Filthy, Full and Happy

To Namche, Nepal -- 3440m (11,280ft)

Hello, Meg here. Whew, what a day.  We had a wonderful start at the Dhole Resort, where the kids wolfed down another meat curry, and I had a potato/cheese spring roll. Yum.  As we were preparing to leave, the proprietor came to our room to show us a neat picture her husband had painted.  It showed the entire Khumbu region where we'd been -- towns, valleys and mountains -- in a neat Nepali style.  We declined, but as we were geared up and ready to leave outside, we changed our minds.  I'm so excited.  It will be a really great reminder of our awesome time here.

Yak dung stove

Dhole Resort owner and husband, the artist

At 9 a.m., we set off for Namche.  After only fifteen minutes, we ran into two guys from, of all places, Alabama.  We had a nice chat with Mike and Mason.  Mason was hoping that new policy changes would not devastate the solar energy industry.

Again, the day was lovely and this valley is even more beautiful than the one to Everest.  Not having the huge gravel gray glacier running down along side helps a lot.  Many of the tiny rivers snaking down the steep valley walls had fantastic ice sculptures. It wasn't long and we were back in the trees and still descending.

Mason and Mike

After about two hours, we made it to the town of Phortse Tenga.  Yikes, we'd only gone about one third of the way.  We really needed to start hustling.  Next thing we know, we started going up and up and up.

Rest break

An hour of huffing and puffing got us to the top, just in time for lunch.  We arrived at the aptly named, Hill Top Restaurant, which just happened to be owned by the sister of the woman from the Dhole Resort.  It was a bright, clear day and surprisingly hot in the sun.  Though we were all still hungry after our so-so ham and cheese sandwiches, we were anxious to get to Namche, but not before meeting up with both Jean-Luc, the French man from the day before and Daiwa, the Nepali technician from the Italian Pyramid.  Daiwa had a couple days off, so was headed to Namche to see family.  Expecting only two more hours, we set off again.

The trail continued down, running along the side of the ridge and was very dusty.  Poor Kylie was tripping on her shoes repeatedly today. I'm grateful it never happened in a very dangerous spot, but she fell down no less than four times.  It's awful to see.  Finally, I had her put on her Chacos. Apparently, her shoe laces gets caught on the eyelet of the opposite shoe, and down she goes.  (Dean's note: We finally noticed that the material holding the top eyelet on one boot was loose letting it flop away and easily get caught on the opposite lace!) We're very fortunate, she's not been badly hurt. At one point, we weren't sure if we were on the right route, so looked at the map and consulted the book. Shortly after, we ran into the main trail, yeah.

We had another post-sun-behind-the-mountains arrival in Namche.  We initially grabbed a room at one lodge, but the hotel seemed nearly deserted and the bathroom was down a flight of stairs (whimps).   So, we quickly bailed and got ourselves back down to the Sherpa Village where we'd stayed ten days before.  Our three bed room is slightly nicer than the first time, so hopefully we'll get a good nights sleep for our early start tomorrow.

I'm certainly feeling our big days, my hips and knees are sore, but my feet are holding up, which is a big relief. Today, just coming into Namche, we spotted a beautiful bird we thought was a peacock. Just then, Daiwa walked up and explained it wasn't a peacock, but the Nepali national bird, the Impeyan Pheasant.  It was gorgeous.

It is now 6 p.m. and I'm filthy, exhausted, full, and happy.  The lodge is snug and busy and includes a big group of South African trekkers, who have made a fuss over the kid's getting to Base Camp. They are just getting started.  Already we can see the haze in the air from the Kathmandu Valley.  We've been so spoiled by the beauty of the mountains. It'll be hard to be thrown back into the hustle and bustle of Kathmandu and beyond.  That being said, I'm so excited about the thought of a shower, laundry, sandals, and Diet Coke.  I hope we can get our plane out of Lukla ok.  But first, we need to get there.