October 18, Lukla, 2840 m

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October 18, Lukla

I woke at 6 and Seb who was also awake suggested we get up rather than wait for the 6:30 alarm. We are getting good at packing and we're ready by 6:30.
I had the Nepalese set breakfast, boiled egg, crisp bread, veggie curry, and tea.
The hike is about 6 hours long. The day was hot and by 8:30 I was down to my minimal layers. Again we encountered a lot of people going up the mountain.
I should mention again that each day is filled with beautiful majestic views, incredible mountains, many villages, Sherpas, porters, oxen and yaks taking over the trails, farmers in the fields, children playing, rocks and steps trying to trip a person, and animal droppings to not step in to. It is always a very sensual and stimulating environment.
I often think about coming back here, perhaps the Annapurna loop. The route is lower so AMS is not as big an issue and the crowds are fewer.
Lunch was at Chheplung, where I might have got too much sun sitting where I could get a good view of the valley.
After another hour, with a lot of climbing, we made it to Lukla. Here we celebrated with high fives and photos.
We noticed the dogs had necklaces on and found out the five days of Diwali were being celebrated. The first day is crow, wisdom, then dog, security, cow, spiritual, ox, food, finally brother sister, love.
Our hotel had a separate bathroom for each room, very decadent. It also had a shower, only cold water unless you pay extra. I had a cold shower and it felt great after 10 days without a shower. Also put on clean clothes to complete the transformation. There was no mirror so I couldn't shave.
Supper was a celebration with the staff including the porters who have been largely invisible. We gave them generous tips which they greatly deserved due to their amazing service..
I had a yak sizzler to try, it tasted like ground beef.
We had some nice speeches.
One of the porters was obviously upset and left the meal. It later turned out that his wife of 6 months had called that day to end the marriage. Porters and guides are away from home a lot and it makes for a hard life, but between the pay and tips it can be a relatively prosperous life.
I went to bed late, at 10.

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