Alawa Sherpa

Alawa is a porter who lives in Jubhing, Nepal. He is a very good friend of Chhongba. He was with us the first and fourth of my treks in Nepal and has became a friend, even though we aren’t able to speak the same verbal language. I twice visited his home and the prayer hall that he built for his village and once slept in a tent in his potato field.

I first met Alawa a few days after Obama was first elected. We were all happy about the outcome of the election, and Alawa was proudly wearing an Obama button. Leeli or Denise probably gave it to him.

Below is photo of his modest house. He and his family live on the second floor in what is basically one large room — kitchen, dining room, living room, and bedroom. The animals live on the ground floor, which is typical of Nepal. The heat from their bodies rises and helps warm the humans on the floor above.

The photo below shows Alawa’s family in the prayer hall he built for the whole village next door to his house. 

Here are three photos from inside Alawa’s home.  

During that first trip, Alawa posed with Runner Pasang and Sarah at Chiwang Gumpa where they got their redish dots at the Mani Ringmu festival.  Runner Pasang is Chhongba’s son-in-law.

Near the end of the first trip, we were waiting in the airport in Phaphlu to fly to Katmandu.  I took a group photo of Sarah, Gelu Sherpa, Alawa, Leeli, and Denise. On my fourth trip through this Solu region, I learned that Gelu had passed away.

On my fourth trip to Nepal I again enjoyed being with Alawa. We had already hiked many days from Jiri and were approaching his village.  About an hour or two before we reached his home, he hustled ahead to unload the close to 100 pounds he might have been carrying. He then came back downhill to Jubhing village at the Dudh Koshi river to greet us.

In the photo on the left below, Alawa is heading down to help us.  On the right you can see the welcome arch he constructed for us in front of his home. His prayer hall is on the right edge of this photo.

That night we slept in tents in his potato field.

Before we headed to our tents, we had a grand meal in Alawa’s house. Below is an 11-photo panorama, somewhat distorted, with Alawa and his family on the left, us in the center along with some people from the village, and objects on his wall to the right. This is the whole of the floor where his family cooks, eats, and sleeps.

The next morning I took a portrait of part of his family. His son to the left of him joined us on the rest of the trek as a porter. 

Several weeks later, after Alawa helped me cross the high pass at Renjo La and was soon to help me get down over ice-covered boulders from the high pass at Cho La, he banged on my room door in Gokyo.  He waved me to follow him and took me perhaps an eighth of a mile to the lakeshore where there were some very unusual ducks. Thanks to him I was able to get a photo of a Ruddy Shelduck.  

The above photo was taken along the inlet to the main Gokyo Lake, Gokyo Cho, also called Dudh Pokhari.  The Gokyo lake system of 19 lakes lying between 15,100 and 16,700 feet. The wetland is the head of the Dudh Kosi (river), which descends from Cho Oyu. We have trekked along the Dudh Koshi on three of our treks in Nepal. 

The Gokyo Lakes are considered sacred by both Hindus and Buddhists. The photo below shows Gokyo Cho.  Renjo La is at the top about 1/4 of the way in from the left edge. Gokyo Ri rises to the right.

Here are more photos I took of Alawa during our visits to Nepal.