first view of Everest

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Today was an acclimatisation day so we weren’t woken up quite so early, a lie in until 8am what a luxury !! We trekked up approximately 300 metres, the height of Hengistbury Head which I often walk up, however the latter walk doesn’t take me 3 hours, or leave me gasping for breath, neither do I have to stop regularly to have a rest. Our climb that day took us past the military base to a spot where we caught our first view of Everest and Lhotse, and on to one of the many café come ‘everything a trekker needs’ stores which are surprisingly prevalent in such a massive yet remote and desolate location. I say surprising as the lack of infrastructure in this region means that all of the materials for building such places, as well as the stock must be brought up either on the backs of yaks, or on the backs of men, women and at times children. While trekking we saw many people laden with building materials, and with goods destined for the shops, tea houses and cafes, a job for which they receive 5 rupees per kilo they carry, and considering that there are 133 rupees to a £1 this ‘wage’ ensures that many are living in poverty. While at the café we saw a yak fight, a frightening experience which saw everyone in the vicinity scattering to avoid being pushed, trampled or gored in the melee. Climbing down that day was a pleasure as we had the afternoon to ourselves to look around Namche and do whatever we fancied. Namche is a busy trading town so it was interesting to look around and to buy a few souvenirs and gifts, I also found the internet café where I made my last (before finishing the trek) frustratingly slow communication with England. I did have a slight panic trying to find my way back to the tea house, as you can lose your bearings quite quickly amongst the mountains and valleys, luckily I came upon somebody else who was also making their way back and their radar seemed to be working better than mine !! Today ended with a quiz, not really one of my strengths as there were rather a lot of questions about films, soaps and football, but our team came 4^th out of 7 teams so it wasn’t too embarrassing.