Katmandu

Our day started with a visit to Katmandu's old city, home of the palace and many Hindu shrines. In the 18th century the first king to control all of Nepal built his palace here. The palace has been built over several centuries. Yesterday was election day in the states, so we're eagerly watching updates in the news and on smart phones to see who won.

We visited house of the living goddess, Kumari. This girl is selected from among the Buddhists, she must have no injury, be brave and thirty-two aspects of her body must be perfect. Of those who are deemed acceptable , the elders choose among the youngest. The current Kumari was selected at age 4 and is currently 7. She is removed from her family to live in this special house. Thirteen times a year, during religious festivals, she comes out into the city on a chariot. Upon reaching puberty, another will be selected.

Hindu Shirnes (with pigeons)

Surrounding the palace are many Hindu Shrines. As the people worship in the shrines, we observed them using all five senses: ringing a bell, offering food, use of red & yellow colors, incense, and touching the idol. Since Hindus are asked to worship before cooking, almost every home has a small shrine for worship. The shrine we visited was built from one tree in the 12th century. The name 'Katmandu' means 'wooden house' from this shrine. Besides the five idols in the shrine, there is stairs rising to a second floor with a pole next to it. Pregnant women who were pain should slide down the pole to remove their pain.
As we toured the palace we also heard the tale of the royal family. On June 1st, 2001, the crown prince, who was said to be on drugs and quite depressed, killed the entire family because his mother wouldn't allow him to marry his sweetheart. Others believe the uncle, who wasn't present, plotted to kill the rest of the royal family in order to become king. Of course, this story circulated widely. At the same time, the new kings son was a known murderer and gambler. So in 2006, there were huge protests for democracy. King Gyanendra
was removed of his powers in 2008 and a constitutional convention was elected. However, at this point, there is still no constitution.

Boudhanath Stupa

We ate a superb Nepalese lunch at the Boudha Restaurant, where the main course was a soup with vegetables, chicken, and noodles with sides of spinach, dumplings, chicken, rice and noodles, plus a sweet yogurt dessert. This was just outside the Boudhanath Stupa - a key pilgrimage site for Buddhists, built in the 13th century surrounding it are many Buddhist monasteries, primarily built when many Tibetans left Tibet in 1959 after China took control. We were privileged to attend one with a sand mandala newly completed in the center and the monks chanting their prayers. At the end, they made quite a lot of noise with their horns, bells, and cymbals. The second monastery had a statue of the magical master who spread Buddhism to Tibet from India. As we watched - many people were walking around the stupa in a clockwise direction - spinning the prayer wheels and reciting their mantra 113 times on their beads (113 represents all people).

That evening we had a lecture from a Nepalese woman named Shismata who climbed Mt. Everest three times. She is a small, thin woman - one you wouldn't imagine to be a climber. Her first attempt was in 2004, a time when she would have been the first non-Sherpa Nepalese woman to have reached the summit.  She ended up 40 meters shy. Why? Her Sherpa didn't feel it was proper for a non-Sherpa Nepalese woman to summit. Instead of leading her up the trail, he followed her, certain she wouldn't make it. But when she was only 40 meters from the top, he held her back by the straps of her backpack and forced her to turn back. On returning to Katmandu, she kept quiet about what happened because she knew that offending the Sherpa would prevent her from ever trying again. In 2007, she was approached by two Sherpa who knew what had happened. In 2006, another Sherpa had left another Nepalese woman on the mountain to die with altitude sickness, while he reached the summit. She was rescued by two Americans. The Sherpa realized that they needed to change the reputation of their tribe. A party of ten Nepalese women was formed, eight of them climbing novices (but trained in climbing). The entire trip was two months long. Teams spend about 2 weeks to get to base camp, 6 weeks going up and down the mountains to the three higher camps bringing ropes and supplies as well as acclimating to the altitude. The final climb from base camp takes a week. All ten women managed to summit.