It is warm, at least during the sunny part of the day. The sun streams into our top floor room, drying our laundry and warming even my toes. There is a compact fluorescent bulb in our room that works almost all the time, and is bright! And a plug that falls out of the wall but charges our devices. Adam and I have the best room in the whole lodge, with awesome views out both windows of our corner room.
The bathroom down the hall has a western toilet (not a squat toilet) that actually flushes, which means the floor in the stalls is dry. There is a sink with running water, and a drain that works! We can brush teeth and do laundry. Our windows open to allow us to dry laundry on the metal roof.
We've gotten a bit tired of the same food choices, day after day. In Namche, there are two bakeries where we got pastries, cookies, and some whole grain bread. They might not meet my standards at home, but right now they are wonderful!
But one thing that is the same is the hiking. Yesterday we walked up to the Sagarmatha park headquarters, which has viewpoints, statues, and the poster that convinced us to visit Gokyo. Last time the valley was filled with clouds and all we could see was hoar frost. This time we could see Everest in one direction, and back down the valley to Jorsale in the other.
This morning we made another attempt to hike to the Everest View Hotel, the typical acclimatization hike from Namche. The trail goes almost straight up above the Namche bowl, climbing some ridiculous number of meters in a very short distance. Meg and I attempted the climb two years ago, but turned back when she got too tired. Last week we tried again, but turned back when Wendy had trouble breathing. Third time is charm! In a mere 2 hours we made it to the lookout point above the hotel, for amazing 360 views and quite a sense of accomplishment. The trip down was easier, though still so steep that vertigo was a real danger.
- Toby
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