Joseph Acero

I have put at least basic comments on all the photos. Click on the photo below to see them. There are various sizes of each photo so click on the "All Sizes" button to see more detail of any of the photos. You can scroll through them manually or you may want to try the "View as slide show" button to see a presentation of the shots.

We hope you enjoy them!!

This week has been a blur. I had intended to get the pictures up on the site and start to convey some of the stories from our trip. The jet lag hit me harder than my past trips and I've been lucky to stay up until 8PM each night. Then I'd be up between 3AM and 4AM ready for work. Like everyone who returns from a vacation, I've been buried and trying to catch up at work.

So very early this morning I uploaded 1.6GB (yes Gigabytes) or 320+ high resolution photos to Flickr so now I just have to label them. I love Flickr, but one thing that pisses me off about Flickr is that I cannot control the sequence in which they are presented. I uploaded them in chronological order, however, they appear in random order (Ugh!).

Anyhow, I will label the photos over the weekend and provide a link to all of them here. One of us will also be posting at least one blog entry per day so check back often!

Hi, its Joe -

We are back home in the U.S. after nearly three days of travel. We arrived home last night and Erin picked us up at the airport.

I was at work by 6:30AM this morning, this is just a quick entry to let family know we got home safely. I am feeling the jet lag, but should be OK within a couple of days.

We will be writing more updates and posting pictures over the next few days. We are very happy to be back home again.

Hi its Joe from Kathmandu. First of all Happy 4th of July to everyone in the U.S.!

Yesterday morning we were up a little after 4AM to trek from Khunde to Syhangboche. We left about 4:50AM and arrived there by 5:20AM. Then we waited until about 6:15AM before the large Russian helicopter arrived.

We said tearful goodbyes to Ang Phurba and Dawa while waiting for them to unload a large load of lumber from the helicopter. Then we got on with about 30 other people (we were the only Westerners) and took a 5 minute ride down to Lukla. This saved us two days of trekking and was well worth it considering Linda had been ill and Joseph Jr was tired. Joseph Jr was so strong on this trip. He refused to be carried, despite Nima Tashi offering to do so over the toughest parts of the trek. We had very respectable times from point to point considering he is so young and Linda was sick for some of the time.

Once in Lukla we went back to the Paradise lodge for breakfast (owned by our friends Dawa Futi and her husband Ang Passang). Ang Passang made our flight arrangements and we waited for the flights to arrive from Kathmandu. Before we knew it we were on our way and were looking out at amazing views of the Himalayas that we'd missed on the flight(s) in. I always feel a twinge of sadness when flying out from here and this time was no exception.

We landed in Kathmandu and were back at the Yak & Yeti by 9:45AM. Long showers, relaxation, food, and drinks were on the agenda. We caught up on some of the world news and Nima Tashi came by for snacks last evening.

Today we got up and went back to Boudhanath, Joseph Jr had special instructions to follow there from Lama Geshe. It is very hot and humid here, typical for this time of year. It usually rains every afternoon. Now we are back at the hotel and will relax until about 1PM when Nima will return again. Then we will go visit Lakpa and Kanchi at their school and probably get a bite to eat.

The last few weeks are a bit of a blur. We will continue to get our thoughts and pictures together and post them here to share. Its been a very special time for us and I hope that its been a learning experience for Joseph Jr. - I think it has.

There are still some things for us to take care of here in Kathmandu, but we are going to try and get earlier flights back home. We are missing everyone there and can't wait to see / talk to you all soon.

Enjoy the fireworks & cook outs!!

More later.

Just a quick note to say we are all safely back in Kathmandu. We lucked out, caught an early helicopter to Lukla and then a flight to Kathmandu. We were back at the Yak & Yeti Hotel before 10AM.

We are in the process of changing rooms so this will be a quick update. We will update again later with a more detailed post and a couple of photos.

Happy 4th of July to everyone in the U.S.