Day 3: Acclimatisation

I had another hot and troubled night with many dreams. I was ready before seven, hoping the weather would change as I paced the halls of the lodge. It was even cloudier than the day before with the valley and mountain opposite the village now shrouded by the ‘low’ cloud. I must have woken the lady as she had clearly just jumped out of bed to unlock the restaurant so that I could look out of the numerous windows. I asked her advice but just like everyone else, the ever-changing mountain weather cannot be predicted. I decided not to decide and wait for an hour to see if the weather got better or worse. The rain started bouncing off the tin roofs so I was glad I’d waited. I needed a day off anyway really. I crawled back into my overly warm sleeping bag to write. I could hear a woman singing outside, it was getting louder. It sounded like she was walking on the roof outside towards our window. She was indeed, in fact she was stood right outside our window. I thought she was looking inside but she was just hanging washing outside our window. An interesting thing to do in the rain which made me unsure whether she was trying to dry or wash her clothes.

The showers were understandably not free but I thought four pounds was a little much. The shower room was locked and so I had to request a cold shower. The man in charge knew there was profit in showering and he tried to push the hot shower but I refused. I was more than happy to go two weeks without a hot shower. Bepin, not being the outdoorsy type by his own confession, was not happy with that arrangement and paid for his shower. I could hear the endless tip tapping of men as they tirelessly chiselled away at stone ready for the incorporation into a new building. I was clearly acclimatising to the new altitude as my heart rate was 56bpm, even after that cold shower. I had some toast with possibly the worst jam on the planet but I did spy yak steak on the menu which I thought would make a good celebratory meal for the return journey. It was a nice relaxing day full of eating and writing but by the end of it I was eager to get trekking again – Everest was calling.