Trekking with Technology: in a mountain school, I will temporarily know more about technology than a five year old.

The Himalayas have an iron grip on my heart and mind.  Thus I'm headed back to Nepal with books, supplies, and a surprise. My sherpa guide, saw computers being used in Kathmandu and said he wanted them for his mountain school so their children could have similar advantages. Only 7% of households (most in Kathmandu) have computers. My son convinced me that solar powered tablets were the way to go. Thanks Kerry for downloading my tablets with Nepali/English Math, Science and Reading for grades 1-5. There is no internet connection close to this village, but they could walk a day to a larger village that caters to trekkers and climbers, and perhaps, connect. I laugh every time I think about me–being technically challenged–teaching teachers and children how to use these wonderfully strange and new links to the rest of the world.I made instructional posters and worked on learning the necessary Nepali words for: "slide" your fingers across the "screen,"  "scroll" down to "select," "charge" the "battery"…you get the picture.

 I relish the thought that temporarily, I will know more about technology than a five year old. 

Trekking with Tenacity: At 68, it's not too late to live outside the box!

  

A waif in the 50's–a child of Texas discipline. No one asked how I felt or what I thought…outside meant security. Away from walls, racing through the brush, I was a prodigal girl, a candy cigarette and a vanilla shake with a brief reprieve from, "Yes, Sir, No Sir" and miles away from: "Do as you're told." Outside, every blade of grass and a million sticker bushes stood up with the chiggers, the scorpions, the snakes, the humidity.  All spoke: "You can dance, you can dream, you can run, you can scream. The wind will carry your voice." 

Thus my lust: distant trails, perpetual pinnacles, endless sunrises.

So here I am, once again, headed to the highest peaks, the humblest people, the hyaline of intrigue. I've trained on mountains sides and treadmills, packed equipment and supplies, and now, I'm a tiny speck in a tenacious land, returning to an aggregation of  beauty: 

                     The Riveting Himalaya.