Everest Base Camp Trek Journal – Day 6

by Sara on Friday, October 21st, 2011

in Asia, Hikes, Mountains, Rivers, Stories, Tours, UNESCO World Heritage Sites

The clouds just barely above the river near Dingboche

Today was our second rest day. Feeling a little homesick today. After our short acclimatization hike of roughly 2 hours, I got a little girly and did anything I could to feel less gross and cleaner, other than bucket shower again because I was worried about getting too cold. I brushed and re-braided my hair, brushed and flossed my teeth, washed my face, put on lotion, and even tweezed my eyebrows. It helped a little. I woke up in the middle of the night with a stomachache again. Altitude sickness is no fun at all. We have “eastern” toilets in our room (no actual toilet seat), and they smell nasty. At least they’re inside. 2 or 3 more nights before we get to head back down. The altitude is also making me forget and lose things. Yesterday I thought I lost the GPS and finally found it in my daypack. Today I couldn’t find the map notating the photos we took in Namche. I was convinced I dropped it somewhere, but I had given it to Sam. I have no recollection of this.

The town of Dingboche with Ama Dablam in the background

On a happy note it was clear this morning, and we saw Ama Dablam again and Island Peak which looks like a big dome. We hiked about 1000ft up the mountain above Dingboche, just mainly as something to do and to help with acclimatization a little bit. The hike was nothing that exciting, but we had some nice views with the break in the clouds. Fingers crossed we’ll see Everest on the first try up Kala Patthar. I’m not sure we can survive two nights at Gorek Shep. We found some very slow internet in town. It was nice to read some emails from people at home. We hung out in the lodge for most of the day, playing cards and chatting. We played many, many games of Rummy 640. There’s not much to see in Dingboche. We’ve met some interesting people who are also staying here. There was a Nepalese couple who had moved back to Nepal after living in the US. They said it’s been strange for them to be tourists. The lodge owners can’t figure out how to treat them because Nepalese people are never doing the trek unless they’re working. We went to bed pretty early. More climbing to come tomorrow.