November 14, 2007 – An End and a Beginning

As Ang Temba promised, we awoke this morning to a beautiful blue sky for our last day of trekking.  While the sky was blue, it was pretty cold and once more we all huddled around the heating stove in the lodge warming up before breakfast.  Then we headed off down the trail with Lukla as our final goal.

It was interesting to see how confident we have become on the trail.  Two weeks ago when the zokios came toward us, we backed up against the hillside and waited for them to pass.  Now we just keep on walking letting the zokios have their part of the path and we have ours.  The uphill hike into Lukla turned out to be much less of a challenge than we thought.  After going up the hills into Namche and Tangboche, the climb into Lukla was almost a cake walk.  All members of our trekking team arrived safely, after fifteen days of trekking.

This evening we had our farewell dinner.  We were asked to let the cook know what we would like to eat and they cooked all of our favourites.  We had all the good stuff: fried chicken, chips, pizza, etc.  After dinner, the Nepalese folks who were sharing the lodge dining room with us decided it was time for a party.  The music came on and the singing and dancing started.  Of course we did not understand the words, but they insisted that we get up and join them in the dancing.  It was really difficult for us to adjust.  For the past two weeks most of us have been in bed before 8:00.  Tonight the dancing did not stop until after 8:00.  Finally, the dancing stopped and Ang Temba was able to introduce all the members of his team and present each member of the team with a small gratuity. 

As we reflected on our time in the Khumbu, we all agreed that it was an experience of a lifetime.  We also agreed that it was an extremely challenging excursion.  In addition, we were blessed with great weather, even if it was quite cold most of the time.  As we head on back to Kathmandu and then back to the States, we will take with us memories and friendships that we will treasure for the rest of our lives.  We are all anxious to see our families again and tell you about this great experience. 

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