On to Bargarchhap (3/13)
 All night the rain came down, but I kept thinking or at least hoping that it was the river and waterfall nearby. After all, the rain couldn’t possibly be coming down that hard let alone cause the loud booming sounds I kept hearing. Of course, that was thunder but I found myself hoping it was more police practice exploding bombs like at Gokyo. Eventually, I got up and looked. Sadly, it was still pouring out. So much for the early start, at this point I was hoping for any start.

By 9:00 it had cleared up enough for us to brave the trail. Padam had talked to the porter again and apparently came to an understanding. He was free to leave if he wanted to, however faced with the reality of being fired and other possible repercussions back in Katmandu, Seba backed off and agreed to carry on. The compromise was the Padam would now carry his sleeping bag as well as his personal belongings instead of Seba carrying them for him. So to make it easier for Padam I agreed to carry my laptop and batteries. Padam was willing to carry it all, but he had been sick and I didn’t want to overload him.

We finished breakfast and headed out. The sun peaked through and it looked like we might have a nice day after all. Our hope didn’t last long and the rain started again, albeit lightly. The river we followed fiercely roared as it was fed with the runoff from many tributaries and waterfalls trying to wring out from the storm. The path was rocky, slippery and still non-picturesque.  As we walked we did at least pass a few guest houses that looked newer and more on the level with that in the Khumbu Valley (Everest Region).

We stopped for lunch at Chamje. Given our slow progress and the weather, we cut our goal back to the town of Tal. After lunch we had some brief spots of sun and the landscape began to improve with deep cutting rivers ripped through the valley, carving gorges right through the rock. It was particularly impressive when two rivers cut through the high stone walls and came together into a single confluence. I hoped we put the worst behind us.

Sadly, the sun disappeared and the cool gray clouds returned. It’s was a shame as we were so close to the snow capped mountains, yet they were barely visible at the base of the V of the valley. They tried hard to peak out behind the clouds, but they weren’t succeeding.

Padam looked at them and worried. What looked like a beautiful snow capped mountain, behind the clouds, shouldn’t be covered in snow. He kept pointing out that would be snow we would have to walk through.

As we walked we passed another group that went up, but couldn’t get through the pass. They said there was a lot of snow and that the pass would be quite hairy. I was not sure what it meant when they said the pass was “closed.” Did that mean you were stopped by the administration from going or that it was just difficult to go through? If we had a large enough group breaking the trail, would that work? I didn’t know.

We got to Tal and to our surprise Seba was only a half an hour behind us. Padam ripped into him, in a slightly friendly tone, but told him he could do better. I think given the day he did just fine.

The town of Tal was built on a sand bank next to a river that clearly rises higher than its current level. I wouldn’t have wanted to be there when it did. These guesthouses were a bit nicer that before, which is odd as we are getting further and further away from a main road. Also of note, all the menus were basically the same within a region. Same prices, same choices. As we just entered a new district, I was hoping for a change in menu.

In contrast to the stone cut  buildings in the Khubu Valley, these seem to be more like cement constructions with etchings in them to make them look like bricks. Happily they still had electricity here, so I was beginning to be hopeful I would have electricity the whole trip.

The best laugh of the trip so far was when the three Israeli girls showed up. One came in like she was in charge of the place, trying to figure out if it were to her standards. The modest guesthouse owner told them they were full, even thou they weren’t. Apparently, Israelis had a reputation for being loud, bossy, and messy and this Nepalese woman wasn’t willing to sell out. Interestingly, when the quieter Israeli Lior, his ex-girlfriend (certainly an interesting choice of trekking partners) and Sandra showed up, they were showed available rooms.

After dining with them, we ended up in a heated discussion about the holocaust. Lior and his ex argued that the holocaust was different than any other genocide. I have always had a problem with this thought process. I for one find all genocides equally unacceptable and find the lack of concern over other genocides a failure of the Jewish people to truly understand the meaning of “Never Forget.” (For the record I am Jewish). We also got into another discussion about Jewish people buying German products. It certainly wasn’t a boring night.

The story continues...