Weather - how many different ways can you say rain?
We woke up to rain this am at 6. However by 930 when we said a tearful goodbye to Charles the sun had come out. It was about 33 degrees. We climbed steadily out of the valley to an old monastery that was mostly abandoned. As we waited for lunch the skies again opened up and the rains came down. This time with a vengeance. Lunch was goat liver (I asked Dale how long he thinks we will eat goat and he figures about 20% of the goat is being consumed per day so hopefully only 4 more days [I don't think we should sell goat at the Tibetan bread stand, unless Stella you think you can cook it well]). We perched for lunch on the 2nd floor of the deserted monastery looking in on the inner courtyard while the rains came down. There was a small family living at the monastery, one of the women admired the beads that I have carried (thanks Jason). They have become a talisman for me.
Now please close your eyes and imagine. That' not going to work is it - actually how about if you just imagine. An eavestrough about a boot and a half wide, full of leaves and dirt, at a 15 degree angle, draining the runoff from Niagara falls. That is what we hiked up this afternoon. After a couple of hours of eavestrough walking we arrived in Pangom. The good news was that we had a lodge, small but wonderful. Even better I broke out the tunes with my iPod and tiny speakers. At present Bob Marley is playing away. Anything to lift spirits.
Housekeeping is a challenge. We were only allowed to bring 25kg of gear. Sounds like a lot but when you add the sleeping bag, tent, warm gear, spare boots it doesn't leave much room. Hence we are always trying to clean clothes. The problem is, with the damp weather things just don't dry. This is a constant for us - damp clothes, boots, socks etc.
We go up and up from here - planning to hit a 5300m pass in three days?! Dave is thrilled about this because he seemed to attract all of the flying beetles into his dinner last night. These should be less of a problem once we go higher.
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the french quarter
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lunch at the monastery
