**im finally able to post thanks to killer getting me to walk up to 5050m to the science laboratory and telling them it was important!
Decided to keep a tally on how many times I wake up throughout the night. The finally count for last night was 17 times. Each time I would wake up I out a tally on a note pad and switched sides. The locals tried to explain something about the oxygen levels and how you have to switch sides throughout the night but I'm still not entirely sure what they meant. I did get the part that its best to take a rest in the afternoon when the sun is high and the most oxygen is in e air? If anyone actually knows more on this subject and Would like to elaborate, I'd love to know!
The rain was really pouring this morning. The couple from Holland and I sat and ate breakfast starring at the rain. They would be hiking down in it while I took the leap from 4200 to 4900m today. I really enjoyed meeting these two because they lied to joke. JJ talked and laughed about how he came here to get rained on and see clouds!! Ironically this was one if the best morning in since leaving Namache to see some of the mountains. I'm right in the, now. I'm not starring in the distance instead I am looking up and back and forward at the jagged peaks that dare to show themselves out of the clouds.
Finally we packed our bags and my guide and I with the addition of killer who decided to,join us, made our way across the open rock fields. This part if the stretch is a slow gradual walk up hill. It's all open so everything looks close but when you walk for awhile it doesn't look like you really made it anywhere!
At the end of the stretch we looked to the left and you could see and avalanche coming down the mountain to our left. These mountains, although almost complete hidden ar starting to look scary rather than beautiful. The welcoming spirit from before is now gone as we sit at the base of them. After going up a little I could spit Thukla in the distance.
To get to Thukla you have to gross a metal bridge followed by a tiny two log bridge across the second section. Because it is monsoon season the water is higher and therefore necessary to make a second bridge. This was a little scary walking across the tiny platform with the ice cold glacier water running below me.
Strange people
I'm watching killer and sugar sit across the yak lodge in Thukla and they are such a strange pair. They laugh and joke in half English and half Nepali. Occasionally putting their arms around each other and singing random English songs, their favorite being hotel California! Or sometimes barking like dogs and attacking each other. This must be the Nepali equivalent to a bromance!!! When they talk to each other it's constantly "yeah man" and "no man."
Leaving the 4600m town we now had to hike straight up. This part was not nearly as steep or long as the previous sections but much harder. With the oxygen in the air slowly depleting I could only walk for ten minutes before needing a break.
On the way we passed two guys carrying 80 kilos if metal wire to Gorek Shep to build a house. These men have lungs of steel!
Reaching the top of the hill was a relief. Ah finally I'm at the altitude I need to be at today and thankfully without a headache, yet. More than that however was the beauty if the memorials. The entire top of the hills is littered with memorials for all of those who have had their lives taken by Everest! You can't look anywhere in this area without spotting one. There are so many. This was another reality check at just how dangerous Everest is and how many people have actually attempting and failed at climbing her.
The last leg to Lobouche was a desolate rock field. Every so often you could here a rock fall happen somewhere in the distance. Immediately my eyes would dart up and pray that the rocks above me stayed where they were. Anywhere, everywhere rocks, rocks, and more rocks.
Now here I am, over 4900m high in Lobouche at Alpine Lodge. I have a slight head pressure that I'm praying goes away. I feel similar to when I was dancing in thin and slightly started to loose track of time and reality. Oh and t add on top of it all, my sunburn from before turned into fever blisters on my lip and it is giant!!!
I'm starring at the empty lodge. What a different more uplifting spirit this place must have during the in season. There is so much room to fit people and I can only imagine the chatter and people anxiously talk about their upcoming hike to based camp or even climbing Everest.
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