Since my outing to find construction materials, I’ve been trying to make a realistic cost for the Biogas project. This is not easy, and I have had at least three different quotes for the cost of cement in Khumbu so far. It’s also interesting to figure transport costs when things have to be moved with a combination of truck, donkey and human porter to arrive at Gorak Shep. The trickier part will be getting a realistic price for a BSP consultant. I don’t think it will be cheap to get one of their engineers far away from their comfy home in the capitol. But we will see.

The more exciting thing I’ve done lately, is to see my friends from Pumori engineering firm again. I haven’t seen them since we parted ways in Deboche. Since that time they have started making a great map of the Nuns’ Gompa. I was impressed by the number of trees they had included. The preliminary map that we looked over does not yet have contour lines. But they are still processing the more than 900 reference points gathered in two days. I think these guys are quite good at what they do and I’m excited to see the Gompa get some renovation once this work is done.

Of course, things are not as straight forward as one might think. The meeting’s discussion turned toward how the property boundary and ownership might be found. This nunnery has been around for centuries, plus there is a different style to keeping records in Nepal. In the end, it seems there may be three places where the Gompa’s land may be recorded. But these record houses will not necessarily know who holds ownership as well. Add to this the slow process of applying for permits with Sagarmatha National Park, and half a year can easily pass before things can go forward. Despite all that, I think the renovation of the Gompa will happen, and the site survey done by Pumori Engineering been a huge help.