Babies, Base Camp, and Breathing

Above 17,000 feet everything becomes a photo op or a time for serious reflection.  That rock... amazing. The back of someone's head... stunning.  And I swear, the view of Mt. Everest when I have my head between my knees really is the perfect angle.  Each step becomes a time for deep contemplation.  It may seem random to stop, hands on hips, in front of a port-a-potty, and gaze up to the sky, but at such high altitudes there are so many things to reflect upon.  This wheezing and these gasping breathes I'm taking are really just because I'm in awe of where I am... err, um, something like that.

Being able to visit Mt. Everest really was something special.  Weaving and climbing up a 100 km unpaved road, our micro van bumped slowly along through the mountains.  At about the 20th km we turned a corner and there was Mt Everest, growing out of a sea of hills.  It really was beautiful. Cold and windy, but beautiful.

Having no real idea what we were in for in terms of accommodations, or pretty much anything, we were relieved to find that the tent we were staying in was warm, fully furnished, and included entertainment in the form of a one and a half year old child named Karma who was as frightened of us as we were fascinated by him.  He looked at us with that "what the hell are you doing in my house, and why are you cooing at me like idiots" expression that young children so often have.  His judgment of us must have only grown as he watched his mother literally tuck us all in, piling blankets on top of us and folding them under our bodies (until we were completely incapable of breathing or moving) as he continued to play long after we were put to bed.

By morning he seemed resigned to us being there and a bit more willing to engage with us, although he did continue to eye us suspiciously from across the room.



I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to experience Mt. Everest base camp, despite lacking pretty much all skills and knowledge that I would have thought necessary to equip and prepare a person to be exposed to such altitudes and extreme conditions.