We're in Kathmandu. A pell-mell city, with a maze of narrow streets and alleys. We're staying in a hotel in the Thamel, the center of town. It's a holiday here akin to Christmas and animals are being slaughtered in the street. Today in the main square policemen are testing their strength by chopping off the heads of water buffaloes. The street scenes are chaotic here, even with most of the people home in their villages. People throwing stones at bad monkeys and boiling goats in barrels on the sidewalk.
We spent the better part of yesterday trying to organize a trek. We learned quickly that trekking in Nepal is no cheap endeavor. Because of cost we are sort of limited in the places we can go. For example a hike in the western part of the country (called the Dolpo) or to the Upper Mustang or around Manaslu (8000 meter peak in a conservation area) would cost us around 80 or 90 dollars a day (which would include a guide and a porter). So we've decided to do the Gokyo trek first (with a guide). It's in the Everest region but doesn't go to base camp. It's supposed to have less traffic. We fly to a small town called Lukla tomorrow and start our hike. The trail ascends for 7 days to the high point at Chon lo pass (5300 meters) than loops around back to Lukla. We've planned 15 days but may take more if we need the time to acclimatize.
I'm short on time and I hope to blog once more before we leave tomorrow morning. Hope all is well.
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