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Mt. Everest: The Last Day of the Trek (day 11)

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Mt. Everest: The last day of our trek Namche Bazaar to Lukla September 22, 2018 We thought for some reason the return trip would be easy.   All downhill right?   No way.   It was miles and miles (or kilometers in this case) of trekking up steep stone, dried up, river beds and then down again on slippery rocks and leaves.   The kids who live up there can glide on top of these stones like gazelles.   We looked more like little old ladies; (well, except David who could keep up with Giri our guide with no discernable difficulty). We woke up at 6:00, had some breakfast and we were off and running (ok trekking) by 7:15.   We made it from Namche Bazaar to Lukla – our final destination - in one day.    Going up would (or I should say did) take double that time.   Parenthetically, Lukla is one of the most dangerous airports in the world (see YouTube).   We will be taking that flight tomorrow morning around 6 am to get back to Kathmandu.   But let’s get back to t
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Mt. Everest: "He Will Blow Us All Away" (day 10)

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Mt. Everest: “He Will Blow Us All Away” Trekking back to Namche Bazaar (from Peng Boche) Friday, September 21, 2018 Only two days after reaching Everest Base Camp and we feel so much ambivalence.    On the one hand, we are looking forward to ending the journey.   It’s not that it has not been worthwhile, but it has been a long and hard ordeal. On the other hand, we don’t want it to end.   It has given us a freedom from our worldly concerns.   It has given us the freedom from worry.   The focus has been on survival the last few days instead of the petty concerns that occupy our daily lives. After breakfast the journey continued. We were actually walking downhill.   You can’t imagine how glorious it felt to be going down instead of up.    But that feeling was an illusion soon to be shattered like most forms of happiness. They are fleeting and incomplete understandings and feelings, but that’s ok – it still felt wonderful in the moment.   In f
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Mt. Everest: One Day Later (day 9)

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Mt. Everest:   “One Day Later” Loboche to Peng Boche Thursday, September 20, 2018 We are still reeling from yesterday’s marathon trek to Everest Base Camp, but we have a 7 to 8 hour trek ahead of us.   We are so lucky to have the trail to ourselves.   It is in between seasons and most of the folks that were traveling at the same time as us, remain fogged in or delayed due to weather.   We did not have to manage the “traffic jam” of trekkers that come to Everest these days.   It was quiet, no waiting in line for food or the bathroom.   We only competed with the Yak and horses for the trails each day.   I do miss the bells letting us know a herd of Yak are coming our way.   You need to stand aside and give them the right of way with all their baggage and supplies on their backs. We concentrated on each step, each stone, in part because we were still exhausted.   The narrow paths were only a foot across and the cliffs dropped over a couple of thousand fee
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