TP makes me happy

Yes, that's right. Toilet paper makes me happy. We were given a ration of 4 single-ply roles and let me tell you, that's not enough. Not even close. One reason is that one of the effects of altitude is that you have to pee 5 (and up to 12 times...Holly), in the middle of the night. That's a lotta paper. So, here it is. The bathroom report: They don't have many western toilets here in the east. Go figure. What we've seen so far is the fancy porcelain toilet which is basically like a bathroom sink in the floor with places to put your feet on either side. While this seems pretty bad, it's really not. I've been in port-a-pottys that are far worse (helloooo, the Yough stop!). Generally, the trick with these is to make sure you roll your pant legs up and keep your boot laces tucked in to avoid any...soilage. Also, make sure you have your TP ready and a pocket to put it in so you don't accidentally drop this paper gold down the hole. That would be bad. So, these are the fancy toilets. In one village that we trekked through, fancy wasn't available. Here, we had an outhouse situated over wood slats with one missing. Yep, that was bad. Worse than the yough stop. Anyhow, after the first night of getting up a billion times in the middle of the night and fiddling with boot laces and pant legs, I think I have a system down. Subsequent nights have been better. Of course, #2 is not very easy when you're balanced over a hole trying to keep your boot laces and pant cuffs dry. It's not just me. We're all having issues. Let's just say we were all happy that the "lodge" we're staying in has flush toilets. Nice. Hopefully, the next 10 days goes well.

Okay, that's it for the bathroom report. Hopefully it wasn't too much info : ) but I know you were all wondering.

As for the rest of the trek, it's amazing. There are mountains and blue skies all around us. It's hard to describe. Yesterday, we got our first glimpse of Everest as we hiked up and up and up all those stairs. Today, we did a short hike (again, straight up), to the Everest View Hotel. AMAZING! It's all worth it. I think we were at 12,800 ft today. Again, we're doing well with altitude. I wasn't short of breath today and no headache. Yea! Oh, and we get to shower today. Yea yea yea!

We'll be out of contact now for several days (10??). Wish us luck. It will be very cold and very high. But it will be beautiful too.

Namaste!