Wednesday 10/21

           Sherpa life is full of tradition that is quite infectious.  For instance, when beverages are served, they place a small amount of ground millet or wheat on the lip of the glass. When the drinker drinks, the millet is kept on the opposite side so that every time the glass is tilted, the grain is lifted as an offering to Buddha.

           Another tradition, more insidiously dangerous perhaps, is one of playing host. The host being the person buying and serving.  You see, in this land it is impolite to refuse an offering.  One must always sip a little so the host-server can refill, but at the constant urging of the host you actually end up emptying the glass, which, of course, is immediately refilled. And the ritual starts all over again.  At first one protests vigorously but one’s will is relentlessly broken down.  Everyone takes a turn being host and so they too can exact their own ounce of revenge.  I had my turn.  Five Sherpa, Dawa’s Aunt who followed from the village, and an uncle of Dawa’s who had just come back from an expedition to Mt.. Mera, Dawa and myself, consumed 16 22 oz. bottles of beer.

           This is one tradition that probably should stay in Nepal.  One person received the ultimate good fortune from all this.  When the last drop from a bottle fills your glass so that the meniscus comes to the extreme top edge of the lip of the glass, without over flowing, that is considered great luck.

           We are in Lukla, a booming town full of trekkers of all ages from all over the world.  The trail, through the middle of Lukla, is perhaps twenty feet wide and mostly of stone.  Store fronts selling everything from discarded climbing equipment and clothing to artifacts push up against the trail. Eateries are everywhere.  A building boom is going on to handle the trekking industry and the locals are cashing in.  The lodge we stayed in, owned by a member of Dawa’s extended family, (I’ll pay, he won’t), is part of that boom It is new, built of local stone, with a number of private sleeping rooms and a spacious dining room

           For an extra dollar, and with enough warning, they will fire up the wood heater so that one can take a hot shower out back behind the Tea House in a stone hut that looks like it could be an outhouse.  A word of advice - don’t wait till the sun goes down.  Taking a shower in the pitch blackness of night gives a new meaning to groping in the dark.  I made it quick since the water was almost cold enough to turn to ice.

           When we had arrived in Lukla, there was a tug on my sleeve and as I turned around there was the friendly monk with the deformed foot from the Gompa, above Dawa’s village, smiling up at me.  He and Dawa’s aunt had arrived hours before Dawa and myself, despite Dawa and I having left their village hours before them.  A few feet behind him was Dawa’s Aunt.  Somewhere along the trail from their village they had past us and arrived before we did here in Lukla.  With the teachers bad foot and the aunt’s age it was a rather humbling experience.

           Of all things, right in the middle of the trail as it runs through Lukla, one of the shopkeepers had set up a ping pong table.  Now at one time table tennis was a game that I was quite adept at.  So, of course, a challenge was soon made with the young women who worked in the shop adjacent to the table.  In this case, besides playing at 10,000 feet, one had to negotiate rocks, muck, mud, and droppings from various animals that had come through and avoid the animals that were about to come through.  I quit at one game apiece, claiming a moral victory.

           We failed to find a suitable pack for Dawa today. It is not a big concern since much of the equipment, about 39 pounds worth, will be left here in Lukla until we return from Gokyo.

           My camera has been malfunctioning.  The metering system has been sticking and I probably have lost many slides.  It’s upsetting, but I am glad that it was discovered now, so that I can work around it.