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Tuesday, 25 October 2005 |
Date: 2005-10-25 08:20:21
Geo Coord: 27.77183N 86.72277E
Altitude: 9407
Kenjoma to Namche to Monjo: Our guesthouse was very nice change for us. Shawna’s knees were bothering her from the long downhill, but other than the group was in good spirits. We joked around at breakfast in the upstairs  dining room of the lodge. The view was amazing as normal. Shawna and I commented on how we used to ooooh and ahhh over large white snow capped mountains towering around us, and now we just trudge on past them. We had a steady down hill for the first part of the days hike. It was nice and we walked at a steady pace. You could defiantly tell that our climbing stamina had improved. We were only a two-hour hike from Namche and soon arrived in the familiar trekking hills of Namche we had hiked a few weeks ago. When we arrived in Namche it marked the full circle of our trip. After Namche we would be backtracking across trails we had already walked. Physiologically this signified the true end of the exploration part of our trek. Now it was a 3 day walk to the airport. We had traveled over 80 kilometers and had climbed and ascended over 15000 feet in elevation over the last few weeks. We had gained a day due to the speed of our walking so we will be able to fly a day early from Lukla on the 27th to Katmandu. This will give us a relaxing day of shopping and more importantly a shower a day earlier. None of us except Nicolas had taken showers on our trip. We freshened up each morning with a dish of hot water and baby wipes. It was hard to do laundry because of the cold so we just re-wore the clothes we had. Nicolas (the Swiss guy) however went to several guesthouses to use the shower (a bucket and a hose). He also spent multiple nights in them to recover from his cold. We gave Nicolas a hard time for his Swiss accent and for just being Swiss. His uptight attitude and dry sense of humor led to the two Americans and the British guy in the group marking him as an entertaining target for jokes. He took it all quite well and dished the jokes back at the same rate. In fact, as I write this he just walked in the room reeking of aftershave. We don’t know who he is trying to impress other than himself, but that seems to be enough for him.
We are a few hours of from dinner. We still have the same three items at each meal: kale, cabbage, and potatoes. We have to see what combination they are mixed to feed us tonight. Simon and I are sitting waiting for the fire in the lodge to be started. A little old woman is banging on the smoke stack and loading the stove with Yak crap.  Soon we should be somewhat warm as the grass and Yak bile starts to blaze. I have just downloaded the days photos and have to start to edit the lot. I will look for two good ones to stick in today’s log before my batteries die. I have pored myself another cup of hot coco and am ready for the edits. Normally as soon as I bring up the photos on the laptop I have a crowd of our porters and guides, however today it’s just us four in the lodge dining area (for now). I ended up shifting over to the burning Yak crap to get warmer. Once the sun goes down it is damn cold. We also have a river next to us to add humidity to the air. I have went back over the logs and notices how poorly they are written. If I have time when I get home I may try to update the logs I wrote while being cold, exhausted, and altitude sick into a cohesive and entertaining story. Simon told me that his family and friends have been following the trek on the web. I am glad someone is reading this, and I apologize for my dyslexic typing to the grammarians out in webland.
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