“Holy S**t!”

12:30 AM:  Woke to use the sole squat toilet at the end of the hallway, but it was occupied by someone with problems, so I used one of the outhouses in the courtyard between the lodge’s buildings.

7:00 AM Breakfast:  Corn flakes with hot milk, hardboiled egg, pancake and syrup.  I sat with Frank and Craig.  Frank asked about my kids and my immediate family/siblings, which led to my telling them about losing three members of my family to “freak” accidents in 1982.  Craig asked me to define “freak accidents”.

8:00 AM:  After a quick map talk, we headed out to Pheriche.  Each time we came to a village with a patio restaurant, I thought it was lunch time.  Kami assisted me today.  Kami is 26 years old.  He’s been a sherpa for 10 years.  He’s one of five children.  He is married with a son and a daughter.  When this trek is over, he will trek all the way home (a small town past Lukla) until the next trekking assignment he lands.

My left ankle still made me wince every once in a while, but I just kept rotating it every once in a while to snap it back into place, and then carry on with my trekking.

11:00 – Noon Lunch:  Ham, tomato and cheese sandwich; potato salad; carrot coins and kernel corn.

12:30 PM:  Before heading out, back on the trail, we took turns using the outhouse by the restaurant.  The outhouse was a raised stall with a cut out in the wood planked floor.  Inside the outhouse, while removing her camera from around her neck, Lily’s red cord necklace blessed by Rinpboche fell through the cut out onto the pile of excrement.  As Lily looked at her blessed red cord necklace on top of the pile, she exclaimed, “Holy s**t!”  It was now.

2:30 PM:  We arrived at the Himalayan Lodge in Pheriche.  I was assigned room 108.  When I first saw the lodge’s sign, I thought, “I’m in the Himalayas!”  My room was across the restrooms with flush toilets and two outside sinks.  Songmee announced, “They have hot showers for 400 NPRs – worth every penny!”  Songmee went on to say that there was laundry service for 150 NPR per item or 500 NPR per kilo.  I signed up for a shower.

While waiting for my turn for a hot shower, I met up with my fellow trekkers in the dining room.  We drank hot lemonade and ate Pringles and popcorn.

4:00 – 4:30 PM:  The hot shower had only one setting – hot, as the water was boiled and filled into a tank above the shower room.  I know this, because I was told to wait a bit after the last person because they needed to refill the tank with hot water.  I saw one of the employees with a bucket of hot water going up and down the stairs.  While taking my hot shower I washed my laundry, too.

The rooms were really cold, especially the floors.  I changed into my silk thermal pants, leggings, Henley, down vest, windbreaker and slipper socks.

5:45 PM:  Lily visited to say she would be in the dining room.  After wringing out my clothes and hanging them strategically around my room to dry, I proceeded down the hall to the dining room.  All were chilling out reading or journaling, so I went back to my room for my journal.

7:00 PM:  Dinner:  Pumpkin soup with nimkees, rice, red curry chicken, roasted potatoes, green beans, pineapple slices for dessert and plenty of hot lemonade.

No cultural lecture tonight, just water refills and shooting the breeze with Lily, Songmee, David and Craig.

9:00 PM:  Back to my room.

9:44 PM:  While in bed journaling, trying to stay warm tucked in my silk-lined sleeping bag, it began to rain.