We are leaving for Lukla early in the morning so this will be short. 4:00 AM wakeup and enroute to the airport at 5:30. We were told in no uncertain terms that does not mean 5:33. We are booked on 5 flights to an airport in the mountains where no planes have been able to land for days at a time for a month. Lots of people have been stranded there and food started to run out weeks ago. I have my dried cranberries stashed at the bottom of my pack! Somethings aren’t negotiable.
To meet the 12 kilo limit for our bags I had to stuff my small back pack to the gills. It’s the same one I’m wearing on the marathon and I never really trained with it. Well now I have another chance. It must weigh as much as a small duffle. Packing is definitely an art & I’m not artistic.
Our “fun run” was, well, fun if you call running flat out on a steep downhill trail covered with rocks, slick mud,and sharp turns fun. Actually we all did have fun. The ones in the “fancy dress” as the Brits call it (means costumes,)had
Degree of difficulty that I stayed away from. I learned you are far better off as a pirateornorseman
a degree of difficulty to their run. What I learned is if
you have to race downhill on rutted out trails filled with
large rocks then you definitely want to be a pirate, not a saffron robed monk or a donkey with inflatable legs. There
was a lot of tripping and fair amount of bloodyarms,legs&
costumes at the end.I got close 3 times but self corrected
before going down. It was not a forgiving trail and a fall
Could derail the main event in a few weeks.
The donkey crashed when the hind legs interfered throwinher off balance
could have serious consequences. The donkey got it the worst
when the inflatable rear legs interfered with each other.
Jenny (donkey’s real name) is in the British Military and doing this as part of her training. She ended up wth 16 stitches and 5 internal. She’s togh. Got stitched up right there and is deemed fit to continue.
It’s now the next day and we have all been in the airport for hours waiting for our flights to Lukla. That airport has not been open for days and there are people who have been here for 3 days – the controlled chaos gives you time to have a chat and for me grab a computer in the “cyber cafe” so I can finish this posting. I’ve gone through alot of Purell today! This computer must have every type of germ imaginable on the keyboard. No complaints though.
Once we get to Lukla we immediately start walking to Phakding for the first night. There are several unsteady suspension bridges to cross so I hope we aren’t trekking in the dark. We are all anxious get into the mountains. This is a very fit crowd who are not used to sitting around. We have a 100 mile trek w/ the side trips so we cannot be delayed too long without it adversely effecting the trip. All our supplies and equipment are waiting for us in the mountains. The hotels in Kathmandu are full so going back there to spend additional nights right now is not an option. There is no Red Carpet Club :). We will roll with it. One fellow already had a nasty reaction to a cup of coffee (I had one too) and they had to find his bag for a change of clothes. You can’t take your mind off where you are for a minute.My time is up, I’ll be back as soon as that’s possible. Trouble uploading photos to Picasa for use on this site but will keep trying. I have some amazing ones to share. Thanks for all your comments and msgs. Please know I do get them and they are much appreciated. I hope everyone is well and one last thought – PUI you guys ROCK!!
Brent
