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The lama that we went to meet yesterday... actually, I befriended his father and the stories obviously that came from him nine or ten years ago when we met was that we had several generations behind that, before he actually had some of his predecessors come out and build the small lamasery, and hollow out this really fascinating little cave which then they decorated with a variety of frescoes and paintings depicting such gods as Guru Rinpoche who actually came and settled the region in the 8th Century and made the Khumbu region safe for people to practice the Buddhist faith and also Lama Sange Dorje who established the first monastery where he would fly and leave prints of his heels and of his hands.

So that's a little of the background there. Lama Sombhu is his name, the guy who did our little puja yesterday, and obviously under a lot of pomp and circumstance: reading, incense-lighting, drum-thumping, and cymbal-clanging we had our puja completed. It was fabulous to get everybody inside kind of crowded into this little narrow cave and to get that ceremony done.

He would give each of us what's called a "sungdhi," a prayer string, they're red when they come from the Nyingmapa sect, and we tie those around our necks. He also gave each of us a small prayer packet known as a "shungha" and this is worn around the neck as well, usually suspended from a small string in a pouch. This shungha has wood-block prayers printed upon it and then a geometric series of strings dashed around it to give it a little bit of panache there.

But in any case, that's what we did yesterday. It was great to see him. He went well above and beyond the call of duty, and provided an incredible ceremony for all of us there. I haven't seen him in two years, and I had seen some of the work he had done in progress — he's actually a fantastic painter and sculptor as well, and he was working on several of the masks that would be used in the upcoming Mani Rimdu or blessing ceremony that takes place in Thame every spring. And some of these masks were in more-or-less a state of being completed. Some of the paintings were still being completed, and he had a beautiful statue of Guru Rinpoche that he hadn't painted quite yet, but had just cracked out of the mold so it was fascinating to see that though he's continuing in the lineage of his father and is of course, a great artist in his own right.

That's it for now. Look forward to talking with you soon. Thanks for being part of our lives today.

—Pete Athans, Expedition Leader

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