Nathaniel Merriam Wednesday, April 28 Phakding, Nepal

We arrived in Phakding yesterday after a "leisurely" trek from Lukla. I say "leisurely" because despite assurances from others experienced with the trek that "anyone could roll from Lukla to Phakding," I still had a bit of huffing and puffing to deal with. They tell me that tomorrow's hike to Namche Bazaar is nicknamed "The Bataan death march". I'm more than a little concerned about my physical abilities at this point. I was the third person into camp yesterday, though -- nearly two hours before the last member of our (currently) 14-member team. I suspect that will change tomorrow as walking straight up isn't my strong point.

Unfortunately due to a bad drought in the area, all of the yaks are very weak and we've had trouble carrying equipment up. We need almost twice as many sherpas as we should because of this, and they are getting difficult to find. About a third of our equipment didn't reach us until late afternoon today, too late to do us any good in research or communication so we were forced to do a very limited set of experiments. Only a few computers are working because we have no power for them. Most of our rechargeable equipment is dying because we've been running off of batteries for two days now and we can't set up the newly arrived power equipment due to the late hour. Everything needs to be packed for our trip before it gets dark.

We're in a really beautiful spot, essentially camped between a half-dozen mountains on a small flat area near a stream. Jen and I (Jen is Jennifer Kreshak, Jenny is Jennifer Grin) soaked our feet in the stream when we arrived (she and Jim Bruton were the two ahead of me) and as it is glacial runoff, it was shockingly cold. But after the hot afternoon sun we were relieved (at least for the first few moments) to have the cool feet. Jen kept talking about how much she liked sleeping near the water, so after she stole Chris' tent to get 6 feet closer to the water, Jim Williams and Scott waited for her to turn her back and they moved her tent (formerly Chris') so it was practically falling off the ledge into the water. She seemed genuinely disappointed when Scott told her it was too dangerous to leave it there overnight.

GROSS MATERIAL ALERT! Sensitive readers should stop now.

I was very happy to have some solid stool yesterday - I wasn't looking forward to stopping every twenty minutes on our hike to augment the yak droppings along the trail. There are currently two others on the trip not so fortunate, and we three are having trouble eating without becoming nauseous. This is an especially bad thing considering how many calories we're burning daily, but sooner or later most of us will be bitten by the sherpa's revenge. Don't be surprised if other folks mention this -- it unfortunately occupies a great deal of our attention when we're not working (and sometimes when we are).

The doctors have been holding clinic and it's amazing how many locals have come to see them. We're in a town of a few hundred people at most, and yet once word spread that American doctors were camping at the far side of town we've had dozens of people come through for treatment. I hope we can send some of the video and photos we're getting of this amazing stuff -- a guy came in just a few minutes ago with a bleeding hand that he had sliced open four days ago with a butcher knife that was gushing blood all over.

Well, we covered blood and guts and other nasty stuff so I'll give Grant back his computer (what an embarrassment for the tech specialist to be borrowing a computer, but mine still isn't here). Hopefully Jim can get this post out but the generator has been acting up and they're trying to fix it right now. It's not just a trip; it's an adventure!

Nathaniel