The night before our 16 day trek began, we met our guide, Basu, for the first time after months of Facebook conversations and planning. Basu is a 33 year old Nepali man with an infectious smile who has been married for 17 years with two children (yes, he married at 16!) He went through our equipment and right away questioned our lack of cold weather gear – bringing us to purchase some long underwear for Rodrigo, and borrowing an extra warm jacket from Basu for Moira.

We awoke at 4 am the next morning and in a hurried shuffle packed everything needed for the trek to Everest base camp in one duffel bag (that would be later carried by our lovely porter, Dai) and two day packs. We said goodbye to our already limited amount of luxury items, including tinted moisturizer for Moira and leave-in conditioner for Rodrigo, and we were on our way.

From Kathmandu we drove 4.5 hours in a large van through the winding mountainside road, one foot from the edge. Our driver dodged motorcycles, cars, buses, animals (cows, goats, dogs), potholes, oh yeah and people, all the way to our destination – Ramechhap.

Ramechhap is a small town with a one-runway airport that flies tourists to Lukla (the starting point for the Everest base camp trek.) Unfortunately, when we arrived to Ramechhap, news broke out about a horrible accident at Lukla airport between a small airplane that veered off the runway into a helicopter, claiming 5 lives. We could see the saddened faces of many of the guides as they talked amongst each other. Understandably, the airport shut down for the day.

Basu worked quickly before official news of the airport closure spread, and was able to procure a room for us at a local fruit vendors home, a few minutes walk from the airport. For the rest of the day we played with the local children, read, enjoyed Nepali Mo-Mos (a popular dish similar to gyoza) and beer, and chatted with Basu and another Nepali guide. The woman of the home made us a traditional Nepali meal called Dal-baht (a mix of lentils, rice, and curry), and we turned in for the night (which ended up being mosquito infested and left Moira with multiple swollen bites, including on her lip, cheek, and neck).

The next morning we awoke at 4:30am and shortly after we boarded our 14 seater metal bird which would be taking us twenty minutes to Lukla Airport. Unbeknownst to us, Lukla is notorious as the most dangerous airport in the world at an altitude of 9,317 ft. Wowza!

After quite a beautiful and extremely bumpy ride, we were off our Himalayan transport, grabbed our bags and were officially ready to start our trek! We met our lovely porter Dai, a helpful and friendly 29 year old soft spoken man who knew only a handful of English words.

Knowing right away we’d be walking the same trail on our way back from Everest B.C., we couldn’t help but think…what goes down must go back up….so our enjoyment of going downhill quickly dissipated. We walked through small towns and forests, passed porters carrying everything from luggage to canisters of propane to cement blocks, stood aside while mules, horses, and dzo (a hybrid between a yak and cow) charged passed, and nervously crossed over bridges – each one longer and higher than the next.

Now, many of you who know Rodrigo know that although he’s not afraid of heights, he is quite wary around cliffs, and thinks that all of a sudden a gust of wind will come swooping out of nowhere and hoist him over the edge. So poor thing was a tad terrified with all the long, swaying, tantalizing bridge crossings over rushing rivers, but became a pro in the end.

We continued our trek for the next few days, resting in the evening at Tea Houses along the trail (which are essentially restaurants with attached bedrooms). Our rooms were simple, often with two beds and no bathroom. We dined on dal-bhat and momo’s and drank as much lemon, ginger, honey drinks as we desired, and rested and read, before falling fast asleep by 8pm.

On day 4 we arrived at Namche Bazar, a historic trading town at 12,000 ft that’s situated on the slope of an arch-shaped mountain, and is known as the gateway to the Himalayas. At first glimpse we knew this town was special, and it wasn’t just because of the Irish Pub that we passed by (which so happens to claim it’s the highest pub in the world). Namche was our home for the next two days to help acclimate us to the altitude, so we enjoyed perusing through the different markets, eating, and reading (especially Moira who picked up a copy of Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer and could not.put.it.down!)

More images of EBC Part 1: