Here Come the Local Practices

This very morning started with a polemic on “how many yaks we were really going to need”. Only ten yaks came and since according to the regulation their load limit is 40 KGs per an animal, we knew that some animals would have to walk twice. The peak of the polemic was when we discovered that there was no scales available and thus we end up guessing that we would need about 16 yaks. We paid for 16 yaks in the LO's tent and it ended the polemic. All three of us were off before the yaks and their herdsmen. I didn't again feel good at all; instead I was feeling an overall uneasiness. I had no appetite and I just wanted to lie down somewhere and rest. After eight hours we reached the middle camp, in where my Suunto showed the altitude being 5200 meters above the sea. I was, of course, the last to get there.

But before arriving to the middle camp I ran into the cook's assistant, who had been rammed by a yak. The yak hit the assistant’s arm between the shoulder and elbow and the arm seemed to be broken. The yakmen and the cook arrived shortly after me. All of them wanted to have medicine since they suffered from the headaches. My mates were alright, other than being only little bit tired. But all of us are happy to be at today's destination. I swallowed two painkillers right away and one more just before falling asleep, which would otherwise be a problem. Of course, it ended up so that the ten yaks carried all the baggage and equipment, in spite of the regulation for maximum load. This meant that we overpaid for six yaks. The extra profit will be divided between the LO and the yakmen, and I guess based on my experience the ratio will be 80/20, in favor of the LO.