Tengboche (3800m) – I couldn’t find this village to mark on the map, but this was my destination after Namche. It was a nice walk, here they have a famous Buddhist Monastery. I walked around it but I was wearing my sandals and had to take my shoes off and could only bare to stand on the cold cold floor for a short time. I stayed at a village about 20 minutes down the hill and walked through big stands of massive rhodendron bushes, must be beautiful in the spring. I am told that although the spring has the flowers, it is a dustier time of year – I can’t imagine what that would be like because I am constantly covered in dust at all times and sometimes it feels like I am walking on a beach because the dust/dirt is thick like sand. The owners here had a supercute 18 mo old girl that performed quite a few dances for us (yes, spinning in circles like most toddlers the world over).

The monastery in Tengboche

Little girl in Debuche

The next day I had two choices to stay the next two nights, I chose the higher, Dingboche at 4400m. I had an acclimisation day here and trekked up to Chhukung at 4700m, where I had some really nice views of Ama Dablam. The thing I liked about this guesthouse is that they started the fire early and made it really hot, AND they had one in the morning. But on the second day I had a defective chair so that while sitting somewhat close to the stove, one of the legs (plastic) gave way and dumped me out on the floor. There was also a cute baby here and a very bratty 4 yr old boy that got his hand full of dough and flour and then wiped it on my porter. No, he didn’t get in trouble.

Ama Dablam – view from Chhukung

I am getting really tired of being so cold (not sure why I switched to the present tense), and know it is only going to get colder as I go up. I dread going to bed each night because there is no heating (I washed some clothese here around 2pm, at 5pm, sun still up, they are frozen hard) so the sleeping bag is cold and no fun to get into. I have a whole system now, which involves putting my clothes for hiking in my sleeping bag (under my thighs, they don’t get warm enough at my feet) and my boots in a bag by my feet (so they aren’t icy). I wash up as soon as I get to a guesthouse (ask for a bowl of warm water and try to take some of the dust off and wash my face and hands). I also change into my evening wear as soon as I get to a place because it is horrible to change at night. I started with the hot water bottle at night too (legacy of the Israelis in Bolivia). Things are getting more expensive. Although I still manage to pay just $1.40 for my room, food is increasing. And for a liter of hot water they charge me $.85. Still eating the vege momos every day.

I am getting more and more attached to the down coat I rented and my walking sticks. They are worth their weight in gold, I rarely take the coat off and I am sure the sticks are saving a lot of wear and tear on the knees.

Gentian – one of the few pretty things that grows above the treeline

Inside the Tengboche monastery

Water driven prayer wheel – the laziest form of praying ever