Okay, I have a few hours before I leave for the airport. I have just finished a really good Thai food lunch, hot green curry, rice, (yes I am back to rice) and a big bottle of beer, ummm good!
Since I was unable to upload pictures earlier, I thought I would try to describe what it was like to Trek to 5,000 meters.
The walks were not particularly hard, or so my legs told me after the events. The terrain, though, varied enormously. The first day, as I was trying to catch up with the group, was relatively easy. Minor ups and downs no real climbs and the trend was downward as the airport was at roughly 2,800 meters and I ended up stopping at 2,500 meters or so. It was only 4 1/2 hours but I was ready to stop.
The next morning, Christmas day, I awoke to a half yak train at about 5:00 am. (They mix yaks and cows so that the animals still have sure footing and can carry hardy loads but can exist at low altitudes! Like 2,800 meter low altitude!) The creatures all have bells and I swear I thought it was Santa coming to pay me a visit. I was anxious to get going so we were on the trail by about 7:00 am ready for the relatively short but sweet, trek uphill to Namche Bazarr. I am not sure the kilometers, but...essentially as soon as you begin to walk you begin to climb. Crossing several high bridges before we really began to climb. Namche is, I think about 3,400 meters, and I had started at about 2,500, so...it was all virtually up hill. The path was red dirt, initally through pine forrest that was reminiscent of old Kahuku or Lanai in the mountains. And...the path went up, and then up, and then up some more. At one switch back there was a fantastic view, one of the first and only, of a clear topped Everest. I will get that thing loaded eventually, maybe once I get back to NYC.
Met up with the group in Namche, had my first hot (okay luke warm) shower, didn't realize it would be the last shower until the return to Namche almost two weeks later. The proprietors of the lodge in Namche had travelled to Hawaii twice and had Hawaii pictures all over the walls and a bag of Kona Coffee taked to a beam, talk about out of context! How great to be remined of warmth and sun, though as the temperatures started to dip to freezing.
Leaving Namche the next day was another uphill climb, not nearly as long. The previous day was a 3 hour climb, Boxing Day, it was a longer walk, but not as steep. We walked along a ridge for a while, and then wound along the side of the mountain on small little trails that got a little scary for those of us, okay it would seem that it got scary just for me, who has a hard time with heights. At one point, and I may be melding days here, but at one point, as the trail wound around the outside edge of a ridge, it seemed as if it shrunk to about 12 inches wide and was extended out enough so that there was a sheer drop of several thousand meters off the side. I got to that point and my legs just stopped. Noises started to come out of my mouth. Everyone else just blithely walked around...I was stuck...oh...oh...oh...at least was coming out as I stood still trying to force my legs to walk. And...I use sticks, two walking sticks when I trek...that would not do, there was no place to put the sticks and I didn't want to use the one on the inside incase it somehow pushed me out, and didn't want to use the one on the outside incase I slipped over the edge. For those of you with no fear of heights you will be wondering what all the fuss is about. For those few of you who share my paranoia, you may be going green, I know I was.
The guide, god bless his soul, Ngewa Sherpa, came to my rescue. He walked with his back to the edge, (no really with his back to the edge!!!!) holding my hand, and my poles in the other hand, and blocking, or partially blocking my view of the opportunity to plummet 2,000 meters to a sure and painful death! I made it around those awful curves and it wore me out. I think that only took a couple of hours or so, and then we stopped for lunch, I may be missing a day, but...by the time we got going again...I was out of gas, I hate that fear business, it takes up so much energy!
Fredrik had also been feeling ill, not for fear of heights, but from the altitude and it was a slow ascent to the next place with me holding up, barely, at the rear of the party.
But the scenery! Damn, the scenery just kept getting better, more and better views of the mountains would unfold with every turn. We were still below or just climbing through tree line and with every mile we would see a new valley unfold or a completely different angle on the huge peaks that were beginning to really surround us. It really was breathtaking.
We would normally get to a lodge just after lunch, sometimes we would have lunch at the lodge at which we would spend the night. And then...we would crowd into the dining room and wait for the owners to light the poo fire. Gotta love that yak shit, it kept us warm each and every afternoon. Well, maybe not exactly warm, one side would be toasted as it faced the fire, the other side would be quite chilled before the fire would eventually, mostly dispel the deep chill in the room. Almost every afternoon clouds would creep up the valley's and by 3:00-4:00 we would be completely enveloped in fog, sometimes so much so that you could hardly see beyond the windows. There was no running water in the places we stayed, or there might have been a line from the local stream to the kitchen, but that would be a black hose that someone would lay into the stream and across the path. No water mains or pipes as we would know them. Toilets were often of the aisian variety, porcelained squatters, and when it got cold, they became pee rinks. The area around the porcelain frozen slick, and that wasn't from teh water one was supposed to pour down the hole. In most cases, once we hit 4,000 meters, the big barrels of water we were supposed to use to rinse down the toilets were frozen, never solid, but a good layer of ice needed to be broken through, especially in the morning.
The lodges were mostly uninsulated, mostly single pane windows. There was often a window ledge and we would put our water there, only to wake to it frozen the next day. I had one bad day of altitude sickness, wouldn't wish it on anyone, Fredrik had several days of a headache, but we seemed to get over it at the same time, in Dingboche, with only two days to go to the Base Camp. Unfortunately another of our party, Pablo from Chile, now living in Australia, wasn't so lucky. He started feeling badly leaving Dingboche and got progressively worse as we ascended. I think he also got that lousy cold that started me on my way to my sinus infection. Thank goodness that didn't bother me, apart from some occaisional coughing bouts.
As we got above tree line, the trail became more rocky and somewhat less pretty. Once we crossed the big valley hosting the town of Periche and climbed past the memorials to many who had lost their lives in pursuit of the Everest Summit, we entered a dry rock ridden moonscape. It was hard walking for me and my knees that don't like to bend, and the scenery didn't change as dramatically anymore, but it was still wild.
On New Year's Eve we reached the lodge we would stay at after visiting Base Camp and then turning around. There is "no there, there" at base camp, just a glacier with some sports marked on it. The hike to the camp was a hard one, at least for me and my knees, I stopped halfway, hiked up a small ridge, got the best view I could of Everest (which is not visible from the Base Camp by the way) and then turned back to Gorak Shep. Betty, Sam (married to Pablo), and Fredrik continued on another hour up to the camp. Pablo by this time was really sick and it was kinda scary, we thought he should have gone down or stayed where we had been the night before not climbed another 300 meters or so. By the time all returned there were headaches all around, appetites were not good and the mood on this New Year's Eve was decidedly restrained. The best part...the next day...we were headed down to a lower altitude.
And that is where I will leave it for now. I will take myself back to the hotel, finish packing and get ready to head to the airport. It was a great trip. Nepal is wonderful, and I am ready to come home.
My favorite mountain, Ama Dablam, its a mother with her arms open holding her child. Beautiful mountain!
another gorgeous sun rise over the mountains.
Just a couple of other photos while the cyberspace god is smiling. The one above is of a sweet young woman who invited us to her house when she met us out walking. We had to cross this Iron beam to get to her place, can't believe I did it, even if it was hardly any drop.
And This is me actually teaching, imagine that. 
We would do the Hokey Pokey at the end of every class, and that was a big hit!
This is the view from the class room of the sun coming up. Ain't it beautiful!