Solukhumbu-Maya Magar had to walk for one whole day with her child on her back to reach the telecom office to try and call her mother in Myagdi. The next day she stood in a huge queue, only to be told that the call could not get through and was asked to come the next day. Her story is typical of many other Solu villagers who have to suffer long journeys just to make a short phone call. Since the Maoists destroyed the repeater towers in Patale and Jubu, all phone lines in villages here are cut. There used to be 170 telephones, now the district has only three lines in Salleri, Namche and Lukla. Large crowds gather at the government's telecom offices and most of the time a lot of people are unlucky and they have spend money to lodge for the night and wait for their turn the next day. "I have to walk for three days just to call Kathmandu, I have no choice," says Gyanu Koirala from Sotang. The villagers have to pray for a good weather whenever they leave home. The solar-powered phones do not work on a cloudy day.