Yesterday we left Namche Bazaar and it was a tough ascent to Panboche. On the way we received an orange string for round our necks from a tea house with a knot it it. The knot has been tied and blessed by the Dalai Lama and the knot means continuous journey, the blessing ‘safe journey’.
On the way up we lost one of our group to AMS (accute mountain sickness). The pressure on his head changed the shape of his eyeballs and he had double vision. So he couldn’t go any further with us and had to go down. Last night my lovely roomie had AMS as well but they filled her with strong drugs (Dex) and she’s feeling better and thankfully was able to continue today. She didn’t have any really bad symptoms,Just bad stomach, sickness and some fuzziness. I hope we can continue together as we’re having such a laugh and it wouldn’t be the same without her.
This morning we had a puja ceremony. This was a blessing for safe journey from the Lama Geshe. He also married the parents of one the guys in my group who is 19 years old. He married them here 20 years ago after climbing Ama Dablam. Now we are at Pheriche which is 13,000 feet (4240m). We stay here tonight and tomorrow we have an acclimatisation hike up to 5100m and then come back down to sleep here again.
We were all checked with a pulseometer which measures heart rate and blood oxygen level. My heart rate was 80 and blood oxygen 92 which is great. I have no pressure on my head and my appetite is still good. So all the signs so far are positive. We got our first glimpse today of Island Peak and Lobuche which are the first two mountains we climb. Lobouche looks really technical and scary. Everest and Ama Dablam look beautiful and majestic.