Dingboche day 2

Thought I would pay a few bucks for some internet time today, about $15 for an hour of service thats slower than dial-up. I still can't reconcile that there is an internet cafe here. There is also a bakery. I paid about 3 bucks for a cinnamon roll that wasn't half bad.
Today Kerry left our group- she was the only one not going all the way to base camp because she could not get the time off of work. She will be back down to catch the plane in Lukla in 2 days and then back to her hedge fund job in NYC. Barbara, the 76 year old, is still plugging along. She made it this far on her last attempt last Spring but got so sick she had to be helicoptered out. This time she gets help carrying her pack from one specific sherpa, Nanga. For the record, that helicopter evac costs about $7500. The cost was actually picked up by her Travel Guard insurance, in full. I actually am insured by them for this trip, phew!! The group split into 2 for easy and hard acclimatization hikes today. I chose the easy one and it was almost too easy. It was 3 hours and the elevation gain was less than 500 feet. The hard one was almost 4 hours and very steep but afforded views of the 2 big lakes behind Ama Dablam. People in that group were absolutely worn out when they returned in the afternoon. Our group headed towards the ridge at Nuptse and ended up getting some spectacular pictures. Tonight we have time with all of the sherpa staff to get to know them and a bit about their families. Then we are free after 630pm dinner. Last night all of us were in bed by 830. The worst part about the night besides the cold room is the trek to the bathroom with a headlamp on. Its about 40 degrees right now but very windy. We are on our way to the tiny store to buy more toilet paper, about $1 per roll. Headed to Lobuche tomorrow, above 16,000 feet. One of the hardest climbing days so far. Thanks for all of the comments and emails!!