This morning the light of dawn woke me up and I went outside to see the mountains unhidden by clouds. I took some quick photos and by the time I had, the peaks up the valley could not be seen in the intense sunshine breaking above their ridges. Thirty seconds of difference and I would not have seen the sun rising behind the mountains. I basked in the morning heat for a moment and crawled back into bed.

By the time I started my day, the clouds were already coming in. I ate porridge and tea and went off to Sherpa Internet DIngboche to finally send off all the dispatches I’ve been writing and not sending. Solar powered internet, cleverly wired together with car batteries at 4410m is not very fast, so this took a little while.

I had spaghetti for lunch and went for a walk up the hill to get some exercise on my off day. The clouds would obscure the Tea House I’m staying at one moment and fly up the valley the next. As soon as a rain drop fell on me, I started to walk down. By the time I was back in my room I could hear rain on the roof. Thank goodness for shelter, I am in an extreme place right now.

I hope to use the rest of this leisure day to finish up my school work. I still need to send a rough draft of my design write up to my advisor. He is probably wondering if that is even still on my agenda these days. It is and I am close to done (if Dr. Korshin is reading this…).

All things considered I am in reasonable shape and good spirits. Tomorrow I trek to Luboche and the next, Gorak Shep.