Sherpas Monks and more Sherpas
Written by Steven Cozza
Friday, 22 October 2004

wow wow wow, This place is absolutely amazing. We flew into Lukla the other where we started our hike to the base camp of Everest and Kalupatar. Hiking from Sherpa village to village is just great. All the kids and smiling faces along the way. I swear its going to be hard to get myself down from here I like it so much. right now I just met a lady Buddhist nun who is from Connecticut and decided to live here in the mountains for the rest of her life. The first days hike was not so hard hiking mainly on kind terrain. The first night we slept outside under the stars and ate Dah Baut with a Sherpa family. The first day was so great that if I died today I would be happy with what I have done in my life because of just the first day. This place is such a must see. I am addicted. Today the 22nd of October was a much harder hike heading from Phanhkntang to Namchee Bazaree. Namchee is the largest sherpa village on route to Everest and it has everything from a bakery to an internet cafe. Now this is not a village like you think. Its on a mountain side in the middle of know where and has a population of my guess maybe a 100 not counting the tourist. After hiking for a good 5 hours over some of the hardest terrain crossing rivers on rope bridges that are as hi as 200 feet above the river. I thought my dad with have some trouble with that but he surprising did just fine. You just will not believe what these Sherpa people can carry. The men carry loads of goods weighing 65-95 kg. That's soo soo heavy. Today I past on the trail a 22 year old lady carrying a 65 kg load of San Miguel beer. I couldn't pass up the chance to try and ask if I could carry her load for her and she could carry my wimpy 25kg pack. She took the offer with a huge smile. Well let me tell you. I was totally humbled and shamed at the same time today. I could carry the load but not for long. It was crazy heavy going up the almost vertical uphill stretches. It was great .. All the Sherpas were cracking up as I past them saying Nameste Nameste half chocking to death. All the tourist coming down the hill thought I was nutso. I carried the load for maybe 45 minutes before I just cracked and could not go on much longer. I felt so bad making her carry the 65kg load again. I wanted badly to make it all the way but it just screwed my neck and back up way to much because I was not use to the way they carry the loads. I couldn't believe it. A 22 year old 4 foot 9 inch lady could carry more weight than me. I'm telling you. These people are truly the strongest people in the world. They are like ants. Well after that fun experience me and dad finally made it to Namchee for the Market. Tibetan pilgrims traveled here to sale their makings. It is so neat to see all the cool stuff they have. As we were walking through the market we heard a chanting on the hillside and saw these Hindus chanting around a scared looking goat. I knew what this meant and immediately ran up the hill to witness the scarification. I found out from the guys that they were sacrificing the goat for the God named Cale. I got the best picture right as the sword chopped off the goats head. They than ran the headless goat around in a circle and I was covered in goad blood from the bloody neck hitting me. All the guys chuckled and so did I kinda ha ha. It was a great thing to be a part of chanting and all. The crazy thing is about 20minutes later we were walking around and saw another goat get its head whacked off. I new at least we were getting fresh goat for dinner ha ha. Well its time for me to go to bed but until next time witch will be for awhile since I will have no internet for along time now. Thanks alot for reading and sorry for the poor spelling. (Webmaster corrected)

If you cant make the world better at least don't make it worse,
always peace,
Steven

Kathmandu Valley
Written by Steven Cozza
Wednesday, 20 October 2004

Wow what a crazy place this is. My Dad and I arrived here two days ago and are totally blown away by this whole experience. The average Nepali makes only $300 dollars a year so you can just imagine how poor this country is. I have never felt so many emotions in one day. This is one emotional roller-coaster that's fur sure. Throughout the day you feel feelings of being happy, excited, shocked, amazed, sad, depressed, angry, confused, mad, speechless, brain-dead and many more. I would say 90 % of the country are beggars and have know jobs. Many of the people come up from India because they know this is where there tourist are at so they can make money. It is so amazing how cheap it is here. A hotel room can cost as low as $2 dollars a night and food the local meal Dahl Baht witch is a huge plate of rice and curry like sauces is only 60cents. The first day here I was swarmed by beggars like everyday but this one lady kept following me. She had a baby with her that seemed sick and she was super skinny. She kept begging for money but I kept saying no for they would of all wanted money. She followed me for minutes after minutes and I began to break down. I could not take it. My mind started to spiral out of control with emotion. I grabbed onto a nearby fence and started to tear a bit. She kept saying food food food for my baby. Please milk please. I was totally destroyed and felt horribly bad about everything in life. All of a sudden I thought hey how about this. If you let me get a picture of you and your baby I'll give you money. So that's what I did. All never forget the smile on the lady and baby's face. The picture I took with be with me forever and I will take it everywhere I go. I am so moved by this place. Nepal is a must place see and I cant wait to come back. Today me and my dad were walking around looking for stuff we would need on our trek to the base camp of Mt. Everest (17500feet) and we saw this guy with a cobra. The ones that they play the flute in front of and they dance. Well I got to get a picture taken with it and my dad was so freaked out it was going to bite me. I have to admit I was a bit scared myself. A photo touching a cobra. ha ha what would my Mom think about that. She would kill me fast than the snake. We leave early tomorrow morning to Lukla to start our 15-21 day Trek. I am so stoked and can't wait to get started. Thank you so much for reading and I will get back to you as soon as we get off the Mt. Oh ya I almost forgot. Me and my dad made sure to pray at the Bodhnath Shrine with the prayer wheels. This is the largest Shrine in the world and is really populated with Tibetan Pilgrims who fled there country in 1959 when the Chinese took over Tibet. wow was it beautiful.

no time for spell check. sorry about the crappy spelling. (Webmaster corrected).

Until next time,
Nameste
Steven Cozza..
Its a true blessing to be doing this. I will never forget and will never take a thing for granted..

Bankok Thailand
Written by Steven Cozza
Monday, 18 October 2004

Wow, what a cool place this is .. Me and my dad arrived the other day and it is cool. We leave today for Nepal to start our trek up Everest. so far so good. The people are really friendly here. Right now I am being attacked by a probably malaria infested mosquito. I'll report back in as soon as possible.

Steven

2004
Written by Steven Cozza
Saturday, 16 October 2004

My experience as a first year espoir was far better than I expected. Going into the season I knew I was in for a big jump up the latter. I had heard many stories about people succeeding and failing so I was pretty stressed out in the beginning of the year. I can remember sitting in my room in Belgium not being to sure about what I was doing. The first few races were so hard that I never even saw the front of the race. For the first month racing in Europe this year I did not even feel like I was racing and only surviving. I could not wait to be able to attack and actually race. This seemed miles away, but with a bit of patience, persistence and hard work, I started to get really fast. I can remember the race that I began to actually race. It felt so great to be able to survive through the very darkest times of my cycling this year to the bright times of the year.

I was the only first year U-23 to spend the entire year in Europe and I am so glad I did. Spending so much time over there, putting my body through stress day after day, race after race, only made me stronger. I believe that the reason I now can handle the European style of racing more then most others is because the very first team I raced on was junior Team Swift. Laura Charemeda the founder of Team Swift brought me and another teammate to Italy when I was only 16. This was probably one of the best things that could of ever happened to me for my development as a competitive cyclist. I was able to see what racing was like over in Europe before the big time racing came. To be great at what you do is always a process. Cycling takes lots of patience. It also takes a lot of support. I want to give a lot of my thanks to Laura and Team Swift for offering me that support and cycling knowledge. 2005 will be my 5th season of racing and I still have lots to learn. I can’t wait to back to Europe to compete.

Racing in Europe is very tough and can also be very discouraging, but with every down there is an up. You have to just stay focused, give it every inch of determination and strength you have, believe in yourself and shoot for your dream.

Steven Cozza
Peace Out

Everest
Written by Steven Cozza
Saturday, 02 October 2004

I have left to hike to the base camp of Mount Everest with my Dad in Nepal. I wont be back till mid November. My father and I are trying to raise as much money as possible for a kid named Robert Knight who is fighting for his life against the cancer he has. I believe in Robert and know he will win this fight against cancer. We are going to bring a photo of Robert and also place the Carousel fund flag at the base camp of Mt. Everest with the names of those who donated.

Please help to honor the courage of 18 year old Robert knight in the battle of his fight against cancer. All donations will be given to Robert and his family to defray Robert’s medical costs. Make checks payable to: Carousel fund “Robert’s Trek”

Send Checks to:
Carousel Fund “Robert’s Trek”
17 Buckeye Court
Petaluma, CA 94952
Phone and Fax
707-762-9136
www.CarouselFund.org

Thanks alot,
Steven Cozza