Khumbu Wedding Bells to Ring — A Nugget of Goodness Amid Tragedy

Jen and Erik were to be mar­ried at Ever­est Base Camp with Deana Zabal­do offi­ci­at­ing and a Bud­dhist lama offer­ing bless­ings under the watch­ing eyes of Chomol­ung­ma, the name for Ever­est in Sher­pa cul­ture mean­ing the God­dess Moth­er of the Earth. Those plans changed of course in the face of this mas­sive earth­quake and tragedy.

Bud­dhist cer­e­mo­ni­al can­dles. MM file photo

How­ev­er, with the sup­port of the local com­mu­ni­ty where our group is now stay­ing, plans to con­tin­ue with the wed­ding are pro­ceed­ing. Our group is excit­ed that Jen and Erik are con­tin­u­ing with a cer­e­mo­ny, which will take place at a monastery with one of the local lamas giv­ing a bless­ing and Deana say­ing some words. Deana, in addi­tion to being an amaz­ing guide, is ordained!

The hap­py cou­ple in Col­orado. Client photo

We wish Jen and Erik the best. Per­haps a bit of joy will come from this for all around them in this oth­er­wise very emo­tion­al­ly chal­leng­ing time. 

Small tem­ple in Luk­la (pre­vi­ous trip). Mark Gun­log­son photo

Tonight they sleep in rel­a­tive com­fort in the vil­lage of Chho­plung, where the group is stay­ing until they get the go-ahead to fly out of Luk­la. In a few short hours they will wake up and begin the day in prepa­ra­tion of their marriage.

Chho­plung, which is pro­vid­ing a safe haven for our group amongst the ruins of near­by vil­lages, will hope­ful­ly find a beam of light shin­ing down on them, a moment of joy for all this Thurs­day, the wed­ding day!

Prayer wheel in Luk­la (pre­vi­ous trip). Mark Gun­log­son photo