Day 4--Namche to Tengboche

No sooner did I post the first three days of blogs at the little Internet cafe in Namche that a thunder storm/snow storm rumbled over the village knocking out the Internet.  I was lucky to get something posted at all, I suppose. 

After dinner at the Khumbu Lodge with Nima's friends, we headed off to bed not sure what the next morning would hold.  The snow threatened to keep us in Namche for another day.

The town was blanketed in snow when we woke, but not enough snow to cancel the next leg of our journey from Namche to Tengboche.  We decided to leave a little later than originally planned, to give the snow some time to melt.  Nima also got a call from Chindi in Kathmandu saying that Chindi’s mother (Nima's mother-in-law) was hitching a ride to Namche on a helicopter that was heading in to pick up an ill trekker.  Nima's 73-year-old mother-in-law had been in Kathmandu for four months or so recuperating from illness and was ready to come back to her home in Namche.  After breakfast, we hiked up to the helipad on the far side of town arriving just in time to watch the helicopter soar in through the jagged mountains and land in Namche.  We greeted Nima's mother-in-law and walked with her down to the Shangri-La.

 

I'd be concerned too if I was sandwiched between two giants.

Finally, around 10:30 we donned our daypacks and headed out of town.  The hike from Namche to Tengboche started off very slippery and wet due to the snow.  We had to watch our steps carefully so as not to slip and fall off the trail.

 Spinning the prayer wheels before heading off on our journey

Yaks... a cute hazard on the trail

Fried noodle lunch break

The first few hours were relatively easy with some downhill sections and some flat portions, hugging the mountain.  Walking along the cliff trail gave us a sensation of flying through the Himalayas, as the hillside plummeted several thousand feet down to the river below.  After lunch, we were faced with a two-hour climb right up a mountainside to Tengboche.  It was intense for all of us, but fortunately for me, I had my secret weapon--the iPod.  Once again Nepali pop music powered me up the trail.  I made it to Tengboche in good time and waited for Gideon and Nima to arrive before heading to the Tengboche Guest House.

 We made it to Tengboche!

Nima and the lodge keeper, another friend

Tengboche and the Tengboche monastery

We were completely worn out and perhaps a bit dehydrated.  We gulped down some tea and noodle soup before heading to our rooms for a hard nap. 

It was important to wake up for some dinner to avoid altitude sickness, so we dragged our tired bodies out of our snuggly sleeping bags and hobbled into the restaurant for a meal.  A large trekking group of about twenty people were already hanging out playing games after dinner.  Walking into an enclosed space chock-full of stinky, dirty trekkers was an assault to my delicate sensibilities, to put it mildly.  I lost my appetite, but forced myself to eat some soup and momos.  Gideon was fortunate enough to have a stuffed nosed, so he was not so offended by our odiferous company.

With our eyelids heavy, we wandered to our cold little room to rest up for tomorrow's trek.  It was a cold night, indeed, out on top of this windy mountaintop, but sleep came quickly.