Greetings,
After my first solid sleep on the Everest trail, I awoke at 6:30 am to pack up my things, head down to breakfast and continue onward to Namche. This day would be the first solid trekking day, taking us up to 3400 meters elevation, passing through breathtaking views, some being the first of the larger snow capped mountains.
We headed out around 7:30 and had perfect weather. The sun was shining and I was hiking in a thin long sleeve. Despite having been sick the previous few days, I was feeling full of energy, my new hiking boots were good on my feet, and I was content with my efforts. The trail in this lower region was amazing, crossing many more suspension bridges, and quaint little villages.
We rolled into Namche after about 5 hours, and checked into my hotel. I had more amazing views of the mountains opposite to the village, and was eager to roam around some. I had seen this place in photos and TV travel shows. It is a cool village, the hub of the Everest trail, and the last place where you can pick up some last minute supplies. The quintessential stone buildings dominating the bowl of the mountainside, stacked on top of each other up the slope. All day you can hear the “tink, tink, tink” as the Sherpa people work to shape more stones into buildings.
The rest of the day, I ate alot, drank alot of water and didn’t do much else. I was bracing for the coming days, still trying to get as healthy as possible, and now had a mild cold setting in. A standard practice on the treks, I would stay 2 days here to acclimatize to the altitude.
On day 2 we awoke the same time, and headed for a day hike to keep our bodies moving. The weather was amazing again, and I got my first views of the famous mountain, Everest. We roamed for 4.5 hours through the village of Khumjung, and then back into Namche. I must admit, my knees and endurance were feeling it a little bit, but another nights rest would be good.
I did some inventory as this was the last stop to grab cash, and had an anxiety attack when I realized I had made a horrible mistake. I had left $200 bucks worth of Nepali rupees in my bag in Kathmandu….with all my cards. I did not have enough money to complete the trek, and no options at this point to pull more cash. Wow. This really undermined my confidence in myself, in my tired state. With flaky internet I messaged my trek organizer and through no small miracle, he came up with a solution that involved a Paypal transfer and a long chat with the hotel owner. Long story short, I got 25,000 rupees in my hand, and basically felt like an idiot. But things were in order, and the next day we were starting to get into the real meat of the trek.
April 25th – 7:30 am
Venn and I awoke at our usual time to some crappy weather, stuffed our faces with breakfast and headed out on our days journey. This day would be a 4-6 hour jaunt along the mountainside, followed by a downhill and then a steep uphill into the famous stop of Tengbouche. Known for it’s large, beautiful Buddhist Monastery, Tengbouche would take us to 3800 meters, and if the weather cleared, offer some more stunning views.
Again, this day I felt great. We made amazing time, and rolled into Tengbouche just before noon. Sadly the weather was still dense fog and sleet, so we checked into our hotel just next to the monastery. I grabbed a cheap room on the second floor of the hotel. Venn and I decided to meet at 3pm to see the monastery, so until then, I thought I would rest my weary frame.
I had been fighting some strong negative thoughts this day, struggling with my incompetence with the money, fighting off some nagging doubts about my desire to trek for 17 days, thinking about what home would be like afterwards, and missing Tina after our 10 wonderful days together. Just before we arrived, I cleared my mind, and made a deal with myself to completely focus on the trek, and find some inner peace in this beautiful place. I had come here for a reason, and I would let myself find it.
At 11:56 am, local time, as I unpacked my wet clothes and settled into my room, I could not have imagined how irrelevant all of those negative thoughts were about to become…