Jack and Jill went down the hill...

I can't go on without explaining our last couple days on the trek... We were able to move much quicker down the trail than we did up for obvious reasons. I was having so much fun hiking down! This time it was Brian in front of the pack, jumping, and even running at times down the trail. We headed back down the same way we went up, but skipped a couple towns, hiking twice as much in one day as we did on the way up. We eventually make it back to Lukla a day early so we would have more opportunities to catch a flight out of the mountains. The past two days before we got here there have not been any flights out or in due to the fog. The first opportunity we get is another fogged in, lost opportunity. This brings on some anxiety because there is a line forming of people who have been trapped here for the past few days. If we don't get out on our planned flight we will go to the end of this "line" of fogged in flyers.
So...true to our style, we gather all the people we have met over the past couple weeks and have a little party. We figure out that the most economical way to drink here is to get a bottle! By the end of the night our party of stranded trekkers had put away about four bottles of pretty good Nepalese rum called Kukuri. The next morning we wake up before dawn, with buzz, to see if it is clear enough to fly...and it is!!! We stumble to wake up, get our stuff together, and rush across the town to the airport. A clear day in Lukla, as it turns out, creates a makeshift reunion of Westerners to get off the hill. We get on the first flight out, hold our breath for one last Lukla flight experience...and safely make it back to Kathmandu. The momentary elation is somewhat diluted by the smoggy air we find ourselves in again...
We spend three days in Kathmandu enjoying the elevation, variety of food, and massages before getting sick of the rapid pace here and plan a trip to the slower paced lakeside town of Pokhara.