Chitwan National Park II

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okay so here is the update on how our weekend was - after we stopped sweating.. wait that didnt happen - it was more humid there than any pace we had ever been. all 9 of us didnt stop sweating the three days that we were there, but we all dealt with it; there was nothing we could do about it anyways...

so half way there we got off of the bus and rafted for 2.5 hours. they said it was a grade 3+.. it was our first time, but it wasnt too bad, it was really rough every now and again, but no one fell out (thank God). we took a break and went swimming too - the scenery, mountains on either side of us as we rafted down the river was absolutely amazing!!

then we got back on the bus and went on to the park. Chitwan is in the southern terai of nepal, so it borders india. we stayed at the Rainbow Safari Resort. On the first night we went for a short walk in hopes of seeing the sunset, but it was too cloudy. Oh we also saw some really cool mountains on the drive down - looked like mt. everst, but that wasnt the mountain range, so it was really clear for our drive and rafting, which was nice - monsoon style rain while rafting, would not have been fun... anyways - so after the short walk we all went to bed since we had to be up for breakfast at 6am.

after breakfast we went for a ride down a calmer river in a canoe that was made out of a tree trunk - very cool and very relaxing. We saw a rhino from afar and then the canoe driver man like grunted at the rhino so that it got out of the water - very cool - that was our first time seeing a rhino too - we also saw 2 crocodiles and some cool birds... then we hiked through the tall grass - taller than any of us, we had to be quite and slow so that we wouldnt disturb/upset a rhino - we didnt have any encounters luckily... then we stopped to see the elephants, bc they breed elephants in the park. the baby elephants were real cute - one of them was doing a little crazy elephant dance, jason loved it and took like 3 videos on his camera of it... then we went back to the resort and changed to swim with the elephants!!! while the elephants were being bathed we got to go in the water with them. we would climb up onto the elephants back while it was laying in the water and then it woud stand up, spray us with its trunk and then try to throw us off!! it was very fun, we also got to get lifted up onto an elephant by holding onto its ears and having it lift us up with its trunk - it was quite the experience!!!

then we had a little break. after that we went on a jungle safari ride on elephants. we were on a path at first, but not for long the elephant trainers took us anywhere. we saw a rhino and its baby up close, we are talking like 6 feet away from us... since we were on an elephant it wasnt so quick to run away and it wasnt about to challenge the elephant!! the elephants were so cool, they just step over and rip down whatever is in their way!!

then after dinner we say a stick dance by the village that lives in chitwan - these ppl are malaria repellant - which is quite impressive - since there is no gene or biological difference they believe that their way of life and houses are what protect them from malaria - the dance was fun and we all joined in for the last one - that was funny....

and that is pretty much it - definitely worth the humidity and sweatiness - lol.... rachel is still at the same hospital and it is going very well - she gets to actually do stuff which would not be allowed at home - jason went to the Learning Decelopment Center and will be there for this week and next bc the other school has exams and then a week of holiday (vacation). LDC is a school for disabled children and some adults.

we miss and love everyone very much!!! thanks for the messages kelso, lexi, bacchi, and nerd alert!!!!!! very good to hear from you all - have fun with the schizo recruiting jessica!! okay thats all for now - love everyone!! XOXO

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Comments

[Foog]

Sounds like the two of you are having a great time and well deserved for such hard working people as yourselves. The elephant riding sounds really cool. I went canoeing with Dave last weekend but your trip sounds much more adventerous because all we saw were a few birds. I just talked with Lisa and she is on the way to the airport for her trip. She already sounds cracked-out. Hope you enjoy the rest of your week. Love, Christine