Sunday the 23rd, and it’s finally a real rest day. We turned down Pema’s offers to head out for yet another terrific view above the village, and we even temporarily suspended all bed tea and washing water calls on our rooms. We all slept in wonderfully and waited until it was sunny and warm outside before we rolled out of our wonderful, flat, indoor beds. We officially had no agenda today except to just relax. Well, actually I’m way off on that. We had a mandate that we were all supposed to take showers and change clothes today. No more stinking to high heaven. That meant a lot of extra water, so I helped out by fetching some water from the public faucet next to the Gomba. That is a very popular spot. People go there to wash clothes, take a cold shower, and wayward cattle stopped by for a drink of water and to drop off some dung. It was such a warm day that I felt I should do my laundry. I did it before in Phortse I think, but my socks never dried out. I gathered by clothes in a large aluminum wash basin and got a bar of soap. One of the hardest things about doing laundry this way is that you have to rub soap into the dirty spots with a bar of soap, and the soap is not loose with its lather. If I had just a cap full of liquid detergent the job would go by like a breeze, except for the part about wringing the clothes out. The little chore of washing my dirties was pretty relaxing, but I thought about how hard it must be for the Sherpani, who have so much work to do during the day. Washing clothes is just one thing they have to finish among a list of tasks that run all day long. I sat in the kitchen watching Mingma working for part of the afternoon, and it was amazing. I helped out a little with peeling potatoes, but it was a drop in the bucket.

It’s Saturday the 22nd, and the center of activity for the region is down in Namche this morning. Pema and Mingma both are anxious to get there early to catch the best selection in the weekly market, but all we want is to enjoy a leisurely schedule. Pema wanted to take us down by 7 a.m., but our counter-proposal was that we wake up with the sun and hike down ourselves. I for one didn’t feel an urgency to rush down to the bottom of the hill again after all the hiking I’ve done in the last few days. But by the morning I was really well rested and kind of enthused about enjoying the “big city” for the day. We got out hopelessly late for Pema’s needs, so I think he gave up on his good deals for the day. We took the main path leading down to Namche, and it was amazing to see the route with the fog cleared away. As we got close to Namche and we wound ourselves into the narrow alleys leading to the center of the market we found ourselves in a traffic jam. The main Saturday market is mostly grocery store items laid out on tarps. There was nothing really for tourists, and we were disappointed to learn that the (from my understanding) Nepali soldiers around Namche had begun to exclude the Tibetans from selling in the market for security reasons. They add some very interesting variety to the selection, the best in knock-off apparel. Otherwise I could tell there were other merchants from outside of the area, probably the lowland below Lukla. This market is where people shop for their groceries one or two weeks at a time. Pema is amazed at some Americans who keep food storage, and we tried to explain to him that it’s for emergency preparedness. If there was a natural or economic disaster a family would need something to fall back on. To Pema that doesn’t make sense because the Sherpa people are so self-sufficient. He knows that no one will ever mess with the Namche market and enough people grow their own vegetables. We in the U.S. are set up to rely on a lot of outside factors.

This morning, the 21st, it is still overcast and drizzly. All night, as I woke up intermittently, I heard the rain pelting on the tin roof and wind gusts beating against the plywood walls. Richard says he woke up in the dark and was certain the ceiling was leaking somewhere because the rain sounded like it was falling right in his room. Give great credit to the lodges though – even though the walls between the rooms are intimately thin, the structure holds amazingly well and we enjoyed a good night’s sleep feeling warm and dry. Of course that doesn’t do much to help with the lodges being catastrophic fire hazards. They’re 100% plywood, no insulation or fire retardant, and they have a wood/dung stove right in the middle. In the morning the clouds cleared a little, and after we had our hot lemon and we packed up we set out for a relaxing hike to lower lands (be advised of irony). We actually had a full schedule for the day, but out next objective was to reach Pema’s (well, Mingma really takes ownership) lodge back in Khumjung. Discerning the yak poo from the mud was more of a challenge. As is typical with descending from the higher lands we were to cover in one day a distance that would take at least two days on our way up. The trail for the day would take us down to the river (always fun, because we just have to go back up again), then up to the Tyangboche monastery. The panoramic view there is idyllic and the monastery must be a spiritual sanctuary for the monks, except for the adjoining tourist village and all the white monkeys poking into the middle of their daily business. The poor monks can’t even slip out of the outhouse without a hiker panning over his camera for a telephoto shot of the monk adjusting himself.

We’re staying in tents in front of a lodge again, Peak 38 View Lodge, but the irony is not a bother because we’re so glad it’s already warmer. Sleep was actually restful instead of a struggle against nature. The clouds rolled in early in the evening yesterday and I imagined slight flecks of condensation falling from the sky. When I woke up early just before the sun and crept out of my tent I got a good pile of snow down my neck. I was planning to wash up a little, but the snow wrecked that notion. It was kind of nice to see though. Actually, it seems like it was too cold in Lobuche for snow. At least now I have the luxury of a hot stove and a cozy dining room from which to enjoy the view. This lodge is very busy today. Yesterday evening the dining room was packed tight with smelly, white monkeys. Amid the roar of 10 conversations in the small room we could pick out French, Japanese, Hebrew, Italian, English, and Sherpa. Everyone was so scraggly and worn out or frozen from their adventures that there were not exaggerated physical expressions. Today John, Cody and I will be climbing up a mere 1,000 feet to see the Ama Dablam Base Camp. The rest of the group will meet us in Pangboche.