Sunday 5 February.
It POURED all night! Amazingly the tent had not leaked, although the firm winds kept the flysheet pressed against the mesh tent. A strange choice for itineraries that include a lot of nights spent in freezing and windswept locations. We find that the wind goes straight under the flysheet and up and through the mesh. Despite this, we have remained warm enough in our Chinese sleeping bags. We have now started keeping the mini-mattresses in place under the bag because if they are left loose, you find your back is virtually unprotected if you roll over.
Breakfast was the latest ever at 9.30. Leslie slept in but the rest of us got fried and later boiled eggs going with toast and tea. Some strange misunderstanding with Sam who told me group 4 had bought 60 eggs and I should go get a pack and use them. Apparently group 4 now don’t have enough to make their breakfast.
There was some general discussion about the arrangements for meeting up with the campers tonight. I threw in the thought that it surprised me that Oasis, and Kumuka last year, had not given us the mobile numbers for the driver and tour leader, for use in similar situations (although there is no coverage up here). Gordon then chimed in that having the Drifters guide number had been essential in their rejoining a trek in Africa when they got lost. Sam later gave J a set of their various numbers in each country.
It seems that a few people had their tents rifled yesterday. Two head torches were taken and a pair of socks. Colin found one torch, the camp owner strode round with Sam asking all the other campers about it. Gordon had a pair of composite longjohns taken from a washing line and found some distance away, upwind. He recited all the exact details to each person as they arrived for brekky today, by which time I was having flashbacks to the JFK assassination, the second shooter and the Grassy Knoll, which seemed relatively simple by comparison. Gordon is a good Aussie who works very hard round the camp and puts a lot of initiative into projects – sorry if he seems to be the butt of whimsical comments more than he deserves.
The rain did not let up until lunchtime. We had a forthright chat with the whole Oasis staff after lunch at their request and confirmed that we are very happy with them individually and the trip as a whole. Anything else we might say should be taken in that context. Some things could be done differently but we are not fretting about it. We were surprised about how vulnerable Sam was as she always projects such strength.
Nobody else fancied the stroll down to the hotel during the lull after lunch. I wandered down alone and am currently sitting next to a heater in an office next to the front door, enjoying Sinatra, plugged into a universal power point, logged into the hotel wifi, drinking cappuccino . . . and I haven’t brought any money or cards with me! Its raining very hard again.
They were happy to hold my drivers licence while I went to fetch J for a walk and some money. The wind had an edge but we were well rugged up and quite used to it. The main body of trekkers arrived back at about 7.30. We gave them the full tribal welcome, complete with ululations. They were all happy enough, just a little stiff and sore. Evidently the previous night had been hellish. They were in tents next to a building but the winds smashed tent poles and whipped whole tents away into the valleys. Visibility was poor and some of them did not get to see the 2 Towers. They skipped the walk up to the glacier because visibility was bad and trekking conditions were horrible.
Kevin and I managed a few games of risk before dinner. Danny T had toiled all afternoon, marinating chicken and baking Mexican wraps. A few people waded in and helped with salads and guacamole and the result was a fine Mex dinner. I sampled the $5 scotch, which wasn’t bad with Coke Zero. The returned hikers revelled until 4am, right next to our tent but we hardly heard them. It was very windy all night.
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