Relative Something

Tuesday morning, 14 April, I reported a pretty rough night again with my breathing & coughing. Gary’s assessment was that he was feeling no improvement. We made quite a pair. Lhakpa eventually shared a story with me that was telling for how we appeared to others. At one of the lodges where we stayed he said that the woman who owned it told him she was uncomfortable having us overnight. She said that there was a Japanese man who was ill and came down to recover at her lodge. He disappeared for a time and they finally tracked him down in the toilet. He had died there. Now she was concerned it might happen again. Lhakpa said he assured her that neither of us would die there. I appreciated his confidence.

It’s funny, much of the route this day was back-tracking on trails we hiked a week ago, but most of it was completely new to me from this direction. There were some great views, including our last peek at Everest. I spotted a couple of eagles soaring on a thermal; not that rare to see, except that I was watching it from above as they played in the high mountain air below me. The weather was constantly changing, from clouds over the peaks to clear, from comfortable temperatures to too hot and then suddenly cool. By the time we reached Namche Bazaar it was sunny and beautiful and the colors seemed incredibly brilliant compared to the snowy white covering last time we were here.

We had a great lunch break at a restaurant in Namche, of which I didn’t get the name. Lhakpa picked a door that seemed entirely inconspicuous to me and we climbed stairs that looked like they could lead to apartments. Then we step into a place that is bright, colorful and looks like it has some history. Lhakpa says it is one of the original places in town. I order a Chapati with cheese just to pick something that I don’t recognize and it turns out to be just like cheese tortillas I love at home. Lhakpa orders pizza and shares. I’m very happy to have my appetite back.

The rest of the afternoon seems to drag and pushes Gary to his limits. Some of the highlights are the high bridges and the relatively light traffic on the trail. When we get to our destination in Monju, I think I hear Lhakpa curse (in English) and then notice the circus atmosphere and a lot of tents. A lot! It turns out there was another delay of a few day’s flights to Lukla and when the weather finally cleared, everybody seemed to arrive at once. There appeared to be five different trekking groups all trying to camp in the same place; the very place Lhakpa planned for us to use.

The porters had arrived long before and were told there was no room for us. They just waited for Lhakpa to arrive and tell them what to do next. He asked them if they talked with the woman who owned this lodge or the daughter. It was the daughter. Lhakpa went to the top and worked his charm. He came to me and asked me to come look at a space he had just negotiated with the mother for. I told him it was perfect. Since it was only one tent, she offered the small patch of grass that appeared to be their back yard, pretty much just enough space for the footprint of our tent.

Gary still was feeling pretty bad and Lhakpa came to me to see what I thought we should do next and whether we needed to get all the way down to Lukla as soon as possible. I pointed out that we had made Gary work really hard the last two days at a time when he was feeling at his worst. If we stay put for a couple of days and give him time to rest without needing to hike, it might give him a chance to feel some improvement. My spirit and energy are much better, but my lungs seem to have gotten worse from heavy breathing of the day’s efforts. I’ve got that rattle again on exhale and the cough has become annoyingly constant.

Tomorrow, I get to sleep in and then I have a whole day to kill. I will come to really appreciate my time in Monju.