We had a “rest day” in Namche. To Wongchu, a rest day means museums, a hospital, and a 4 hour hike! In Namche we went to a Sherpa museum. There were a lot of historical artifacts, but the highlight was the room with all of the pictures of famous Sherpa Everest summiters. It was really neat to take a picture of Wongchu standing by his own picture. We also were able to take a picture of Dorjee Sherpa next to his museum picture. He is one of the Sherpas on our trek who summited both Everest and Dhaulagiri! Next, we hiked up to the government museum where they had some historical items which included Tenzing Norgay‘s summit suit. We then hiked to Khumjung and the Kunde hospital. The scenery was stunning. Our goal was a view of Everest but the clouds were settling in and the rain began, so no view today. On the way down, we passed the Sir Edmund Hillary school and the longest Mani in the Khumbu. And I did learn to count! 3 Sherpas and 4 hours and I can count to 20!

Trek from Namche to Tengboche

Today we left Namche to hike to Tengboche. We stopped off at the Namche dental clinic on the way out of town. The clinic is surprisingly well stocked and the dentist very knowledgable and professional. I got a great shot with the dentist and flat Eric and flat Michelle. The hike towards Tengboche was absolutely amazing, with views of Ama Dablam and occasional peaks at Everest. We lost a lot of elevation as the trail took us back down to the river. As we walked, we came across a man and his son who were taking donations for his trail maintenance project. He was working on the trail without government support, so he got donations from all of us. We stopped for lunch at the river and Tony gave a wound care talk. He got a little help from me. The rain started during lunch, so we moved inside to take questions and got our rain gear together for the hike up. We had a 1500 foot gain today, but it was nice and cool with the rain so it was pretty easy for most. We all made it to Tengboche, which is at about 13000 feet. Once we were dry, Wongchu took 10 of us on a hike above Tengboche to a stupa. It stopped raining but we still had no view due to the clouds. It was nice to keep the legs warm while we waited for dinner, however. We met many other Trekkers tonight, as the tea house in Tengboche is a little more quaint. People next to us were from the Netherlands and Sweden. We also got to meet a young female, Pema Diki Sherpa, who summited Everest at the age of twenty! Dinner was the typical fare, with a lot of rice, lentils, and momos. I had potatoes and eggs and I must admit I ate my first snickers pie! Basically, this is a small snickers calzone. I’m laying in bed as I write this at 7:45 pm because Wongchu made us all go to bed! No one crosses Wongchu, so here I am typing on my iPhone inside my sleeping bag! Tomorrow we visit the monastery and then on to Pheriche.

A rainy day in the Khumbu, but a happy one!