We're still alive!

After a short but breathtaking flight to Lukla we finally made it up steep trails to this internet cafe. Friday night was spent in Phakding (a four hour trek from Lukla) and then an eight hour day of trekking brought us to Namche Bazaar - where we are now. Tonight will be our second night here, so that no one passes out from the altitude as we proceed to Phorchhe tomorrow (one step closer to base camp!). The trails can be anything from steep stone stairs that you pretty much have to jump up, swinging suspension bridges that are sketchy to say the least, small muddy trails over large cliffs, or narrow flat logs that have been placed over rockfalls and landslides. Also, we have to watch out for Yaks because they ALWAYS have right of way, and will push you right off the trail (usually over a massive cliff) if you don't give them space.

Today we did a 6 hour excursion on our "rest day" up* to Khunde, where we visited a hospital founded by Hillary and spoke with a local doctor. While we were eating lunch, it started to hail rather hard (the clouds are sometimes beneath us at this altitude, but not today). We geared up and started trekking back to Namche but as we descended the hail turned to rain and we basically slid down mud paths. What took us 3 hours to get up, took less than an hour on the way down. This might help to explain why we won't be at Base Camp until the 24th, but we're flying out from Lukla on the 29th.

On the bright side being really muddy and wet after lunch today is pretty much the worst that has happened for anyone in our group. One person has encountered a bit of nausea over the past few days, but we can assure you they are fine.

We'll try to post again soon when we can find access to internet, but it might not be until were back here in Namche Bazaar on the way down (10 or so days from now). Hope everything is good in Canada, we miss you all!!!

Love,

Jamie & Jordan

*by up, we mean pretty much straight up.