We walk through a path that seems taken from another planet, full of smashed rocks, like from a film of the Riddick chronicles, a desert.
We don’t cross or see other trekkers but we see the Island Peak on the distance and follow that direction.
Luis, Tomás. and I go first and soon we find Sonam and Coultin, the climbing guide that is helping X.
The base camp is arranged in several clusters of tents and ours seems to be in the last pocket.
We are received in a big yellow tent marked with the sign of Prestige Adventures.
It is tall enough to accomodate us standing up and it featur5es a central table surrounded by camping charis. We received a warm welcome and have our lunch there prepared by a cook in the nearest tent.
When it is getting dark I depart alone for a walk, and I am taken by the beautiful sights and sounds: The sky full of stars, and on the ground everything dark but for the globes of lights that come from the inhabited tents, the contour of the mountains arranged on the horizon…
The captivating sounds of a distant song played by an unknown musical instrument, it is a soothing melody in this distant land.
I slack on the bed while X. prepares his stuff. So without changing clothes I have the breakfast first, and then go to select the pieces that we won’t carry to Chhukkung.
Since the house is powered by solar energy, the powerbank is only charged to a half so the hostess only charge half the price.
We start the ascension even if it’s a smooth one with a steady pace. We are accompanied by the river and when looking back we get an impressive look at the valley and Dingbuche below.
Chhukkung seems to be the typical place here with full of lodges with english signs. Our lodge claims to be one of the highests.
Not so much to do during the evening. L. is having a hard digestion so I give him some almax.
I take a nap, meditate, and notice how attached I became to receive messages from my loved ones, so I spend some time writing letters and letting go of this thoughts.
On this day we went from Gorak Shep to the Everest Base Camp, then Lobuche for lunch and finally to DingBuche
The visit to the Everest Base Camp is iearly in the morning. I love the view of the glaciar.
On the way back we took our backbacks from the lodge. X. almost fell and harmed a bit his foot. However, he recovers very fast and we arrive to Lobuche to have lunch. I have time to lie down and sleep while waiting for a pizza.
At 2pm. we continue down, crossing many trekkers and we see the place with the many memorials for people that lost their lives at Everest.
It is a long trek, and listen to some music from the mp3 player, and we discover some estupas among the fog.
This lodge is awesome, so I have a shower and I feel in good mood and have a bit of sherpa stew.
We leave our baggage behind and carry our sleeping bags only.
At ten, we arrive to Gorak Shep and after an early lunch we set up for ascending the Kala Pather («Black Rock» as later Tundu translated for me).
Gorak Shep, 5.140 metros, último pueblo antes de llegar al Everest Base Camp
At the top of the Kala Pather
From Kala Pather, Everest view.
Gorak Shep
X. didn’t have lunch and we find him on the top. I feel very tired and I talk with some friends and my family at home.
I have some fun with the couple from Madrid and Córdoba: the doctor and the pharmaceutic, and also with L. and T., speaking about our different accents.
I have no records of the morning, although I have some photos:
I remember spending time during the afternoon on the cliff looking towards the glaciar. Feeling the centering that the open spaces can give.
I found myself thinking how this seemed the aftermath of a place where supersaiyans have ravaged the place. It is the immeasurable strength of old glaciars.
Some trekkers find my glasses that I left forgotten on a nearby rock.
Helicopter, we guess they mainly come here to transport someone back to recover in less altitude.
Yaks, even this high
Before that, Tomás and I had an expresso and an apple pie in a shop that claimed to be the highest bakery cafe in the world.
World Highest Bakery Cafe
Chilling out in my room at the lodge
We have dinner with the group of spanish people and I have a cigar with O. and T.
I have not had an entire night sleep in a week. Nonetheless I am happy to spend less time in the bed and get up at 5 am.
My usual muesli with black coffee and I feel full and ready for this journey.
We follow the river upwards in an effort that takes the best of us. Many trekkers are on the same way. On the top we see a new valley that reminisces western film views.
Brown grass, a great expanse, and a river created from the melted snow in the distance, to the east.
There is an ice formation to the west, a valley to the east and a wall of rocks in front of us. That is the Chola Pass. I struggle breathing, forcing me to focus on each step, I remember the book of the Navarra expedition and how they needed to stop after every 5 steps.
We trekkers smile at each other not sharing the language but knowing the feelings we are experiencing with the shared experience. The sherpas, doubling or taking 3 or 4 times or more the weight that we carry, pass us at what is for me nothing less than humbling.
Soon, the sun smiling at us again, and some meters above everyone is celebrating. When we reach the top, we take the photos together and I even take a nap. I remember the Torrecilla trek the past year and how I tried to do the same but was awaken by a snowball.
While going down we start now walking over the ice. Somehow we don’t need crampons and it is beautiful to see streams of water running under our feet.
The next part consists on following a narrow ledge on the rock to our right and very soon a wonderful valley open itself around us.
It seems like arriving to a secret valley, protected and surrounded by giants. Amadablan, on of them, in front of us.
From this height I can see two settlements on the distance.
On each stop to rest I notice the peeps joking with X. about the female nepali guide that he was speaking to yesterday.
It is sunny and in this prairie, even the porters are at the same time enjoying a little pause.
I take the chance to talk a little bit with a french gentleman saluting him in french and promptly being forced to tell him that I don’t know much french and continue in english.
In our Zangla Inn, my remaining strenght only allows to put the cellphone to charge, the necesary visit to the bathroom and taking a nap.
An hour later, Tundu wakes me up to have some masala tea that revitalizes me. It is 2:30.
Soon, another expedition, older men, fills the room.
This has been hard, and surely would dismantle the image some of my friends have of me of being strong.
The top of the eatern hill was hiding a surprise: A view of a barren land of another planet. It is an old glaciar in a receding state. The look of it now is like seeing the bottom of a dry river, full of rocks as if pulverized by the force of ice long ago.
However, Sonam reminds me, «this pass is dangerous, that is why it is recommended to pas it soon in the morning».
And soon, I see the reason of this; some of the walls of white dirty rock are actually ice and we can see and hear how small chunks of rocks and high ground fall from their top into the ponds.
We pass a lot of porters. The two porters that come with us are doing the same way and we pass each other several times. This morning I gave them two snacks asking them to please accept and they did and thanked. Also we talked with a group of spanish people that were doing this path without guides.
This takes from 7:30 to 10:00 and we are in our new destination at the skirts of a mountain.
Tomas, Luis and me took the first shower in days and we washed our clothes. This felt really awesome.
After this, I decide to venture myself into the hills to see the glaciar and have some time of solitude and inspiration.
When topping one hill I see a couple in the distance, also enjoying the view, on of them waves and I wave back.
To find a quieter place I continue climbing and find a good spot.
Time to find the feelings that center myself. The mountains and music from Dances with wolves. I meditate and go back.
I got up from the nap when Luis is ordering his stuff. I found myself annoyed by the noise but I enter in a good mood when I hear people joking outside.
Sonam, Tundu, X. and another sherpa are talking with a female sherpa guide and X. seems interested and everyone is laughing and giggling with the interaction.
I am eager to ross the Chola Pass tomorrow. For safety, it will be something that we will do early in the morning and this can take us even 8 hours. I am tired of sleeping almost all the day in the previous days so I welcome a long day in nature.
Some muesli for breakfast and we depart at around 7:35 am.
Again, the path starts ascending forcing us to walk slowly so we can make our breathing come to normal levels.
I see less and less people in this zone, however we continually are passed by an english and swiss expedition, they take the lead whenever we take a rest.
Again, I see porters carrying three or more times the weight we carry. The main sights today are the three lakes.
Gokkyo lake with the sight of the Cho Oyu peak
We arrive early, it is 11:11 when I see the clock, one hour later we have dal bhat and I go to take a nap.
I get up when L. came to the room to order his stuff, I see that X. needs help to arrange his plane to fly around the Everest during the last day, so we buy an Everst-link that he can use to do a whatsapp call to talk to Cristina.
I take the chance to contact my people back home.
After that, we have a friendly chat around dinner about our jobs, families, girlfriends.
Myself, I have a chowmei and we share some hashbrown with egg.
Today I took my breakfast with milk and a porridge based on corn and my usual black coffee. The others have grown fond of the masala tea and they order it at each presented chance. We wave goodbye to the kind hosts, in my case, they shake my hands with some words in spanish, and also we wish well to the rest of the family and the fellow climbers.
The trek starts by going back down and now crossing the river and following a path up that is testing our stamina and forces us to walk slowly to catch our breath.
The Dukquosi (Milky river) is at our right side becoming narrower as our ascension continues.
The first part of the trail is almost all upwards and we cross more porters, a woman herding yaks, more women carrying stuff and some other trekkers. They are not as common as in our first days around Namche Bazaar.
Again I take the moments while we have a rest when Tundu marks it to breathe from the beauty of the mountains and allow the sun to warm my skin.
We make a stop for lunch around 11 a.m. knowing that the rest of the way will be easier for today.
We are now over 4000 meters of altitude and I feel a bit of pressure on the back of my head. It’s very subtle but I decide not to risk it and take my first pill: one paracetamol.
I forgot to mention that Sonam got behind at the lodge however he catched up a little bit before our lunch place.
Another man in the lunch place resulted to be one young man from Kathmandu, in his thirties, he speaks a very good english and told me that this trek was more beautiful than the others and that he would spend nine days on them.
Everest: We will go to the base camp, and Island Peak…We will climb it!
At last, in Marchemo I salute the porters in nepalese and the hostess smiles when she notices me using some words like «duk chya» (tea with milk) with Tundu.
The interior of the lodge
Playing football
Stories about travels around Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia using Bangkok as a hub to get the visas are told by L. and T.
Today I feel like wishing for more time in the evenings under the sun. Some times I think about my people back home and what worried me, feeling distant and wishing for more clarity.
The hotel was busy with some celebration, it seems like a wedding
The first thing that came to my attention is the amount of traffic on the streets, a river of cars and motorbikes and the traffic light that probably went abandoned 30 or 40 years ago. So the only way to cross this street is a leap of faith and start walking towards the other side, and like a rock in a river, the traffic starts to make room for us while never stopping going forward.
The cables tangled in every post. I wonder how are the repairs made. Probably just setting a new one over the old.
We visit an exchange place where we can get some rupees and after that some of us need to get some equipment, mostly for when we do our final ascension to the Island Peak, so I buy some mittens and a water bottle.
The next day we go to the airport where we can take a flight to Lukla, however there are no screen signs here, people is sitting everywhere on the floor, and the communication with the people at the desks seems to lead to nowhere. We spend hours there and it seems flights are getting delayed due to the weather in Lukla.
Hours waiting at the local airport.
When it seemed that we may even not flight today, one of the guides appear and to our delight he has arranged a couple of helicopters to flight us to Lukla. We walk around trusting that everything amidst this chaos have an inner order, and finally that is manifested when we are transported to a nearby facility where we will be able to catch the helli.
From here on, I continue with my notes from these days
14-October-2017
Second day in Nepal. We arrived today to our first shelter after some trekking.
The astounding beauty of the scenery is exceeding my previous expectations set in Kathmandu. I did not expect to find such splendid cascades falling as in slow motion. It is also a gift for my inner child to discover these evergreen sea of mountains while flying for the first time in a helicopter.
Our pilot, Eric «Riddler» Riddington does not seem to be a man of much words. Mónica is sitting on the left front sit. I am next to the left door at the rear, with David in the middle and Xan to the right.
Eric «Riddler», our pilot.
Mixed emotions overcame when the rotor started and I fixated my attention on when we would start to float.
The first surprise was, that when it happened, it was far from frightening. Joyously and confidently I set myself to record some videos to proudly show later to my family and friends.
We start to navigate through the countryside around Kathmandu that is surrounded by infinite hills.
Unlike Kathmandu, as crowded with houses from above as it is with people on the ground, the countryside presents a more appealing display for me, green mountains whose sides have been carved by man to cultivate the land with a set of artificial plateaus fit for farming. I notice that the houses take root on the lines that the slopes form at their top. Many blue roofs are seen from this vantage point of view.
Getting too near when a big slope is erected in our front sight set some of my alarms ringing, but only I get really worried when some wind pushes our helicopter upwards or side to side even if it is only for milliseconds.
After an hour flying, what appears to be a farm with a prairie on the skirts of a mountain, reveals itself to be a helipad with a landing point.
The helli dives down and moves again upwards after sweeping over and above the buildings. Amazed, I enjoy with how the pilot takes us circling around the mountain, a mountain which I can’t see the top, full of greenery and hidden by the clouds.
When he completed the circle we were back at the landing point. This time, slowly, as if showing off, the helli finally lands.
The little prairie is specked with the colors of the trekkers’ coats, trekkers that have come from all over the world and are here today.
A girl in her first twenties races towards the helli, she seems to be organizing the arrivals. A shabby man that reminds me of a nepali version of Johnny Depp asks us some questions, and soothes us to leave behind our concerns about our missing bags, partners and guides. He ushers us towards the hall room and take some tea.
We haven’t finished the tea, while the girl is helping us calling Parajuli, our contact in Kathmandu, when Sonam, Luru and Jetta arrive alongside with the porters. In a matter of seconds, and once again, I discover how everything seems to unfold perfectly while I feel myself confidently trusting in the people that are taking care of us.
Presentations are made, Luru asks me if I am the leader, I told him that no, but that I could be, and he laughs and says «you seem like an smart guy».
The trek starts. Jewels from nature are everywhere so slowly we leave behind our morning concern about waiting at the airport for our twice delayed flights.
The trail is an stepped path carved on the rock, surrounded by sudden falls into the valley. I can only see trees, plants and from this height I can see rivers, waterfalls and the gigantic mountains on the opposite side that dwarf the ones I walked in Grazalema or Málaga.
We cross many little villages, buddhists mantras engraved or painted on the stones or flags…
One of the many suspension bridges on the first stages.
Stupas
Near the end, Tundu and Tenshi comes to guide us to the guest house where the meal is served.
To wash myself, only a faucet and a rocky basin helps me to wash a bit my face and arms clean.
We enjoy noodles and masala tea comforted in their warm personalities, full of hospitality and good sense of humour.
I set myself to sleep while remembering the many events, the dog that followed us, the little girl and boys that laugh and play in the villages, my friends and family with whom I could not contact today, although Mónica kindly lend me her mobile to send a SMS to my father. I wonder what is H doing today.
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