As we moved further up into the Himalayas the oxygen got thinner and you could start to feel the altitude. This is especially true at night as it became more difficult to fall asleep. Until Chame, the district office for the area, it was really not very cold at night. Chame wasn’t particularly high in altitude, but due to its location it was quite cold and we were glad that our guesthouse started the fire in the dinning area. This is also where we started running into other trekkers and as well as some local professors who were traveling through Chame back to their school. After dinner we all gathered around the little wood stove in the middle of the dinning area trying to stay warm The conversation was thought provoking, but got a little intense when it turned to Nepalize politics and the controversial road to be built up to Chame - on one hand, it is touted as a benefit as it will make it easier for the locals to get supplies up to their villages, that is for villages up to Chame. The villages after Chame (further up into the mountains) feel they have been left out. On the other hand, many believe the road will eliminate or severely reduce the amount of trekkers - which is the bread and butter of just about everyone in the area. If tourism is reduced, then there is no need for all those supplies and no need for the road. Once there is a road I personally can’t see why many people would want to hike along side cars to reach the destination - they will just drive, or choose another location As it turns out one of the engineers for the proposed road is the wife of one of the teachers staying at the guesthouse. Needless to say, that lead to some very interesting campfire conversation. This was not the only occasion that we were engrossed in political conversation. Our guide was much more than a trekking guide, he was actually a cultural tour guide and extremely well informed about not only the geography of Nepal, but its history and its current political and economic struggles. We felt fortunate to have been set up with him and were happy to hear his opinion on Nepal’s current state-both politically and culturally.
