Everest Base Camp Trek Dispatch

April 28, 2011 – From Namche Bazaar: Reflections on our first two days of trekking, Part II

The morning of our first full day of trekking found us waking from great deep sleeps. The combination of comfortable beds, the rushing water of the river as well as rain falling on the roofs of our cabins made the night very cozy and we were all tired.

Our trekking days begin early. The Sherpa staff brings wake up tea and coffee to each room at 6:00 am. This is a signal that our duffel bags must be packed to be loaded onto the pack animals and given to the porters so that they can get an early start. At 7:00 am Phuri and his staff serves breakfast – hot porridge, fried eggs, toast, and fruit. Jackie showed us all how good peanut butter is on bananas.

We began trekking at 8:00 am. The trail went up and down over steep hills along the river and occasionally we would cross the river on steel suspension bridges. At about 11:30 we reached the entrance to Sagarmatha National Park. Min had presented our documents before we arrived so we sat for a while at the visitor center before continuing a short distance to the village of Jorsale where Phuri and his staff were waiting with lunch. Jorsale was the last outpost before the long climb up the infamous Namche Hill. We made sure our water bottles were full for the climb. We left lunch at 12:30 and we had all arrived at our home base in Namche, the Panaroma Lodge, by 4:00 pm. As the Sherpas served afternoon tea followed a short while later by soup and our evening meal, I could tell that the day had taken its toll on the muscles and joints of our team members. “Wow” was pretty much the word of the afternoon. Tom asked the question that was on everyone else’s mind. “Are the other days of this trip going to be that hard”?