Memorable moments on the trail. #3 Loboche

It was our 7th day out and we had about a 5 hour hike. After lunch we climbed our first pass. It looked rather daunting from the bottom but we took it nice and slow, like always, and after a little more than an hour we were at the top. At the top was a memorial for all those who lost their lives climbing Everest. Most of the memorials were simple stacks of stones but there were a few larger ones with plaques and all. It was a neat place to see especially after climbing that pass. We rested here for a little while then continued on to Loboche. We had no idea what would be in store for us there.

At first we didn't take much notice of our guest house. Once we got to our room though, we saw that this was the worst one yet. It was so small that the beds didn't really fit. They were curled up at the ends. Also it looked like it was constructed entirely out of scrap materials. There was a dirty tarp on half of the ceiling, one wall was corrugated steel siding that had small holes in it from its prior use, and the rest, well let's just say it looked like we were in a run down shack. I'm sure the accommodations in tent city in Athens are comparable if not better. Tala had said her head was hurting, a sign of altitude sickness, and Shiba told her to eat some garlic soup. He also told us we should not take a nap this afternoon, but stay up and just hang out in the dining room. We did as he said and sat and talked amongst the many international trekkers. After some time, a group Russians came and sat at the open spots around us. They were all splitting a large pot of tea, nothing out of the ordinary up here. However, soon they started dipping their spoons in the jelly/jam jars on the table. Now this weirded me out for a couple of reasons. One, they were double, triple, quadruple, etc dipping and two, I thought of the unlucky people who would probably use that jam later and unknowingly eat some of those Russian's spit. They evidently didn't see anything wrong with their actions but I noticed some other trekkers watching them with a little disgust as well as some of the guest house employees. They must have eaten the better part of 2 jars before they were done with their tea.

The next slightly alarming event occurred shortly after the Russian tea party. Two young kids who worked at the guest house were charged with lighting a fire in the stove in the dining room to warm things up for the night. This was the first time I saw the dried yak shit being used for fuel. We had seen patties drying since day one, but we hadn't seen them used. In order to get the fire started, the boy added some kerosene and he also spilled some all over the stove. Next the two of them raced to get it all started with some matches. Tala felt very uneasy about this since our guest house was more or less a tinder box. The children got the fire started safely but we soon found out that the stove pipe did not work properly. Within a few minutes smoke from the burning shit was filling the dining room. Let me tell you this is not a pleasant odor. Tala and I decided to give up our seats and escape outside. It was quite cold but the fresh air was worth it. We then decided to check out a couple other guest houses nearby to see if there were any vacancies. Of course they both looked like 5 stars compared to our ramshackle dump and of course they were all booked up. Disappointed we returned to our room hoping to find refuge from the smoke. No luck, but it was better than the dining room where everyone had a bandanna or something of the sort covering their nose and mouth. In the room, Tala and I devised an escape plan should the place catch fire. Lucky for us we had a window to escape from unlike the rooms across the hall.

By dinner time, I was feeling ill. Part of it was due to the altitude but it was mostly due to our accommodations. For the first time I had trouble eating my dinner and I went to be early that night. I fell asleep easier than I thought but I woke up hearing the guy across the hall hacking and puking in his room. The walls were so thin I could've sworn he was right outside our door if not in our room. I expected to see vomit in the hall the next day but thankfully I didn't. Also in the night our room got smokey again which made getting back to sleep difficult. I found that I couldn't turn towards the wall next to my bed because the smell of gas/kerosene was too strong. We found out later that they put petrol in the water in the bathroom so it doesn't freeze. I won't even get into how disgusting that toilet was. Let's just say I decided to pee outside. Needless to say we survived our time in Loboche. I have never been so happy to get up at dawn to start hiking in the freezing cold as when we left that next morning. Thankfully we didn't have to stay there again on our way down.