10th April 2008 - Dawa Steven Sherpa

Election day in Nepal and we had stayed over in one of the highest polling centers in the entire country - Tengboche.

In the morning, after breakfast, David and I walked down to the booths to see the unique sight - a square area marked out on the meadow with stakes driven into the ground and cordoned off by red nylon string. In the background loomed Mt. Amadablam, and on the other side perched Tengboche monastery with Mt. Kwangde and Khumbila behind her. Picturesque!

As the group started walking towards Pheriche, our next camp, Charles wasn't feeling well so decided to stay one more night at Tengboche. He will join us tomorrow at Pheriche while we have an acclimatization day. I stayed on a little longer. I needed to use the Internet at the cyber cafe to email some Journal entries for the blog.

At around 11:00 am I finally set off for Pheriche intending to catch up with the Au Pertemba and the rest of the gang at Pangboche. Now, the rest of the gang consists of Quan, Manuel, David and Stuart. Bill is still behind us, walking up slowly with his daughters. Josef set off in the direction of Gokyo, to join us at Lobuche or in Base camp.

On the way to Pangboche I saw scores of villagers on their way to vote. They had come from the villages of Pangboche, Phortse and above. When I reached Lama Geishi's house in Pangboche, I found out that the group had just left. Nevertheless, Pemba Tshering, who had walked from Tengboche with me, and I had a private ritual with Lama Geishi. He told me that my heart was pure and that nothing would befall me, and that the expedition would be successful. He then blessed me and gave me another mantra talisman to put in the same pouch that I hung around my neck since he gave me one last year in 2007 when I was on my expedition. We promptly left his house after the ritual and headed over to Pangboche gompa (monastery). There we offered more prayers. These rituals are performed by all Sherpas on their way to the highest peak. It is our "insurance policy."

I did finally catch up with our team at Shomare, where they were waiting to have lunch. During lunch, like the previous days, I grilled David and Manuel (who doesn't speak any English) to teach me Spanish. We had a chilly walk on the misty path with the wind on our back until we finally reached Pheriche at 3:00pm. Once we got settled at the Himalayan lodge in Pheriche, we lazed around, chatting and learning Spanish. It's relaxing and the large dining hall of the lodge is warm and cozy. But for now, its time for bed.