Hey this is TA calling in from day 56 from a small yak kharka/ tea house called Sangbo at an elevation of 4230 m above sea level. We said goodbye to our stage 2 folks this morning. Paul and Bill and Ed headed down towards Namche with Judah the Buddha as we call him and Balorung and we’re settling into our new routine with our new leader and a couple of new staff folks and we had a nice sort of half day once again. Originally I think we were going to go a little bit higher but just because loads were heavy etc etc, that we find ourselves here in a beautiful yak kharka with yaks all around us and the stone walls that are just amazing in terms of the amount of labor that we think went to go creating them over the ages.

One piece that I thought was interesting is I look out of my tent I can see many of the elements and so before leaving I had written down the Sherpa words for some of the different elements. So wood is shing, tire is ming, soil is sa, iron is cha and water is choo and I think other than iron I can see all from the doorway of my tent at the moment. As we left Tame today, we paid a visit to the Tame monastery. I took a picture of me standing in front of it because 7 year ago I had done the same and so I will be curious put the pictures (inaudible) to see what the last 7 years has done to what I look like. We yesterday had seen some of the monks getting picked up by helicopter so that was pretty exciting times in Tame to watch that happen. The monastery is above town.

The other piece that it is today is find your fit Friday and so I asked Cam for a couple of her hints for find your fit Friday and she says to get outside and appreciate the natural beauty around you won’t even notice you are being active and also she said that you can find a cause to motivate you and so Slyv, we’re all very proud of you, taking on the big bike ride. That is fabulous and there is lots of physical activity, cause related races and events that can motivate us to become physically active. So that is another way to find your fit on a Friday. If you’re looking for more resources on how to find your fit on a Friday. If you’re looking for more resources on how to find your fit, you can visit the recreation of Newfoundland and Labrador website, there’s lots of ideas there.

In terms of steps, Marian today had 11 826 and 165 floors and just over 8 km. I had 12 204 steps, 174 floors and 8 km and Cam had 12 073 steps so the day was a little bit shorter. We didn’t quite crack the 900 000 step mark today but that is something to look forward to tomorrow. We should hit two milestones so make sure to tune in tomorrow to hear about our milestones and finally there is a wonderful young man here that we’ve had a few conversations with and I don’t know if we’ve told you about Gobar, Gobar is animal dung and actually I have told you because they do amazing with yak dung. It is used to fertilize fields, it is used to burn for heating and for cooking and so the young man here had collected some yak dung and some other little dung items and made a, what I called, a Gobar pizza and he thought this was pretty hilarious and he promptly told us that Gobar pizza wasn’t for us to eat, we need to eat (inaudible) Russian pizza but gobar pizza was for the fire. So I got a pizza of that and I look forward to showing that to grade 4 classes because it is always exciting to talk about excrement when I am delivering those classes.

So that is our report here from day 56 of the great big walk. Hope you get out there. Go for a walk, go for a stroll, go for a bike ride, go for anything on this particular find your fit Friday. That get you out, get you active and get you moving and we’re all well here and sending our regards. Especially the (inaudible). Okay, bye!

Total Steps for TA: 12 204 steps, 174 floors

Total Steps for Marian: 11 826 steps, 165 floors

Total Distance for TA: 8 km

Total Distance for Marian: 8 km

Great Big Walk acknowledges the support of the Memorial University of Newfoundland Quick Start Fund for Public Engagement in making these updates from the field possible.