All of us in front of Lawudo Gompa, with, centre, Ven. Robina; Rinpoche’s brother Sangay-la, Lawudo’s director; Rinpoche’s sister Ani Samten-la, who runs the place year round; all the kind staff, our guides and porters who also pitched in throughout the retreat. Photo Kate Macdonald.
Our second Lawudo Trek, again led by Venerable Robina Courtin, brought all thirty-two trekkers safely up to Lawudo for our five-day retreat at Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s cave and retreat centre, nearly 14,000 feet above sea level in the lower Himalayas. Held in early Spring, March 14–28 this year, we offered the usual $500 for each participant, as well as another $9,000, totalling $25,500. Half the proceeds go into Rinpoche’s own fund to develop his vision of a Guru Rinpoche Pure Land there and half will be used by Rinpoche’s brother, Sangay-la, who runs Lawudo, for day-to-day maintenance and development. Sangay-la has already spent $3,000 of it on new mattresses and other items, as well as $1,500 towards towards improving Lawudo’s water supply. We learned a lot from the popularity and success of last year’s trek, so it was exciting to plan and prepare again this year, having a much clearer idea of what to expect…