Namaste

Greetings from Kathmandu! Kelly and I arrived here yesterday and we are so excited and somewhat overwhelmed by being back here. We seriously love the culture and the people here. The loud horns, weird smells, and random animals on the street bring back so many memories. It is really weird to be back here without a group, as we travelled with a group of 50 when we've been here before. Most of our time so far has been trying to figure out our trek, so we haven't been able to see the sights yet. We have, however, run into some old friends. There is this one guy, Shankar, who works in a rug store here that absolutely loves Kelly. He and his brother have written Kelly letters and when Kelly came back her second year here, he was so excited. We saught out to find Shangkar yesterday and instead found his brother who Kelly had never met in peson. He told us that Shankar has been sick and living in his family's village. The brother's name is Ram and he was going to call Shangkar to tell him we are here. He was very sure Shangkar would take the next bus into town! I'm serious when I say this: seeing Kelly will honestly make his year. This brings tears to our eyes!

We will be leaving for our trek sometime this weekend. We will fly to Lukla and land on a small airstrip in the mountains. From there, we will hike for 14 days. Our destination is Kala Pattar(click here for the view from there) and Everest Base Camp. We figure there is about a 65% chance of making it, mostly because of the altitude which will reach 18,500 feet. So pray for our health as we trek! Also pray for Kelly's back, as it has been acting up a little bit. We won't be able to update the blog until after our trek, but we will certainly do so as soon as we get back. We will probably write one more blog before we take off. Thanks for your prayers and support.