I had so much fun dancing with the girls last night! It'd been such a long time. Last night while watching the moon I thought of my time with Alex. I miss him. Sometimes I feel really upset that I have to go along with the group and what they want. I saw a campsiote today in Khunde and I felt a heavy regret of not having my tent on this trek. Also, there are trees all oiver and posts where I ciould have set up my hammock, but again , it's not really a group thing. It'd like to be with Alex.
Today we hiked up a big hill after Naamche Bazaar, psasing prayer flags and Stupas alike. The mountains in the backround icy blues, cold whites and fluffly clouds against the blue canvas of the sky.
I don't feel any altitude sickness which is such a relief. Lhakpa Dackey listened to my i-pod today. Like me, one of her favorites is 'Voyage, Voyage'. Half yak, half cow animals that the Sherpas call Juk Juks are contantly blocking up the trail, loaded with trekkers bags. Their horns are curved and intimidating but these hairy animals are in reality very tame.
Sherpa porters go by carrying huge loads piled into bskets on their backs. Many of the porters also carry little wooden sticks with them to help them walk uphill and also to rest their bags on when there is no rock perch. I see mostly men porters but there are a few women as well. Most of the women here in the Khumbu region wear golden nose rings and colourful clothing. We hiked over a high metal suspension bridge looking down on clear blue silty river water. I love watching the fresh water flowing over the huge boulders, it's mesmorizing. Again, I'm reminded of laying on river rocks tanning in the summer time with Yvette, Erica and Sylvie in the Oyster River. It's funny how home never leaves me, it comes with me everywhere.
While we were walking through the pine trees on a soft dirt trail, Pam and I were discussing how it reminded us of home, after an expensive tea at Everest View Lodge3859m. Mitch( an old wrestling coach of mine) was saying that some big rocks and wind blown trees looked like Southern Ontario where he's from, and I thought that it looked like the islands off the West coast of Vancouver Island. We visited Khumjung, where school had been founded by Edmund Hillary. There were paintings for sale and I liked one of a Stupa and Prayer flags at sunset with a golden Everest in the backround. Next, we went to visit a hospital in Khunde. Surprisingly it's funded by Canadians. We got to learn about the types of diseases that are common in this area. Apparently it's not just foreigners who get altitude sickness. Many locals get treated for it as well. Khunde if you can imagine, is surrounded by mountains, and rough dirt and rock paths that lead the way to other villages through the mountains. This small hospital serves around 7000 people from this region. Women, most or 1/3 of them give birth at home. They do not hike for 1,2 or 3 hours through the mountains while pregnant just to give birth at the hospital. What helps to keep the women and their babies healthy are monthly check-ups which have been promoted by the hospital. The local Sherpa doctor said that foreign doctors occassionaly come and volunteer for a few months, but that the hospital is run by locals the majority of the time. It's really clean in the hospital even though it's small. I was impressed both by the equipment that was available to the doctors and the warm home-like feeling that I got here. The Sherpa doctor had eyes like the inner mongolians, grey-blue which contrasted his dark skin and spoke english well.
Lhakpa and I moved our beds together because now that we're in Kyangjuma 3780m it's colder. All of the other people brought sleeping bags, but I'm just using the blankets provided by the tea houses that we stay at. I like not having a sleepnig bag because most of the porters don't have any, some even sleep in caves along the trail. If I come on a hike in Nepal again I'll stay in the caves and sleep in my tent. Lhakpa's laugh is so funny, she giggles then adds in a WOO HaHA WOooo HA HA it's so full and contagious.
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