Today we recovered from one of the longest and most grueling trekking days getting to Namche.
After breakfast we headed to the Everest View Hotel at 13,000 feet for lemon and ginger tea and the hope of getting a glimpse of the big mountain. Unfortunately the clouds had another plan but we did see Namche from a different perspective. The word Namche means “bowl” in Nepalese and it’s an excellent name because the terraces bowl shaped slopes carved into the mountainside defines the town.
After a quick shower, we had lunch at the pizza shop near the hotel and I enjoyed the last beer of the expedition. Alcohol and altitude don’t mix well because I was half asleep after lunch. I asked Ngawang to help me find a tshirt shop to buy gifts for the Hopecam kids. He randomly took me to the exact same shop that I bought gifts the last time I was here and the clerk remembered me.
My favorite hat had a cartoon of three animals with the words YAK YAK YAK. Best of all we arranged for the large package of patches hats and shirts to be delivered to the Lukla airport so Matt can retrieve them on his journey back to the USA next week.
Today we honored a boy named Matthew from New Jersey. Matthew loves to play video games with his brother and wants to be a video game developer when he grows up. He enjoys using his Hopecam to read online books and surf the web. We trek to Debouche next.