It's Snowing in Namche!!

4/13/14
Trek Day 4 It's Snowing in Namche!
We awoke to snow and then light rain throughout the day. Due to the lack of visibility our trek for the day was cancelled (I was taking another recuperation day anyway). I spent the day having technical difficulties trying to get this blog with pictures uploaded. Some pictures are gigantic in size, others not..haven't figured out how to fix. The wifi connection is horrible. I was able to upload an album onto Facebook.

Dinner was spent chatting with Kumar and Babu learning more about their families and their culture. Next was to start mentally preparing myself for the days to come. I'm feeling much better, the nausea, epigastric pain and lack of appetite has resolved. I'm looking forward to a safe and healthy trek for all.

Acclimatization day in Namche Bazar

4/12/15
Trek Day 3 Acclimatization day in Namche Bazar

I find it amazing how the mind works and one can forget how painful or difficult an experience was and do it over again. For example childbirth, how many women swore never to do it again. I also had the perfect children, but my children themselves keep telling me I must have forgotten. As for trekking to Mt Everest Base Camp I obviously forgot how challenging that it is. My recollection was that I was not sore during the ascent, we'll let me tell you...

Today we trekked to Everest View Hotel and the climb was totally uphill. As per my norm, I'm last as usual. Lucky for me, that's how I've become great buddies with the lead guide who hangs in the back and monitors and supports the trekkers.

The clouds did not allow for us to see Mt Everest today, but we were able to enjoy the Himalayan range while having tea. Due to the steepness of the descent and the gravel on the uneven rock steps both Rob and I took turns slipping and falling.

The afternoon and evening consisted of lunch, nap, dinner and bed.

Monjo to Namche Bazar

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Monjo to Namche

4/11/15
Trek Day 2 Monjo to Namche Bazar

We were up and out be 8:45 am and I'm still feeling really sore from yesterday's trek. The nausea has resolved, but I continue with epigastric pain with warm fluids hitting my stomach. Our intense uphill trek took 3.5 hours. I again am the slowest in the group, but I'm pacing myself and don't need to rush the need for my cremation.

On arrival to Namche I was able to visit again with Lalit. I then went and had a trekkers massage with Simba at The Real Professional Therapy + Ayurvedic Clinic. He gives the most amazing massages, I had 2 by him on my last trek.

Next on the agenda... nap time followed by dinner and bed.

Lukla to Monjo

4/10/15 Trek Day 1 Lukla to Monjo

I was restless throughout the night and slept for about 4 hours.  Rob  remained jet lagged and slept much less the previous 2 nights. We were awoke at 4:30 am to eat and leave for the airport. The streets of Kathmandu were almost empty, a huge contrast from the busy, noisy, chaotic city during the day hours. The airport was under construction and the entrance to the terminal building was through one small door. Single file lines are not their practice. A sea of people coming from all angles were pushing their way to enter. There was no wait time after entering, the weather was cooperative and our flight left Kathmandu at 6:25 am.  Upon arrival I had another surprise and found out that a guide from my previous trek, Babu, was one of our porters. He was the only guide that I had not maintained contact with over the last 2 years because he is not on Facebook. I also found and purchased a bottle of Mt Everest Whiskey, it is my understanding that it is not made anymore.

We began the trek and I quickly felt the consequences of my lack of preparation. I reluctantly admit that I couldn't wait to return to Nepal to see the people and I needed to be there to support my brother, but I was dreading climbing this hill. My brother Rob has a form of Muscular Dystrophy, Myotonic Dystrophy Type II. The disease causes progressive muscle wasting that is in the upper arms and shoulder and the thighs and hips. Rob's had electrical heart complications due to the disease leading to 4 cardiac ablations. This kept him from joining my previous trek to Mt Everest Base Camp. I needed to be here for him and I should have known better and worked out harder.

It took us 3 hours to trek to Phakding where we had lunch.  Then we set off for Monjo which took 2 hours 45 minutes. My body was screaming, Rob too was feeling the pain and exhaustion the last couple hours of the climb. He admitted only one episode in which his heart raced for a moment. Kendra remained the champ of the day appearing to have no issues. I had hopes to take my time, look around at the beautiful scenery while walking, but this didn't work out so well. If I choose to stay upright and not flat on the ground I need to watch where my feet are going. Throughout the day I felt extremely nauseated, felt symptoms of reflux and had horrible epigastric pain every time I ate or drank water. I'm thinking it was a side effect of the Diamox. Because I felt so bad, I'm going to choose to stop the Diamox.

We arrived at the Tea House in Monjo and were shown our rooms. This was the best room I've had, it had a connecting bathroom. We all took naps before dinner and went to bed early in hopes to feel fully recovered for the strenuous trek tomorrow to Namche Bazar.

Lazy Day in Kathmandu

4/9/15

Today was pretty low key. Rob and Kendra remained jet lagged. We did walk around Kathmandu for a while and I purchased a SIM card for the phone to make local and international calls. I looked again with no success to see if I could find Mt Everest Whiskey that I had seen previously in a Tea House on the mountain.

The pre-trek dinner from Jiban was at the Red Carpet restaurant. Rob and Kendra were too tired and skipped dinner. The Chilean climbing Team, Ernesto Olivares Miranda, Rodrigo Lara and their Cinematographer Fernando Bòrquez, joined us.

Meeting Old and New Friends in Kathmandu

4/8/15 Touring in Kathmandu

I had great pleasure in meeting climbers who plan to summit Mt Everest this season. They are David Liano, from Mexico and Ernesto Olivares Miranda, Rodrigo Lara Sirdar [Chilean] Everest Expedition and their cinematographer Fernando Bòrquez,. The website for their documentary is www.Everset2015.cl.

As I was waiting to go on tour to Bhaktapur with some of Jiban's clients I ran into a couple of my previous guides, Lalit and Lok. I had chatted with Lalit prior to coming to Kathmandu and knew that I would see him somewhere.

I don't know what kind of impression that I give, but Jiban instructed me to not get in a fight with his Saudi Arabian and Lebanese clients. I said, why would you say that? His response "you are American."  Hmmmm, where does one go with that? I behaved myself perfectly welI and had a wonderful time with this group. They left a day ahead of our group with Lalit, Lok and Sapan Ghimire (Jiban's son).

Comedy of Errors!!

April 6-7, 2015

After much planning today is the day we take off for India to go tour the Taj Mahal and then to Nepal to trek to Mt. Everest Base Camp. Our small group consists of my brother Rob and our new friend Kendra. There was a feeling of excitement and nervousness as Rob and I left for the airport being driven by his friend. Kendra was taking another flight and was meeting us in Delhi.

April 6-8, 2015

The day started to turn upside down while on our way to the airport and Rob received a call from Kendra saying that she has been denied boarding and going to India because she does not have a VISA. Rob and Kendra had filled out the applications and were told by many people that they could obtain the VISA upon arrival in the country. Well, not true for US citizens. After dealing with the ticket desk and phone calls to the India Embassy Rob had to change reservations and flew out the next day arriving in Kathmandu on 4/8/15 at 8:30 pm. Kendra flew to Abu Dhabi after spending a day in the airport before arriving in Kathmandu on 4/8/15 at 3:30 pm.

I had much better luck, but there was still some comedy of errors!! I had my India VISA and was already booked for Delhi, but it was not worth staying in India as planned not knowing if Rob and Kendra would get there. I quickly left to board my flight and with only a few minutes to spare I left a message for Jiban Ghimire, Shangri-La Nepal Trek (The Fixer's Fixer per Outside Magazine), and asked him to book my flight to Kathmandu.

Rob at that time was still on the phone with the India Embassy. After the flight left I realized that Rob had all of my Nepali and India money and I only had a little US cash. On arrival to Delhi on 4/7/15 Jiban texted my flight information. Here is where I made a gigantic mistake. At the top of the text message it gave me the address to SpiceJet. I showed my text to a worker at the airport and I was told to leave the airport and drive to the address. In my mind I thought it may have been a private airline separate from the main airport. To my extreme frustration after dragging my luggage, hailing a taxi, going to the stated address I was told that I needed to go back to the airport and board my flight in Terminal 3. The good thing is that my taxi back to the airport was half the price...I only got ripped off once!!