Namche to Tengboche

Another day, another big hike. We trekked 6 miles to Tengboche at 12,687 ft. More elusive views of the big mountains, cute Sherpa kids, sharing the trail with animals. The Sherpa women are lovely too but don't like having their photo taken. Our guide said that most of the Sherpa men participate in the trekking trade so are on a trail guiding somewhere.

First glimpse of the big mountains.

Lots of hikers

This is Kaleka, carrying 45 pounds of our stuff on his head. His head!

I was excited to see my first Yak. I didn't realize that we'd often be sharing the trail with them, and some like to move FAST. I overheard another guide mention that a few years ago a Yak came down the trail and a girl wasn't paying attention and got knocked off the trail. The group asked if she was okay and he said "No, she died". So yeah, Yaks have the right of way. The trail is wide but it's really steep on the side. Yikes.

Tengboche is home to 6 or 7 freezing cold guesthouses and a lovely Buddhist monastery. We attended their afternoon chant and hoped for morning views of the mountains.

Buddhist trekkers with one of the monks.

Watching the clouds for glimpses of the big mountains with our whole crew. Porters Kaleka and Gopaul up top, with me, Amrika, Rajeev, Scott, and Niraj.

Everest!

During our pre-trek meeting the director recommended we only eat local food as that's what the cooks know how to prepare. This was mostly lentil soup with rice. In Tengboche we noticed everyone else had pizza so we ordered one too and felt like we were cheating. Not pictured: Mars pie. Mars bar, wrapped in pie crust, then fried. Did I mention the hike was mostly uphill?