A hike, a sore knee, and a blessing

Dingboche to Pangboche to Tengboche
November 14, 2013

Yeah, I don’t think I’ll be walking tomorrow. My knee is much worse. I’ll get to that later though. First, I want to tell you about one of the most amazing experiences we had today.

We left Dingboche this morning, saying goodbye to Mingma’s parents. Mingma’s mom offered us all katas as we departed, wishing us wonderful blessings as we went.

The group with Mingma’s parents

For lunch, we stopped at the town of Pangboche. After eating, we headed to the oldest monastery in this region. It was beautiful. The colors remained vibrant and the moment you enter the monastery you could feel history oozing from the intricate carvings and masks.

Pangboche Monastery

Pangboche Monastery

But even as we left the monastery, our experience in Pangboche wasn’t over. Mingma told us we would be visiting Lama Geshe, a very intelligent gentleman, a Ph. D., and an authority on Buddhism. Mingma told us, if we would like, we could offer our kata scarves with an offering and he would give us an offering in return. We all leapt at the chance. Someone helped me fold my kata and I placed some rupees in it. I entered the receiving room where Lama Geshe sat with a huge (and genuine) smile on his cheery face. He accepted it, tossed the money to the side, placed the kata scarf around my neck, and then took a red thread and tied it around my neck. As he placed the red thread around my neck, he pulled down on the knot allowing us to bump foreheads. I’ll admit I chucked because the other lama had not done that. But this guy took his time, never rushing us through. In the short time we met with Lama Geshe, I could feel his warmth and spirit. He truly wanted to teach us and answered questions (translation by Mingma of course). He even passed around scripts that were over 600 years old (I held them gently and quickly passed them to my neighbor). Before leaving his company, he gave us bookmarks with a blessing he wrote on it. It reads, “Om Ma Ni Pad Me Hung Hri”.
The translation:
Give Up all intentions to harm others from your heart.
And do your best to Benefit them all.
If each and everyone feels the Universal Responsibility to do so,
We will all enjoy the feast of Peace.
The experience is just one I will never forget. It made me realize how lucky I am to have been able to do this trip, that my disease didn’t stop me from this moment, that I am able to share this trip with my kids—kids that may have never realized that they can see the world until hearing about this trip. I know my words are choppy and far from eloquent right now so please forgive me, but the adventure and everything I’ve encountered thus far on this trip has caused me to see things differently these days.

Lama Geshe

Okay, back to the hike. Yeah, the hike after our visit to Lama Geshe definitely got more difficult. Luckily, Nima once again carried my pack (he’ll probably be glad when he doesn’t have to do that anymore!). I mean, the last mile or two (after passing Dewoche) was almost too strenuous and ridiculous! It was one of the steepest hikes up. I eventually stopped and turned to Eric. I told him to find me a yak I could impale myself with. Now, walking on relatively flat ground was okay for my knee. Going up hurt. Going downhill hurt worse, I’ll admit. But I thought I was going to die on that hike up. I’m pretty sure Mingma finally grabbed my hand and pulled me the last half hour up the hill. I knew I had no choice but to go up…where else would I go? Well, I suppose I could have stayed at the nunnery.

Amy telling me to keep moving (just one of the million times she told me to)

Later tonight, after dinner, I’ll be calling my insurance company to ask about their policy regarding international helicopter evacuation. I’ll try a horse tomorrow (if it’s possible) because I don’t think I’ll be able to continue on my knee like I have. I really don’t want to have lasting damage and never be able to hike like this again. I mean, this experience in the Himalayas has been spectacular and I don’t want this to be my last time hiking this grand mountain range. I almost fear I’ve torn my meniscus—no, I’m not a doctor, but it feels like how my mom described her knee when she tore her meniscus. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that it’s just a sprain and easily fixed with some rest.

After I did arrive at our lodge, I plopped down next to Alain. He leaned over and asked me about the knee. He told me he wasn’t sure I’d make it to base camp when we first started this trek. The first couple of days were difficult for me. I’m sure some people would have been offended by this but not me. I smiled and told him I questioned whether or not I was going to make it at first too. But I told him I’m a very determined and stubborn person and that’s what got me there. I think I showed a few people to never underestimate the underdog.

Dinner in Tengboche (I’m at the far end discussing my options)