Dole to Machermo

I woke up early again and I walked up the valley behind the village of Dole.  This was a very pleasant walk that became very easy after reaching the valley.  For some reason, the valley seems very similar to the Sierra Nevada with a grassy meadow, a small creek in the middle and towering granite walls at the sides.  In my way back, I found a group of red-foot pheasants that started warning each other about my presence.

After breakfast, we started an easy walk towards Machermo.  We broke the short walk by stopping in a teahouse at 4390m and then continue to Machermo at 4500m.  The lodge was simple, but bigger than the one in Dole.  We got there on time for lunch and the rest of the day was set for acclimatization.

Food in the lodges is simple.  Most of it is cooked with traditional Nepalese staples: potatoes, rice, noodles, nak cheese, Nepalese bread, eggs, lentils, vegetables, onions, and garlic.  All this is spiced with curry.   One of my favorite meals is the garlic soup.  Sherpas believe that it's good for altitude, so my guiddes are happy seeing me eating it.  The fried potatoes with vegetables and nak cheese is another favorite.

 

For snacking, or as a complement for garlic soup, a good food are Mo-mos.  These are dumplings filled with vegetable and they are served either steamed (like in the picture) or fried.

The traditional Nepalese food is Dhal Bhat.  A watery lentil soup served with rice and curry vegetables.  This is the food that our porters and guides eat all the time and, different than other foods, it's "all you can eat".  The group has been eating Dhal Bhat for dinner almost every day.

The lodges try to approach western food with those ingredients.  For example, pizza is tomato paste with cheese and vegetables baked on Nepalese bread.  Hash browns are mashed potatoes covered with Nak cheese (which, by the way, it's pretty good).

After lunch, I went for an acclimatization hike to the ridge behind the lodge.  I got to the ridge and then followed it to about 4800m.  As I was hiking the ridge, I met Chris, a Chef from Dubai that was hiking with his guide.  As we were hiking, the weather came in and light snow started to fall.  As we got higher, it became quite foggy, but I wasn't too worry about route finding as we were just following the ridge (and Chris had his guide).  Meanwhile, the rest of the group was attending a talk about Altitude Sickness at the local hospital.  The hospital is the only one in this area and it's manned by a British couple.  They are volunteers and their rotation last 2 months.

During dinner, I talked to some of the other people of the group.  One of them was a polish climber that was leading a small group to Island Peak.  He told us that he has summited Everest a few years ago and that he now leads groups to Kilimanjaro and Island Peak.  I also learned that our guide,  Raj, has been to the South Col of Everest at 7200m (climbing from Tibet).