Cheers

Emma is now my roommate, which is quite nice actually. She’s got the british quick dry wit that I love.

We settled into the room together going through the usual, what temperature do you like, do you mind if I draw the blinds rigamarole and chatted a bit about our days. At 6 we decided to go down to the bar for a beer before meeting the rest of the group.

The Everest local brew is a quite nice local lager. We drank large bottles of the limited edition concocted in celebration of  some anniversary of Everest, but could make out exactly what.

By the time we realized that 6:30 had come and gone, the group was convened in the lobby and we were laughingly labeled the difficult ones. In addition to Chitra and Jamal, our group includes Brit sisters Alison and Anna. Anna fiancé Adam, and Alison’s husband Gary, and their friend Martin. All were in their mid-30s. Fiona, in her late 50s or so was a former adventure travel guide herself and visiting Nepal before heading off to South Africa. I am the sole American on my little team.

The group of 5 had booked their trip 18 months ago and had t-shirts and hoodies made up. They joked about past trips and had inside jokes that only they understood like “I really like rice.” Alison and Anna had a quick sisterly spat about whether Alison had ever been to New York without her sister , prompting Gary to instructs all to never travel with siblings and me to miss my sister a bit.  But it was clear they would be good fun and game for anything. Also – their range of body types makes me feel a bit better about my chances on the trek. Anna said she was hoping to lose half a stone during the trip, but did not embrace my suggestion that she merely drink the water to accomplish that.

We got our briefing from Chitra. Monsoon season is lingering here so we will not begin our trek this week as planned. Rather, we’ll start out in the jungle and rafting and then hope that the rains have subsided .We compared notes on who forgot what and if anyone else could offer it up for them. I traded a promise of xanex, which it seems like I won’t need, for a pillow, which I most certainly will.

Chitra left us on our own to dine and get to know one another. Spicy curries and a few more Everests and we are all feeling good about the trip.

Tomorrow we leave in the morning. I’m not back to Kathmandu until September 30. Though I’ll still be writing, I may not be able to post until then.