10. Phakding to Namche

Well. When our guide said it would be a "rough" day, that may have been an understatement. No, it was an understatement. Definitely an understatement. We got up at 6 am and had breakfast at 7 am. My appetite hasn't been the same since starting this, but I had some wonderful apple porridge. It was SO cold this morning,layered in many many layers, gloves and winter hat in place. The trek started out wonderfully this morning, despite the cold. It wasn't too hard at first, some hills, but definitely  do-able. After mid- morning it became tough. It then became completely uphill. We gained 800 meters in elevation and walked 13 kms, but at least half of that steep uphill. Boy, do I mean steep. After hitting the uphill part I quickly became the tail end of the group. Could definitely notice the difference in elevation today, and I was literally just putting one foot in front of the other with taking many breaks just to get my breathing more manageable. It seemed to go on forever and even though it was still chilly I was stripped down to a tank top and sweating. This was not good later. We finally reached the guest house at around 1530. I was exhausted and my clothing was soaked. I started to shiver and despite changing all of my clothes, with many layers again, and climbing into my down sleeping bag with a heavy blanket AND Heidi's large fur bobcat hat, I shivered for another hour. We are just having dinner now. Food is very simple on the trail but it fills a hole. Heidi and I asked for a large pot of ginger lemon tea when we arrived at the guest house yesterday.  In Kathmandu when you asked for a large pot of tea, you got a medium sized pot that would give us each about 2-3 cups. Yesterday we received a keg of tea! No kidding! Will include picture below.  My cold is maybe a bit worse, my nose has become a faucet, and very sore and red. And today I developed a cough, just for good measure. I'm sure that didn't help the climbing today however pretty sure can't blame it on that totally.
We stay here for two nights to acclimatize to this elevation, however we will do a 3-4 hour hike up and back to help with the acclimitization. This village may be our last chance at a shower so will definitely take advantage of that tomorrow afternoon so that it will give my hair time to dry before night. Will try and check in again tomorrow. Love you Kara! !
Pictures- 1. Heidi and I standing in front of the Hillary suspension bridge  2. Looking  over the side of the suspension bridge with the prayer flags blowing in the wind. 3. Yak train coming behind me on the suspension bridge. 4. Beautiful little boy at a rest stop 5. Glimpses of the himalayas 6. This morning in Phakding with two German couples trekking with us. 7. Heidi and I and our large pot of tea!