So ill be honest I don't think I really knew what I signed up for when deciding to do this. Today I was a day to acclimatize in Periche but because of the weather I spent the day hanging out with the lady from holland awaiting the return of her boyfriend.
Really nothing happened today other than finally managing to shovel down a small p,ate of bland pasta and getting my first hot shower! Yes you heard me right, I got a hot shower! The first shower of this trip and it was hot! Still can't relate how amazing this felt.
The guesthouse has a sun room on the top floor. It is slightly warmer than the rest of the building but still very cold. The combination if my growing sore throat, headache, and cold temperature made for a miserable morning, despite the amazing 10 minute hot shower. I managed to rest for about 40 minutes.
JJ, the holland girls boyfriend returned around 1 o'clock along with the Americans from earlier and a Belgium guy. The Belgium guy and JJ made it to base camp while the Americans gave up, or got lost depending on who they talk to. The Americans arrived in the same flight as me and I haven't seen them since until today. It turns out they just took a ton of altitude medication and powered straight up to Gorek Shep, the stop before base camp, in a few days. Sounds pretty crazy and very unsafe. In the end they never even made it and the one had bags tied to his feet for socks, tissues in his nose to stop the bleeding, and an infection that caused him to cough up blood. The other one was perfectly fine!
This was nice to continue having other Trekkers to talk to but my overwhelming headache didn't make it very pleasant. Finally I caved and took an Advil and boy did it help.
Now we are sitting around the heater talking about what this trip actually entails. We all agreed that guide books and guides do not prepare you for what is really going to happen. Most people leave out the fact that are steep hikes and some scary sections with rock slides. Not to mention the fact that almost everyone gets a slight headache, doesn't sleep well due to lack of oxygen, and many get food sicknesses. The Canadian I met last night met a girl coming down her was vomiting the entire way up and down. Also they warned him to writ in a diary because your memory gets fuzzy. Severe dedication here! Still questioning my own dedication.
I think the entire thing is bizarre because many people do this every year. It is by no means an impossible fest but it is a struggle in the average human body. Why are people year after year subjecting themselves to these conditions. Why am I subjecting my own body to this to torture. Maybe because I could've turned around or never come on this trip and said ell many people do it so it isn't an accomplishment. But then I wouldn't have actually done it. Yes many people do it but it doesn't make it easy. Many people climb mountains and go to medical school which are no easy tasks. If this was easy then everyone would do it. I want to make it and be able to say I pushed myself to get there. I don't want to be the thirty percent who get sick or give up.
JJ just related the past two days, the two I'm about to embark upon, and it really got me nervous. First there is the altitude sickness. His girlfriend already got it hard and had to be led back down until she regained some strength. When it hit her she could barely see, her head felt worse than a migrane, and she couldnt think what she was doing. The path he was saying is quite scary with cracks in the ground and rock slides coming down often with the constant rain. He said how multiple times he really questioned why he was doing this to himself. The final steps to base camp which is 5500 m and only 50 percent of oxygen of sea level were tough. Every little bit takes a lot of breath. It's an odd feeling he said when walking only twenty steps makes you completely out of breath. Somewhere between the altitude sickness, the inevitable headaches, the cracking ground, and rock slides I got scared to death!
I really want to make it and I am hoping that I do. This had become w huge mentl struggle because the more I think about it the more I psych myself out! Tomorrow I hike for lobouche with an altitude of 4900. All day all I could think about is making it there and sleeping well.
The rest of the evening was very fun. The holland couple eventually went to bed, I felt so bad because the guides were giving me a pep talk about how I will make it and I think she felt pretty down in the dumps. She is such a nice lady and I wish she wouldn't made it! I found out from the one guide about 70 percent make it from here and 30 percent don't.
The Nepali in this guest house are great. They are the best so far. Tonight while sitting around the fire they could not stop laughing and joking around. They all have nicknames now which are Sugar, Killer, Bodyguard, and one inappropriate one that the holland guy gave him. It was a nice relief to laugh a lot. On top of that I even managed down about ten bites of food!!! So far just a few slight pains but not bad.
Bodyguard does not speak. He is the cook in the guesthouse and very kind but I honestly don't think he has said two words. Killer is by far my favorite! He is around my age and such a sweet guy. Last night he woke me up to show me one if the mountains in the moonlight.
It's getting late and I am praying tonight's sleep is better than the last couple. It's been so bad that I actually had a dream that I slept through the whole night. Now that is bad when you have dreams about sleeping.
By the time anyone is reading this it either means I made it to lobouche which has Internet service or I gave up and hiked down to Namache bazaar.
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