Day 4: Phungi Tenga to Shomare

I remember this day clearly because it was when dear Pradeep got sick and had to descend. The first sign of bad things to come came during breakfast when I asked him, as I did the other mornings, how he slept. He said from 8 to 10 it was okay and then from 10 to 1 and after that, his heart was beating very fast, he had weird dreams and the air was so cold he needed two blankets.

The plan was to push for Pheriche (pronounced "fuh-REE-chay"), which seemed doable after blazing past Tengboche, the monastery town, but after the stretch from one village to Shomare (pronounced like "summary" with an "s" instead of "sh", an "o" as in "saw" instead of the first "u" and "eh" at the end instead of "y" — SAW-mah-ree) took twice as long as budgeted, that plan was shelved. We did stop in Tengboche for a bit and ate lunch at the bakery, but alas weren't there in time to hear the monks chanting. That would have been really cool and something I'll just have to save for another trip.

Pradeep, I noticed, was breathing a little heavily at some points on the trek, which made my eyebrows metaphorically rise sharply. Previously, I'd been the only one who was breathless/panting/showing any discernible discomfort in adapting, and we certainly weren't racing up and down the path enough for Pradeep to be breathing that heavily. He finally said something after dinner, admitting that he had a headache of increasing intensity, gastric problems and dizziness. I really didn't want him to go but there was no other option, so I pressed a $20 bill into his jacket pocket amid his protestations, told him I wouldn't be at this point without him and how grateful I was that he taught me Nepali words, and we hugged goodbye. Pradeep made a few calls and secured us a new porter-guide, who surprisingly and happily showed up that night (more on him later).

There was this adorable bundled-up scene-stealing toddler who charmed everyone at the teahouse, including me and even when she reached into my pants pocket and extracted my iPhone (uh-oh!). I had never felt frustrated with the little Nepali I knew and was picking up along the way, but I did feel shamelessly proud that with my scant knowledge, it was for once (and probably only once) more than the conversational depth of a native Nepali.

I met this Australian couple, "Shawn" and "Greta" (she was German, I think, but living with him in Australia) who were brave enough to shower with buckets of lukewarm water. Greta tried telling me it was worth it for how much better I'd feel after, but I just didn't have her chutzpah in braving the cold beforehand. I was fine with my baby wipes.

The inscriptions on this stone make it a mani stone, and there are tons to ogle at along the trek.