The very long trail to Kharikhola

First the bridge at the bottom of the climb to Namche, my favorite bridge crossing it made me cry. Then the long walk toward Lukla, but wait we are not going there we are taking a side trip to Kharikhola, only five hours down says Nima, and no planes are flying anyway. So we hiked down for two hours, to a little tea house, where I could hear the helicopters flying, and where we slept, with a very noisy group of Trekkers, who had flown in on the helicopters because Lukla is taking no airplanes. Next morning we head up a huge muddy rocky trail, and then go down again. We stop at a little elementary school, and then keep going down down down, past boys carrying unbelievable loads, past donkey trains, an older porter has slipped off the trail, which usually has a very steep cliff on one side. He is not hurt too badly, Nima patches him up, but he doesn't want to go back to his family because the things he was carrying were lost over the precipice. We pass children and older children in their school uniforms. We cling to the side of the mountain when the donkeys pass so that we don't get kicked. Nima knows almost everyone in this area. We get to his village, Kharikhola 10 hours later. Nima is off to find someone who has a chicken for dinner.