Back at the Lukla airport, it is a bright clear crisp morning. I said goodbye to
the porters and Dano. Other porters are carrying bags to the airport and people
are lined up to photograph the planes coming in. Dogs are lolling about in the street. I
wanted to be on the first plane, but had to wait for couple of hours, watching Bollywood Indian
music videos. Then around 9:00 Nima
rushed in and grabbed my arm, our plane was about to leave and we were the last
ones on board, sitting in the very back of the cabin with great views out the
window.
I could still walk, but my
legs felt a little sore as I walked the stony path to the airport. I don’t know if I
have ever hiked so far and so steep in such a short time, I felt like a climber,
I had been on the mountain, and did the best I could. I realized that I needed to train my Sherpa guides who were accustomed to take people around the mountains who were mostly not climbers or mountaineers.
But, I had seen unworldly sights and camped in a
cave with my Sherpa friends around a smoky fire.
Slowly the multilayered chaos of Kathmandu emerges from the mountains. First there
are some villages and terraced fields, then more houses then the city.
Yesterday I thought I would give up hiking and climbing mountains I was
so tired. But the first place I was
drawn to was a map shop. Mustang? Dolpo? Tibet?
I wonder what kind of mountains they have there.
My plan was to visit the Boudha area, around the great stupa where there is a large Tibetan community. I visited the neighborhood stopping to talk to
hunched over Hindu men working on sewing ornaments for the Buddhist
monasteries,
