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Beautiful mostly downhill. Nimmi had said that she would meet up with the Porter and I in a bout 15 min. An hour later I wondered if I heard wrong again. I had to pee in the forest. Hard to find a spot but I did and was discrete. Hey female campers, it’s ok to use those light days pads camping and hiking. Keeps things dryer and fresher. Not sure what men do about that, but I am kinda a clean freak and bad smells bother me. The first day and night it was diesel and pollution. Kathmandu is in a large bowl so the air is very stagnant.

I also thought that I would be smart and bring a small bottle of essential oils to drip on the bed, pillows as needed. I think some of it leaked so that has added a strong eucalyptus smell.

Then on the trail, so much dung, ox, mule, horse. Hard not to step in it.

Such beautiful scenery, then we stopped for lunch at Nimmis sister restaurant. It was lively with a large group from Singapore and Taiwan. I had some noodles with an egg on top.

Then more hiking up and up! we hiked the rest of the way mostly up. We took the original trail. It was less crowded and shady.

Finally we arrived at Tengboche. There is a beautiful monastery that began in the 1600’s. Back to the lodge. It is a guest house with shared bathrooms. Nimmi changed the plans because she knew I was tired. Rested a few min and then had basically some ramen for dinner. Just like college!

Internet is super slow so no photos. Will add later.

Waiting for the porter. He’s late!

After a nap yesterday I walked around. Natalie suggested I walk down to the village. I wasn’t sure how far I could walk. Altitude is tough!

This is a pic Hans took from his hike of my hotel.

See the rock? They built the hotel around it.

So after dinner it’s time to start organizing and packing. You have to decide what to wear. I have been too hot each day hiking. I have learned to ask Nimmi what to wear and how much rain gear to carry. I need a bigger day pack.

Everyday I carry 2 liters of water and try to drink 2 liters before I get going. It’s hard to drink that much.

There is hot water and tea everywhere. I like the ginger tea and they are surprised when I don’t have milk and honey in it.

I kept the room heater on until it was so dry that I had to turn it off, same with electric mattress pad. I woke up a few times in the night, mostly to urinate but also to check the mountain. The moon light was beautiful on it. The mice scrambling on the roof was not.

More later Porter is here!

This hotel was built in the1960’s. It is in the Guinness world records as the highest elevation hotel at 13,000 feet. You can hike here or helicopter. I hiked!

The trail was beautiful but hard.

And at the end of the trail, I got a big hello from the Australian, Hans. We met 5.5 years ago, just before Covid. He happened to be in the area, he hiked 9 km to say hi. He just did a long hike called three passes with a group and tried to go to Island Peak but too much snow. He gave me a gift of his crampons.

We arrived to Everest being socked in

Lunch at the hotel was soup and spaghetti and jello. You have to do their meal service and timing is strict.

Here’s the room:

Here’s the room

The developer wanted all 12 rooms to have an Everest view

My room has heated mattress pad and a heater but it’s still cold. Dinners at 6:30.

This is a beautiful, brightly colored city. It is very hilly. Natalie and Ricky made me get out of bed to look around. They are in Maui. It’s 35 degrees here. I chatted with a local man and pointed which direction Everest was. Still so breathtaking in every direction. I have the mountain gunk in my throat, but otherwise I feel good

Today we hike up to Everest View. Should be great views of Everest and maybe the only ones I will see. The weather is so unpredictable.

Just had breakfast toast with butter and fried eggs. It’s nice to eat anything I want. Usually I am gluten free but it seems that cheese, yes cheese, a girl from Wisconsin is sensitive to cheese!

We started off after breakfast. On acclimatization days you are still supposed to to hike. I was thinking a jacuzzi sounded good. So up, up we went. I was thinking 10, 15 maybe20 minutes but it was a two hour hike, maybe more. There were so many groups on the narrow trail. We took lots of pictures

We stopped for lunch. Should be here soon. I am hungry! So far it has been challenging but the hard part is coming up! Two hours of a steep climb. And then it started raining!

But I put long underwear on this morning. A big mistake. And when buying long underwear, pants, rain pants, it’s a good idea to see if they go over your boots.

Here are the stats for the day. Doesn’t seem like a big day but it was, tricky footing, mules, oz and horses to dodge, slower hikers, mud, tons of feces….

Going through the little villages was entertaining, people are busy, kids running around. So many dogs, no cats.

So many pictures to post

So I misunderstood Nimmi. At first I thought she said Hilary Beach, named after Hilary and Tengzing who were the first to summit Everest in 1953. She was speaking of Hilary Bridge. I heard her say after we get to Hilary Bridge, it would be the two hour straight up part! First I didn’t know that the bridge that overlooks the bungee spot was Hilary Bridge and second she said that at some point it was 2 hours to Hilary Bridge and the our destination, Namche Bazaar was ten minutes further. I could have kissed her! The whole time, I was waiting for the bridge and thinking, two more hours! Couldn’t have been happier!

Staying at the Khumbu Hotel. Sir agility stayed here. Oldest hotel in town

I am sore, my heart rate was crazy high, but I did use Natalie advice to walk 50 steps, then rest 1 min. I followed Richard’s advice to drink 2 L of water before leaving 2 and lunch with electrolytes and more on the trail.

I made it!! Pretty proud of myself. Two songs went through my head. “ This is not so bad, not so bad” and “ Tell me why” Backstreet Boys?

Time for a shower and bed. It’s 7:30pm. And did I mention my bed has an electric blanket?? Hope it works!

Good Morning. It’s 6:30am. About 42 degrees inside and outside. Looks like sunny day. It is so sweet that so many people care about what’s happening here. The blizzard where people are being helped is on the Tibet side of My Everest. I am on the Nepal side. Yes there is a lot more snow than usual and people have had to turn back in certain areas, like Island Peak at 20,000 ft ,but all is good.

Now it’s colder but my luggage arrived. They don’t always load your luggage with the passengers. Probably due to weight but there was a chance that ours might not arrive. It would have been a rough night because I needed dry clothes. Not even that sweaty but I feel so much better now. And I had some ginger tea and chicken fried noodles. I was really hungry. Crazy that I only did 16000 steps! Felt like more.

So today I saw several people doing their laundry in a tub and agitating the dirt off by stepping on the clothes, then they rinsed and played the clothes flat on concrete to dry.

I saw comforters laid out on the bushes. Glad I have a sleeping bag.

I had deep thoughts , ( my brother will doubt this) but I read a book that posed this thought, he said, “There only two questions in the world…Do you love me? And How much do you love me.” He used this in the concept of nations and politics and religion but I think it’s true in many instances. For example, does one country “love” another country and how much? Would they go to war. So I was thinking about that, most of the time I do not listen to books or podcasts etc while I am hiking, My friend Megan can’t believe this, but it’s true, so today I came to the conclusion that travelers are just exploring what is the same and what is different in the places they go and the people they meet. Think about it!

Nimmi arrived a bit after 6. We waited for the driver. Back to the airport. It was so busy. More waiting. We were scheduled to depart at 7 but it did we didn’t start the process until 9:15. Luggage got checked and then more waiting at the gate. Finding the right bus was a challenge. This took us to the plane. We were delayed again and they told us that we had to deplane for awhile. In minutes I could see the co-pilot starting the pre check

The plane took off in a very short distance so I wasn’t too worried about the landing. This plane was made for this. It was to be a 20 minute flight but we had to circle a bit for a window. It was fun trying to figure out where the airport was.

The runway is only 1739 feet! Perfect landing and off the plane. Have the baggage claim tickets to our guide and started trekking. First stop was breakfast. I wasn’t hungry since I ate my left over pizza. My favorite thing to do when traveling is to have pizza for dinner and eat the leftovers for breakfast . I am not a huge breakfast person.

I had some ginger tea and spring rolls. First bathroom without toilet paper, but I was prepared with with tp and wipes. They have soap but a dirty towel.

And we were off. It was a beautiful sunny, clear day perhaps a little warm. I could have been in shorts.

The hiking was beautiful but somewhat difficult for me. I felt the altitude right away but got used to it. It was supposed to be mostly down hill but I think they say that because tomorrow is mostly up hill.

The path was pretty clean and very well maintained. It was still wet from rain yesterday and lots of donkey and ox dung. I learned that the Yaks only survived in higher altitudes because of their heavy fur

The tea house is owned by a friend and classmate of Nimmi’s. It is called Sherpa Eco House

WiFi for $3.50, no towels, no soap, a velvety pillow and bottom sheet and a thick duvet. But a great view from my room

It’s freezing, well 62, but no luggage yet so I am in sweaty clothes. I just ordered some dinner.

Internet is spotty and it will get worse.

Will try to keep posting.

Today I start the physical part of the adventure. I am a little exhilarated and a little apprehensive . I went to sleep really early, 8 pm and woke up many times. Someone was fussing at my door, I yelled get away and he said sorry, the ac fan kept beeping. It’s not hot but the rooms smells like diesel and hotel is in party central. So my bags are packed, back pack, the duffle the the porter will carry and the bag I will leave here

Drinking my ELMT coffee. Electrolytes flavored like a salty Carmel. It’s tasty. I have drank a lot of water. The diamox and water means I will be urinating a lot!.

Hope the day goes well!

I set my alarm for 9am but the front desk called me at 8:45 to remind me that breakfast closed at 10. I went down for an omelet, toast and sausage. Nimmi arrived at 11:30. Still jet lagged

We went for Momos, like dumplings, she didn’t realize that I had just eaten. She helped at the ATM , then I wanted, sunglasses a new fleece and dry eyes stuff. She felt like gear was fine

Another nap until Nimmi brought the duffel that the porter will carry .

I ventured out, hoping not to get lost. Had some pizza and now packing and reading and fighting jet lag.

View from restaurant

Getting up early to catch a flight.