Namche Bazaar, Nepal

I love waking up in my tent.  The sounds of this village coming alive stir the senses.  Roosters crowing, someone calling their goats, the yak bells chiming and the tapping of the stone cutters already busy at work.  (It takes three years to build a house here.)

This will be the last email until we return to Namche after our climb in about a month.  Mentally I am trying to prepare myself.  I am already filthy as the countryside is pretty dirty and everything sticks to us.  But I have to let that go.  Today we head for Teng Boche then onward toward Everest base camp where we hope to arrive in a week.  From there on to Barunste.

Sleep was difficult the past two nights because of the incessant dog barking.  There are packs of them everywhere, and it seems when one would start he would get everyone going.  After complaining, we found out that the dogs carry on when there are animals about.  Okay… that makes sense, but there are animals everywhere.  Ah, but these aren’t just any animals.  This is Nepal and there are snow leopards and tigers!  So, after some reflection I’m kind of loving those noisy dogs now!

P.S. Today is marathon Monday.  To Maida and Mike – have a wonderful run.  I am with you every single mile.  Because for me it all started on that marathon route!  Wings on your heels you two!!

Namaste!

Climb On!

Namaste

I woke up this morning feeling homesick and melancholy, but I’m trying to practice the Buddhist philosophy and enjoy where I am at in this moment.

I’ve been really frustrated at the inability to use the satellite phone and send emails.  Connections are always poor and it’s really difficult to get anything to work properly.  I am having a funny experience today while visiting the Internet cafe.  There are ‘dzo’ everywhere (an animal that is a yak/cow hybrid), and as I am writing this blog a dzo is sticking it’s head through the window and watching all the activity inside.

We are staying another 24 hours here to allow our bodies time to adjust to the higher altitude and thinner air.  Just walking to the Internet cafe today was exhausting.  We are being attended to by an incredible team of Sherpa: Dawa (lead Sherpa and head cook) and Dawa Tenzig (high altitude Sherpa who never leaves our side).  As I sit in my tent in the evening I can hear them playing a card game with noises like I’ve never heard before – shouting and slapping.  Dawa prepares us rice, potatoes, daldaut and something called momo (like dumplings).  Everything is prepared without electricity and running water.  We are so grateful for them.  Next we are going about 5 hours north and we will be visiting the Teng Boche monastery which is the right hand monastery to the Dalai Lama.

We are still in Namche Bazaar, a vertical village at 11,500 feet in altitude perched precariously on the side of the Himalayas. The entire world passes from village to village on winding dirt roads.  As we have traveled from Lukla over the past 2 days the terrain has grown far more vertical and we are now just above the timber line.  It is dry and dusty and very primitive.  Heat is from yak dung burned in stoves.  The people are wonderful smiling, happy, courageous and go out of their way to make us feel welcome and comfortable.  This is the Sherpa’s region and an amazing place to all of us!

When I first saw Everest I just stood and stared for what felt like ten minutes. I noticed my legs were shaking.  I pummeled JJ with questions.  I memorized the names of the mountains surrounding her, all of which I had heard before, Llhoste, Nupste (excuse my spelling on all of these as I don’t have my English map with me), Ama Dablam, there they all were.  But it was Goddess Mother of Earth that spoke the loudest.  She is magnificent and beuatiful.  The ski is crystal clear, and the summit clouds spin off to the south since the jet stream is postioned right over her just now.  Climbers will wait on the mountain’s lower flanks until the jet stream moves 100 miles away and then make their attempt at the summit before the monsoon season begins.  It’s all about waiting.  And for me I will wait another year – and for that I am grateful.  Just being here and climbing the 17,600 feet to base camp is providing me with much needed mental preparation.

All along our journey we have experienced the flutter of prayer flags.  Just before we climb Barunste we will have our own prayer ceremony called a Punja (again excuse my spelling) and the prayer flags are already packed amoungst our gear.  It is a very special ceremony I am anxious to see and experience.  I am a guest of the Sherpa, but I feel so blessed to be with them and I know I couldn’t be in more capable hands.

Climb On!