And out...

Well, it took almost two weeks to hike in to Island Peak, to acclimatize appropriately, so it seemed very strange to hike out from basecamp all the way to Lukla in only three days! The hike out was nice, felt so healthy and strong after dealing with high elevation and thin air for so long! Saw two guys hauling huge loads of empty water bottles up the trail. Apparently there's a plant up in the mountains somewhere where they refill the bottles then haul them down to sell them. But the guys were carrying such enormous loads, about the size of a Mini Cooper strapped to their back! Granted they were empty bottles, but still there were a lot of them!

One of the places we stopped for lunch one day I got to feed a potato to a yak... he slobbered all over my hand! And I was shocked his tongue was as rough as a big cat! Found out he'd been retired for about 7 years, now he just hangs out and begs food at that little village! Not a bad life after 18 years of hard labor hauling loads up and down the valley.

One morning we got up early and hiked up from Deboche where we were staying up to Tengboche to the monastery where we were able to sit in for the morning meditation. We got up their early and Jagat asked them if we could film, he got the ok and we also got invited into the kitchen for some masala tea while we waited. We later found out that was quite an honor as no one but the cooks and the monks are normally allowed into the kitchen! The meditation was quite an experience, for over an hour the monks read, or chanted, and prayed. All together some times, and all separately at others. There were times when it would become silent, but most of the time they were chanting and singing. We met with the acting head lama or teacher at the end. The actual head lama of the monastery was in Kathmandu for a while and was due back that day or the next. The acting head lama told us that the morning meditation and prayers are usually for peace and health for all people and animals. After the morning meditation the monks have breakfast and then do private devotions and meditation throughout the day. Jon interviewed a couple younger monks who were cleaning moss off some stone tablets outside. Monks may join the monastery anytime after they are able to walk, some join very young and some join much later in life.

When we got back to Lukla, the night before we flew out in the morning, we had a big dinner and celebration with all our guides and porters. They sang some local folk songs (very cool!) And we all shared a meal together. In the end we had four guides and eight porters in total. Two guides and three porters accompanied us throughout the entire trek: Guides: Chet and NP and Porters: Sirime, Santosh, and Ram Shingh. Then Jagat met us in Dingboche with our mountain guide: Lal and five more porters with the mountain and base camp gear: Ganga, Purna, Jangbu, Lhakpa, and Bishnu. They were all great!

Just before we flew out in the morning we watched a flight coming in that looked way too high! As he dove towards the runway hi just looked off, he got closer and was adjusting when he finally veered off up the valley to try again. It must have been quite the ride to have been on, the valley isn't terribly wide and we weren't sure where he'd be able to turn around, he came back and again seemed hi, but he dropped very quickly and made the landing! I was wishing I could have talked to some of the people on board! It looked safe the whole time, and he pulled out with plenty of space, but it must have been an exciting flight none the less! Our flight out was very smooth and uneventful.

Rick and Ann were able to get their tickets changed and flew out that night. We also met up with Shannon and Steve Gibb and planned to have dinner with them and their crew that night. Now we have several days here in Kathmandu. Les and Jon fly out on Monday, Brian on Wednesday and I will head out to Annapurna on Monday. Should be fun! I am going with NP one of our guides from the Island Peak trek, so that will take some of the stress out of finding places to stay, and it will be fun to have a companion on the trail! NP is lots of fun and I'm looking forward to the trip!

Hope I'm able to update on the trail... otherwise it will just be another monster update at the end. Cheers!