Solu Khombu Trek – Day 6 (Berkley)

I felt unwell all night.  I ended up waking up at midnight and was not able to fall back to sleep.  In the morning I felt horrible.  I was weak, my body was shaky and sensitive, and my stomach was feeling all kinda of nauseated.  Though I tried to continue, it was decided that it was a better, safer, choice for me to head back.  Whether I was feeling that way because I was sick or because of elevation didn’t matter, I couldn’t go on.  But, not before I got to see some yaks!  Though the people there would probably say I wasn’t excited to see yaks, I totally was.  It was on my list of Nepal things to see.  And since I won’t be seeing Everest anymore, at least I got to see some yaks.

Peanut butter, honey, and raw garlic. Poor choice…

Yakety yak, don’t talk back.

Through a little convincing Seth went on without me.  I took our Cook down to lower elevation.  Purba, our sherpa guide, was pretty convinced that what I was feeling was altitude sickness, but I was not completely convinced.  As we quickly descended in altitude not much changed.  It became a little easier to walk, but just a little.  Otherwise I still felt pretty crappy.  I was still weak, shaky and nauseated (especially since Purba told me to eat a giant clove of raw garlic for breakfast to combat the altitude sickness.  I accompanied it wit a spoonful of peanut butter, and I was burping up that combination all day.)  It took about four hours to reach our destination of Junbesi, and I felt like crap every grueling step of the way.  I was so careful not to trip and fall, or slip off the mountain in my weakness and sheer exhaustion.  At this point I’m back at the Apple Valley Lodge where I am resting, but still feeling horrible.  I meet with Seth in a few days back in Phaplu.  He’s going to be completing the trip at a more accelerated pace.  HIs job is to take tons of photos and to remember everything, so he can tell me all about it.  I’m glad one of us gets to complete the trek.