Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Nepal and Coming HOME!

Sorry I haven't written in so long. Internet was more expensive in Nepal, and by that I mean a little over a dollar an hour as opposed to fifty cents. Anyway, we got there and returned safely by train. God was seriously taking care of us, nothing got stolen and we were able to build relationships with really nice families and other people both ways. And here is what happened in Nepal:

First, we went to Kathmandu. Traveling anywhere here is cheap, but it takes a very long time, so this was a stop along the way. They have a very serious drug issue there. It is serious in Kolkata too, but they keep it at least a little more secret here. In Kathmandu, children sniff glue out of paper bags all over the place. Gangs of young men walk around offering hashish to all of the tourists, which is tobacco laced with weed I'm pretty sure. It was pretty scary walking after dark with all of that going on.

From Kathmandu, we went to Pokhara, which was amazingly beautiful. During a less cloudy season, you can see the Himalayas from there. We were very close to a lake and to Nepal's World Peace Pagoda. Something I loved about Nepal was that they were very aware of health and the environment and world issues, specifically Tibet. It was so cool to see a nation so united in the idea of peace. From there, we caught a bus that took us about an hour into the Anapurna mountains to a little village called Nayapul. From there, we went on the most difficult and most beautiful backpacking trip of my life. The first day, we were extremely blessed. We stayed the night in a tiny village I don't know the name of up in the mountains. This family let us pitch our tents in what was basically their front yard. We then played with all of the village children for a couple hours and it was amazing! What started as a group of about ten turned into at least thirty children very quickly as the word spread. Smiling parents stood by watching as we played tag and swung the children around and danced and taught them duck, duck, goose. We actually substituted goose for goat and used the local language, so we played something like coocoor, coocoor, bachri! We drummed on pipes and garbage cans and they taught us traditional dances. It was amazing :)

After playing, the woman of the family, who we started calling Oma for Momma, cooked dinner for us. We helped her cook and visited with her son and husband. She doesn't know lots of English, but she did say "The seven of you, I really like." I helped her wash dishes afterward and we all went to bed. The next morning we bandaged wounds of many of the village people, ate porridge, and continued on our way.

Hardest day ever. We hiked up thousands of stone steps for hours. I can't imagine how long it took the mountain people to build them all! And it's crazy to think about how the people in the deep villages have to hike for a few days just to get somewhere they can catch a bus to go to a real city. Even if someone is sick. That day we also had an experience with... leeches. Fortunately for Grant and I, we couldn't feel them biting us. The only sign that we'd definitely been attacked was all the blood soaking through our socks... Gross. But honestly, I would have taken more leeches to more of those steep stairs. We stayed with very nice people in another village that night, and spent a lot of time sharing our testimonies with each other and praying. It was beautiful :)

And... I would love to tell you more, but seeing as I'm flying home tomorrow evening there is a lot to do today! Plus my time on the computer is pretty much up. It's ok though, that just means I'll have things to tell you when I get home. Pray for safe travels!

Love <3

2 comments:

  1. coocoor, coocoor, bachri!
    i think we should make that the official evolution of duck, duck, goose!

    i am so overjoyed to hear that you are alive and well.
    and i cannot wait to see you.

    also, your mommy invited krystal and i to go to sunfest this weekend.. we both really wanted to go.. but found out that krystal had to have her wisdom teeth removed and i had to work..
    boo.

    ps. welcome home party when you get here?

    ReplyDelete