We trekked for over two weeks to get up to the foot of Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest,) but when it was time to turn around and head back downhill and begin the journey home, we did the walk in only five fairly easy days.
Leah and I both looked forward to getting down to lower elevations where the weather would be warmer. The promise of a long, hot shower (not to be found in the high mountains) sounded particularly good. At the same time, we knew better than to rush the final days of our travel experience.
We’d get back to our everyday lives soon enough.
We trekked on a trail that passed high above Tengboche. Early in our trip we had visited the monastery there and watched Buddhist monks perform their dance-drama during the amazing Mani-rimdu festival.
We walked through Khumjung, home of the school that Sir Edmund Hillary built for the Sherpa children of the region. In the years following his historic, first successful climb of Everest in 1953, Hillary has dedicated himself to environmental and humanitarian causes. The Khumjung school was one of his projects, and Leah and I visited with the school kids during their lunchtime break from studies.
Down and down we hiked, passing many mani walls, Buddhist prayers carved into the rock.
When the day came that we arrived in Lukla to catch the short flight back to Kathmandu, it was humbling to look up at the high mountains.
We couldn’t believe we’d been up there, among those looming giants, and those beautiful people.
