Down, down, down

11/27/19

Sorry about last night but no internet. 

Today’s breakfast was a buzz with stories and anticipation of the end of the hike. Mom and Viv are taking a helicopter to Lukla airport as mom has been having some troubles with the altitude. It will be Viv’s first chopper ride and they landed at our hotel which was one of the production sites for the movie Everest. Anyways, it was interesting as the helicopter came in for a landing on the cliff edge of our hotel between the trees as the porters were shooing cattle off the landing space.

The pilot’s landing was like threading a needle and was a true work of art. Not my cup of tea, for a first flight without terror, but I’m sure Viv and mom will be fine. We watched their action-movie takeoff as my mother waved emphatically from the front window.  Then they were off and we would see them in 2 days time for our dramatic cliff diving flight. We set off for the reverse of one of our hardest uphill days and now it will be a challenge on our reverse muscles. I was as encouraging as I could be to those poor unfortunate souls making the brutal trek upwards. With each person I could see the familiar tortured determination and imminent breaking point stare stamped upon their faces. We meandered down and down and down with disbelief as to how we ever accomplished the reverse direction.  

I did remember a story from yesterday. As we were trekking on a winding, mountain hugging trail I heard a lot of rustling coming from above us. I was looking for some cows when all of a sudden a giant (cow sized) hairy mountain goat leaped a mere 3 feet in front of dad and bounded again off the trail down the mountain to be followed by a male goat twice the size of the first. We were in awe at how fast the goats descended 200-400m in a matter of seconds. We were all feeling in awe, as I said, until our guide came running up to us exclaiming, “I thought that sound was a rockslide headed for you all”.  I, not-so-calmly replied, “WHAT?! There are rockslides here!?!” To which he calming stated, “not to worry, you’re still alive aren’t you?”  

 We finished our second to last day of hiking and sampled some local beer and Yak cheese and steak. One. More. Day.