We’re baaaack!!!!!! Sorry we disappeared for the last couple days. Internet access has been spotty at best. We’re currently at 11,300 feet on our Everest base camp trek.. and it’s costing us 10 NRS / minute, so please excuse the brevity. Here’s a quick rundown of the past couple days.
Holi
Holi is a big holiday in India celebrating equality of people. It’s celebrated by throwing color and water at each other and just having fun. We were lucky to be around to witness and partake in this holiday. The neighbourhood near the hotel we stayed at managed to cover all of us from head to toe in color. Seemed like the foreigners were fair game so long as you showed some sort of interest, ie taking out a camera, watching, or making eye contact. It was a LOT of fun.. especially when we retaliated by filling a bucket with water balloons and throwing them back! Dennis got ambushed and was dancing with the kids in a nearby alleyway. We have a video. Expect it on youtube in the near future.. hehe 
We also met up with our friend, Ric, from Seattle and soaked him color too. All in all, it was a truly fun and spontaneous day.
The trek
We have 5 people in our group: Brian, Dennis, Mira, Mike (from North Carolina), and John (from Lousiana). We’re supported by a guide, an assistant guide, and three porters. In total, the trek is 20 days, starting from Kathmandu to Everest Base Camp. Our final altitude will be ~18,000 feet. The trek is difficult, but we’re optimistic.
Kathmandu (~5,000 feet)
We spent 2 days in Kathmandu, did some sight seeing and shopping. This was primarily meant for aclimitization before the trek began.
Kathmandu to Lukla (~9,300 feet)
We flew into Lukla in the tiniest plane I’ve ever been on.. basically it held 12 people and everyone had a window seat. We had some breathtaking views of the Himalayas and caught our first glimpse of Everest. We had heard a lot about the dramatic landing at Lukla. It turns out that it’s extremely difficult to find a long flat spot for a runway. So we landed on a shortened, sloped runway. When we landed it looked like we were about to hit the mountains.. but the upward slope of the runway helped slow the plan down so we landed safely. From Lukla we hiked down a few hours to Phakding were we stayed the night. We’ve had a lot of fun teasing Dennis over his fear of heights.. particularly when traversing the various high suspension bridges. Brian and I have tried to shake the bridge a few times.. just to give the old man something to talk about
Today: Phakding to Namche (~11,300 feet)
Today was a tough day. It started with a fairly easy hike from Phakding to Monjo (about 2 hours) but Monjo to Namche was a killer. Imagine 3.5 hrs of steep incline similar to Mt Si, but at 11,000 feet. In total we covered 3000 feet and are extremely tired. Tomorrow is a rest day which means that we hike 1,200 feet which will help us deal with the altitude.
We have 14 more days to go and it’s unlikely that you’ll hear from us over those days. Hopefully the next post will be one of success! On a side note, this hike means a lot to Brian and I. We wanted to do something “tough” together.. something that would have good and bad times and challenge us physically. As we spend 5-6 hrs a day hiking, it’s giving us an opportunity to meditate and turn inwards. It’s amazing how much more in tune you become with your body as you watch each breath and monitor your body/mind for signs of weakness. And the occasional farting (due to altitude of course) makes it all the more fun.. as long as you’re not walking behind Brian. Wish us luck!
Mom Lane - thank you so much for the muffins! We’ve been eating them every morning and it’s the one thing we can count on for food. We’re trying to ration them so we don’t go through them too quickly
I suppose it’s all good for acclimitization but it doesn’t mean that we have to like it. We first hiked up to the park visitor center and walked around the museum. We then hiked down to a Sherpa museum where we took a look at a typical Sherpa home. Following that, we hiked down and back up 1000 feet on a sketchy trail up to a helicopter landing area. Then, hiked back down to Namche. By then it was about 11:30 and time for lunch. The lodge we’re staying at has hot water.. it was incredible. Truly incredible to take a shower with hot water. Later in the afternoon we wandered down into the local market and did some basic shopping.. toilet paper, carabiners, mittens, etc.. Why the carabiners? Turns out that I’ve had to employ two gross little towels.. one pee towel and one snot towel (too much information?). I needed something to hang them from on my pack so I didn’t have to stuff them in my pocket… hehe.. yes, we’ve gotten to that point where grossness doesn’t matter and we all kinda stink.
