Onwards and upwards ~ We are above 12000 feet

This probably says "go home white devils"

Many cows and yaks charged me on this trip. I should probably get a zoom lens . This one in particular came stampeding out of the brush.

Days and days of hiking sunrise to sunset ..... Passing through many little villages on the way. We ate amazing vegetarian stews and samosas with Nepalese familys. Incredibly happy people

Temperature and the landscape changing each day .................

We met amazing sherpas along the way. Many of these guys are young men doing supply runs to Everest for money so they can go to school in Kathmandu . The average monthly salery in Nepal is $48.

I was torn on this trip about hiring sherpas and i still am . We carried our entire equipment ourselves . I watched climbing teams from all over the world walk up this trail carrying nothing but a camera and a water bottle while a convoy of sherpas lugged their entire kit the whole way. I even watched westeners eat hot meals inside little lodges while their sherpas huddled outside in the cold and ate like dogs. I saw so much injustice to these people it made me sick . Twice i stepped in on this trip and had words with european climbing teams on this mistreatment of their sherpas. I absolutely hated it .........

But as the trip went on and the more sherpas i met and spoke with i actually felt incredibly guilty inside that i wasnt contributing to the system . These guys are feeding familys and going to school and colleges. Without the climbing teams they have farming or they leave the mountains and work in the cities ........ Its very difficult to weigh up. I should have just paid sherpas to come hang with us and id carry the bags.

Prayer offerings to the mountain gods ....... We have been trekking for days and still not seen Everest yet.

We stumbled upon a tiny buddhist temple and i watched the younger monks gently taking care of the eldery ones. These guys looked about 125 years old. They were carefully wrapped up in quilts and blankets in the sun . I watched them get hot tea and little massages ............. These guys are amazing to see !!!

Tough little himalayan ponies march up and down the rough trail with perfect agility. The line in the background is the trail continued

This little village enforcer said if i didnt give him some cookies he would wipe a booger on me. I believed everyone word he said too !!!

Prayer offerings for safe travels everywhere

Watched a man building a stone wall. Everyone here is so nice but made me feel like a total pussy !!! Gonna start lifting boulders as soon as i get home to West Hollywood !!!

We have left a lot of the rain forests behind ....... Its getting colder and the sun more intense ........

Magical place

This guy was mega nice . He didnt want to rugby tackle me .

Huge storms roll into the valleys from the mountains within minutes. We can already see the dangers climbers face a certain amount above sea level

A sherpa dry shaving with a razor blade..........

Village kids are so naturally curious......

I kept my distance from this guy. He just looked tough ...... Real leather jacket kinda guy !!!

I think we are around 15000 feet at this point . It was maybe around this height that Valentine started the early symptoms of altitude sickness.

We pushed on .