Dispatch 8 – Trek from Jhula (3185m/10,448ft) to Paiju (3429m/11,250ft)

Climber en route to Paiju
Climber en route to Paiju

Today, I woke up at 5:00am, packed up my things, and ate breakfast in Jhula which was cloudy and cool. It had rained hard in the night, but the morning was again damp and cool, perfect for trekking. We broke down camp and began the trek to Paiju. We stopped for lunch at Moncamp (3215m/10,548ft) and this time, the porters were not far behind. We continued onto Paiju with scattered showers along the way. After 24km/15 miles of hiking, we arrived and quickly claimed a spot in the shade. In the evening, I noticed that I was coming down with the same upper respiratory infection that all of the porters and staff have so I started myself on antibiotics and hope it will go away before arriving to base camp. We will rest here tomorrow to allow the porters to rest and to prepare their food for the coming days of trekking to base camp.