There’s a saying in Virginia that if you don’t like the weather, just wait ten minutes, but in Lukla, it’s much more true. Clear skies can turn opaque with thick clouds in minutes if not seconds. A river lines the valley below the town, and from there, clouds quickly rise as morning turns into afternoon.
Despite the sometimes unforgiving weather, the area surrounding Lukla still offers ways to help people survive. Almost all of the drinking mineral water that people have in that region comes from glacier melt off the nearby mountains. The water gets bottled within Lukla, and much of that water is cleaner and safer than any bottled water found in Kathmandu.
The river also provides fish. That fish also happened to be the largest choking hazard I’ve ever eaten, due to how many small pieces of bone I found on my plate. However, I would think that was largely due to the style of preparation rather than the fish from the area being extra bony.
Even though the higher altitude limits the crops that can grow in the area, I found it amazing to learn that Lukla has its own kiwi farm. Because it also grows a few other staple crops like potatoes, the area actually does have a good bit of agriculture helping to source food for the area.
Typically the most common physical ailments include altitude sickness and a dry cough or cold. Both of these get better quickly as people descend in altitude, but both also get much worse the higher in altitude people travel.
