This is the same mountain from the night before in the morning light. Those discs in the foreground are yak patties being dried out for fuel.





We tend to wake up every morning before the sun rises. Sometimes as early as 4AM. We'll pull our clothes up from the bottom of our sleeping bags (to keep them warm) and layer them back on. I will write in my journal and Jeremy will repack our bags. As the light was barely starting to light up we could see that it was clear outside. We quickly laced up our boots and went out to snap a couple of photos of Ama Dablam - just in case the clouds spontaneously decide to come down on us.

Despite the gorgeous skies I feel terrible. My voice is gone. My throat is so raw that I can hardly swallow my own spit and coughing makes the walls of my esophagus stick together. I've got a feeling this day trek to Chukhung is going to be hard.

I quickly washed out my undies and some socks to hang out to dry during our day trek and we headed up to the dining hall for a typical breakfast - hot tea, Tibetan bread and a cheese omelet.







As we start to get deeper into the Himalayas I start getting a little anxious about how far we've come - and further still to go. If something happens to any of us we've got a long way to get back. The villages are getting smaller as we get higher and the terrain is becoming a little more uninviting.

But I also feel like I don't ever want to go back home.



As we hiked my throat was so raw I was almost in tears. But still... Trekking Nepal, the mountains, the air - in step with Jeremy - it makes sense.




I kept on seeing these gold wrappers everywhere. I finally asked Buddhi what they were and he said chewing tobacco - mostly used by guides and porters.



We made it to Chukhung in about 3 hours. I had a typical lunch - veggie fried rice. We had a beautiful view of Ama Dablam and watched children play as we ate. And then we watched the clouds roll in over Dingboche - all I could think about was my laundry hanging out to dry. It only took us a little over an hour to practically run back to Dingboche. We beat the rain and made it back early enough to enjoy a few hours at the bakery across the trail.





You would be completely shocked at how happy a mug of hot chocolate and a chocolate donut will make you at over 15,000 feet.

We've dubbed our trekking group Team Yeti and I've become quite close with everyone we're hiking with - especially the ladies. Charlie & Jenny are the mom and daughter team from England. We like to go through the Glamour they brought with them and pick out our favorite styles while describing what we look like 'in real life'. Sharon is the only other American in the group and works for herself as a physical therapist. One day after a long and steep downhill hike she worked her magic on my knees and I was fine for the rest of the trek. We all like to give her a hard time for the amount of vitamins she takes every morning. We're all having a good time together.

The day after tomorrow we will reach Mt. Everest Base Camp.

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• everest base camp trek
• nepal


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