11/26/19
Last night we slept like babies. My limbs were still screaming today but in a good way. It feels so good not to have that altitude sickness feeling. Today we decided to do a combo hike to get to Namche (where mom and Viv are) a day earlier. This meant an 8 hour hike mostly downhill with one more devastating uphill towards the end. The sky was blue, the birds were chirping, and we were again below the alpine zone. Looking out we were able to view our destinations over the massive rolling hills and valleys. We set out at a great pace and had a great hike. I wanted to discuss the multitud of flown out hikers. I had not mentioned this before for fear of jinxing our own progress but we did extremely well. At each stop on the way up we lost hikers to illness, injury, fatigue, or just plain poor alti-tudes...(chuckling to self over that one). For example, at our last stop an entire group decided they’d had enough and required 6 helicopters to pick them up. Some hikers broke down crying in the trail itself and turned around. An interesting theme Ben and I noted were the couples. The men would be determined and pacing forward while their female counterparts carried looks of dread and quiet contemplation of a soon ending relationship. Now, before all you feminists attack, the single women and groups of women looked ecstatic and preformed admirably.
We arrived at our destination and were greeted with enthusiastic hugs and dreams from my mom. We they promptly all took showers. Warm, steaming, soap filled showers. I realized I hadn’t washed my face in a week and scrubbed every single inch with glee. Refreshed and hydrated we congregated again in the dining hall to share pictures and regale stories of our adventures. Yet, again after a monster hike I turned in early to bed. Sorry for the late post. Only two more days of hiking then we are back in Kathmandu.
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