A spiritual ephiphany, cold beer and a pizza

Friday, Nov. 6

As I walked around the base of the temple at Swayambhunath, brushing my fingertips across the copper prayer wheels embedded in its base, I suddenly got it. For the Buddhist pilgrims who come by the thousands to this sacred place (the oldest Buddhist stupa in the world) each day, it is not enough to just stand back and behold its beauty, as we might do from the pews of a historic American church. To experience the true power of this ancient stupa, they must touch it. So they do. They circumambulate its base, spinning the wheels as pilgrims before them have done for centuries before them. They bow to it, touching their foreheads to its ornate, golden archways. The light tea candles and lie down on the ground below it. All this touching, plus the chronic Kathmandu pollution and the deeds of the hundreds of mischievous monkeys that inhabit the place have taken a toll on it, and thanks to a group of generous Buddhists from around the globe, an ambitious renovation is underway. Meanwhile, a group of engineers from Colorado is working to bring water to the family of 300 Buddhist caretakers who have inhabited this hilltop sanctuary, taking care of the stupa, for more than 2,000 years. A priest I interviewed explained just how dramatically something as simple as fresh water would change the lives of this community. How fitting that a place of such rich, spiritual tradition and remarkable art has become a magnet for international generosity. Nepal may be a place of political turmoil and violent motorists, but here, I felt how sacred this country really is.

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My friend Kim - a high school chum who I have known since age 16 and who stood up as my maid of honor in my wedding - was waiting in the room when I got back to the hotel. What a great treat to have a companion for the rest of the trip...something beside my little netbook to share my thoughts with. We walked to Fire and Ice, a fantastic little pizza joint in Thamel for dinner, had a cold Everest beer, and wandered the chaotic streets for an hour, perusing shops full of poorly made North Face knock-offs. Today, we get on a plane to Pokhara and tomorrow - at last - we begin our trek!