We are at Namche.
Internet here is practically useless! It works for a minute and then it stops!
I’m hoping I can send this message in one of those lucky moments!
I am doing what I can between a local phone I bought, my iPhone and my iPad!
Namche is the main trading city of the Sherpa people in Nepal.
It is a town built on the side of a steep hill with no roads and the only way of getting here or transporting goods to and from here is by foot and by pack animals, or helicopter (though this is extremely expensive so the locals use it moderately)
I have a cold today, I woke up with a sore throat and coughing a bit. I feel ok right now and luckily we have an acclimatization day here today so I am resting a lot and staying well hydrated. I am hoping I get this over before we get too high.
We still have about 7 days before we get to base camp at 17,500′
Getting sick is common in these expeditions as you travel across the world in crowded planes, you see tons of people in the crowded and very narrow streets of Kathmandu and there are lots of trekkers on the trail from different parts of the world.
Once we reach base camp we are more isolated as Trekkers are no longer allowed inside Everest base camp. Also our base camp will be a closed camp with no visitors allowed from other camps so we don’t introduce outside viruses into our team.
For our next couple of days we climb to 12,700′ and then to14,460′ so we are not that high yet and hopefully I can get this cold over quickly.
Namche is fascinating, colorful and it boasts amazing views of peaks above 20,000′
The cobblestone walkways have stores, lodges and restaurants and you see a mix of trekkers, climbers, and pack animals walking on them. No yaks yet, because Yaks live above 14k and they cannot come lower because they can overheat and die.
We have many porters in the process of carrying all the gear/food etc, etc. necessary for our two month expedition. We don’t see those Porters as they left a day before us. Also our Sherpas are already at base camp establishing our camp. The porters are carrying an average of almost a ton of gear, supplies and food per each one of us climbers! And that is not including the personal gear we are carrying (about 20-25lbs for each of us) for our 10 day trek. We are not using Sherpas for our trek as trekkers do since we can carry these medium loads ourselves without a problem and it means we have our stuff with us at all times, which is very practical. Also this bit of exercise is good to stay in shape and to aid in acclimatization.
Looking forward to getting over this cold and getting to the mountain! Though I am really enjoying this beautiful and culturally fascinating trek trough the mountains of the Himalaya!
I’ll be in touch as soon as I can!
Ricardo
