Day Ten--We're coming home baby!

Today we walked from Tengboche back to Namche.  For some reason, Namche feels most like home here. 

Before we headed out of Tengboche, we paid a visit to the Buddhist monastery.  Gideon and I have been to monasteries before, but there was something quite different about visiting one with Nima.  As a Sherpa, he is Buddhist.  We were able to watch his rituals in and in some cases emulate them.  We were even blessed by the lone monk in the monastery. 

 Nima with the monks busily rebuilding a mani wall in the background

Our hike back to Namche involved some major downhill sections as well as more uphill climbs, which I was not overly excited about.  Fortunately, the weather was warm and clear, and no more down jackets, hats and gloves were required.  What a change from the day before!  All three of us felt strong again and were able to breathe what felt like full breaths once more.  Our smiles and upbeat attitudes had returned as well and we enjoyed conversing almost the whole five hours of our hike. 

Yummy Sherpa stew (no Sherpas were harmed in the making of my lunch)

THE BIGGEST load we saw on the entire trek.  Check out Gideon's face.

One thing that sticks out about our hike today was the great number of yaks and zupyuks on the trail.  All were heavily loaded with expedition gear and supplies heading to Everest base camp.  It was warm and dusty on the trail and the poor beasts were hot and tired, some even panting.  I thought only dogs panted, but yaks do too.  One memorable yak encounter was when we came across a team on a rather narrow part of the trail and one decided to pass another.  As the yak tried to pass, the gear got hung up with the other’s and one of the two yaks was almost pushed off the edge of the trail (and down a few thousand feet). 

"Yeah, that scared me," Nima said.  I'm always surprised to find out when something scares Nima.  He seems like such a fearless guy, especially here in his element, but he's not afraid to admit when he's scared, which I admire.

Around 3:15, we arrived in Namche.  It was like coming home, especially when we came to the Shangri-La.  Chhiki was there to welcome us, as well as Tsering Phinjo (sounds like cheering Pinsu), her five-year-old son, and Buddha Raj, her fifteen-year old godson. 

The absolute highlight of our return was the hot shower.  It had been a week since our last shower, and we all were offending each other and ourselves with our stinkiness and layers of grime.  Never has a shower felt so good!