Day 17: Dingboche to Labouche.

Another slow start today, but it doesn't really matter as the trekking each day now is relatively short because you can only ascend so much at a time. We added another 500m today reaching 4910m at Lobuche. The walk started with a climb up out of the Dingboche valley and then stayed flat until we reached Dugla (the picture shows the valley looking back down, towards Pheriche below, Dingboche being on the left, out of sight). From there it was a steeper climb up towards Lobuche. We ended up sending our guide ahead (he could walk faster than us) to try and book a room as we had heard that Lobuche often got very crowded.

We got to Lobuche around 12 and found that our guide had been able to get us "a" room, though not what you would call a first class one. We had a room that barely fit two beds, did not have a window, and did not have a light. That means that you had to use a flashlight to see anything. Thankfully a while later I was able to talk to one of the guest house staff. We had a good chat about his college business courses and the like and when we went back in he switched us to a much better room. Prices here have also taken another step up. Our room was 400Rs, hot chocolate was up to 70Rs, garlic soup was 180Rs, and Sherpa stew was 300Rs.

Lobuche was probably our least favourite place on the trek (at least as far as the look and feel of the place). It really felt like a "dump" to put it nicely, with a river with garbage in it running past the guest houses. There is even a guesthouse that charges $25/night, and it was totally full.
Still we met some great people here and actually ended up having a pretty good time ... until Sara got sick ... but more on that later.
One of smartest things we did in preparing for the trek was bringing along a book of photos of home. It proved invaluable when staying at guesthouses. The staff always liked looking at pictures, whether it be of our family, or of our house, or of our town. Interestingly the one picture that always got the best response was a picture we had of American buffalo taken in Montana last summer. I guess they were used to seeing water buffalo, so the sight of another kind of buffalo was intriguing. Anyway the girl at this guest house was so taken by the picture that we ended up giving it to her ... she was thrilled.