Again, we wake up to clear skies, sun and cool temps - perfect trekking weather (tough life, I know!)
The first part of the trip I was pretty sick - bad cold/bronchitis. The dry and clean mountain air did the trick to get me better (or maybe was that the prescription strength meds I bought in Namche - courtesy of a Bangledesh pharmaceutical company?)
Anyway, seems that the sickness has passed on to Scott. He is feeling miserable and with the elevations that we are getting to now (above 4000 m) sickness usually doesn't get better, it gets worse. But we keep moving on.
Bridge crossing...
View of Everest from the bridge
Stupa and mani stones are scattered among the trail, protecting the trekkers.
We spot musk deer
Little Sherpa guy... he was a naughty one!
more mani stones...
If I remember right, this is a view of Island Peak. A common mountain for trekkers to climb as a side trip
In Pheriche there is a clinic for the Himalaya Rescue Association (HRA). In the peak trekking and climbing seasons (spring and fall) there are 3 expat doctors based here to provide support to the travellers as well as the Nepalese people. You can make an appointment with the doctor if you are not well, they have a mini-pharmacy so you can buy ibuprofen for the altitude headaches and Diamox for altitude sickness if needed. Every afternoon at 4.00 they give a talk about Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS), so we attended. It was very informative, they explained why you get sick at altitude and what you can do to prevent/lessen the risk. Unfortunately, the statistic is 1 in 4 that people will get AMS and it doesnt matter your fitness, experience, age, etc...
We also had the chance to ask a lot of questions - it also confirmed that some of the altitude side effects that we were having (gas, bloating, headache, CRAZY dreams, etc...) were totally normal. The main thing we learned is to identify when symptoms go from normal to full blown AMS. There is no cure except to descend!!! You can take diamox but that will only relieve symptoms for a short time.
In the picture above they are demonstrating the Gamov Bag (hyperbaric chamber) which delivers oxygen to the patient.
Village of Pheriche - yup, not a whole lot here!
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