.50 American). I was also able to charge one of my batteries and use wi-fi at a bakery so I'm ready to go on up the mountain. We are three days away from Everest Base Camp.
The only really bad day I had was day 4. I had diarrhea the whole night before. I was up the entire night and could only get a piece of toast down the next morning. I was so weak; I actually started bawling - crying like a big baby - about an hour before lunch. My lower back was killing me and my ankle had swollen up even though I continued to wrap it so I was kind of a pathetic mess that day. Our guide, Rishi, actually called one of our porters back to help me with my pack. After I got lunch down and had someone else carry my pack for a couple of hours I felt much better and had no problem the rest of the day.
The food is usually pretty good. I've had frys, mushroom pizza, oatmeal, tea, and lots of fruit. No meat. There is no refrigeration so everyone becomes vegetarian while we are in the mountains.
Everyone else I'm traveling with has severe headaches and has lost their appetite. They are all experiencing altitude sickness. Tomorrow we press on to Duglha - 15, 090 ft. I feel for my companions but I'm so thankful to be well.
Monday, November 17th, 2014
