Lukla

As I've mentioned before, flying into the Lukla airport is a tich dangerous. Pilots must fly by sight, not instruments, so if it is bad weather, they don't do it. And I am glad. Although now we are once again getting the full experience - enforced idleness in Lukla, waiting for the weather to clear. 

It was tempting to figure that once we left Namche, our trek was over. But that was far from true. First of all, it was still a long walk! We broke the trip into two days. Going down the Namche Hill was very slow for us.  The long incline into Lukla at the end of the second day was actually much easier. Going down takes a lot of muscle. Going up just takes cardiovascular work. Regardless, we were both very happy to pull into Lukla around 10:30 on Wednesday. 

The area around Lukla is lush. It reminds me a lot of the cloud forest in Costa Rica. It is cool but wet, with moss growing on the rock walls, and flowering crops in the fields. It is very humid. Sometimes the town is just enveloped by a cloud, while other times the mist turns to actual rain. The weather is more typical of the monsoon season, when moist air is forced up by the Himalayas, precipitating out before continuing to dry Tibet. 

We planned five days at the end of our trek before our international flight, knowing the people occasionally get stuck here in Lukla. If we got out right away, we planned to visit the jungle, Chitwan National Park. Well, it looks like we will be lucky to make it out in those five days. Desperation is running pretty high around here, with discussions of helicopters, hiking two strenuous days to a 14 hour jeep ride, or hiking six days to Jiri.  We optimistically reported to the airport at 6 am this morning, since we were booked on the second plane, a very good spot. They didn't even open the gate into the airport until after seven. We finally gave up at 10. This afternoon our incredibly helpful lodge owner (Sunrise Lodge) will rebook us for tomorrow, and we will try again, along with those who have been waiting days and those who have just arrived. 

It is a very strange world here in Lukla. All the tourists just want to get out. The Nepalis seem almost as anxious for all of us to be gone, leaving them to the off-season quiet. And yet, Meg and I have opted to slow down, and remember we have time. Once we get away from the frantic talk of plans, we remember that we are surrounded by mountains (even if we can't see them), forest, intriguing culture, and tons of people to talk to.

We also have amazing luxeries. Our room has an attached bathroom where I was able to take an almost-shower, with a real towel! The terry felt so good scrubbing my skin. The bakery served us a delicious pizza followed by a killer piece of chocolate cake. Our room is huge and the blankets are thick. Today we bought a whole jar of peanut butter and ate 1/3 of it for lunch. It was SO good. We took some small hikes around town, enjoying the stonework, the birds, plus the bovines, dogs, and chickens in the "road". And we continue to enjoy our many new friends, some who feel like old friends by now. 

So send cloud-clearing thoughts our way, but in the meantime, we are snug and happy in Lukla.