When we left for Makalu base camp, we knew that we would likely be up on the trek somewhere when my sister and her husband were going to have their baby. On the way to base camp, we were able to get updates by e-mail via the satellite phone the climbers had. As we got closer to the due date everyone on the trip was asking about the updates and as excited as we were to hear about the baby being born!
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When we headed down from base camp we no longer had internet or phone access for about 5 days. However, when we were with the Sherpas we felt for sure that the baby was imminent so we headed into the small teahouse at Dobate where we were camping at 3900 meters and cheers-ed to our new nephew David Henry. The teahouse was small and smokey and kind of reminded us of the scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indiana goes to the snowy pub in Nepal to find the medallion that Marion had. Together with the Sherpas we toasted to the baby with Raksi (home-brewed alcohol made out of rice, millet or barley).
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When we got further down and closer to the end of the trek we were able to call home from a phone in one the villages. We were so excited to hear that David Henry was born on April 29th. And our guide Pasang busted out more Raksi! As we were talking to the Sherpas they said that since David Henry was born on a Wednesday his Sherpa name is Lhakpa. One of the traditional ways of naming babies in the Sherpa culture is naming the baby by the day of week they were born and Lhakpa is Wednesday.
Finally we are able to call and get word on David Henry...
...from this village...
... and properly toast to our new nephew!
WELCOME TO THE WORLD LHAKPA DAVID HENRY!!!!
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