Strikes!

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We made it to Annapurna! Barely! Well Pokhara, to start our trek tomorrow. I have a bunch more to write about volunteering and our homestay and the Nepali culture and our last day but there's more exciting news so I'll write this now and then go back to the other stuff...
So last weekend Nepal had their first presidential election. The president is chosen by the Assembly made up of over 600 representatives of the different regions and ethnic groups of Nepal. There were 2 candidates, one Maoist, the other not. The non-Maoist candidate won. However, the Maoists are the largest group in the Assembly and they're threatening to remain an opposition party and not form a coalition government unless certain conditions are met. If they are in opposition, not much will get done. So of course there's a bunch of mixed opinions about what the Maoists should do. But that's not even the controversial thing. The president took his oath of office in Nepali, but the vice-president took it in Hindi! So a bunch of people, especially students, are protesting because he took his oath in a foreign language rather than the official language of the country that he's representing. There are strikes everywhere and protests, burning tires, closing stores, blocking streets, all that good stuff. Everything was closed in Rampur (where we were) yesterday and there were some protests, burning things and chanting, but not anything too extreme. So we weren't sure if we were going to get to leave today to get to Pokhara. The strikes go from 6 am-6 pm so we got picked up at our houses at 4:30 am to get to Narangarh and on a bus before 6. We successfully made it without any strike problems! We had a little trouble at the gate getting out of Narangarh but other than that, not much. Our bus broke down partway there and we had to wait for another one with enough room, but that's just Nepal. So now we're in Pokhara at a hostel with real showers and real Western toilets (no more squatting!) and laundry! Tomorrow we leave for our 9 day Annapurna trek and I won't have internet again until August 9th when you will get to hear all about our trek in the heat and rain, clouds and sun, mud and leeches! Until then...

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Comments

[doug eby]

[e-mail]
Sounds like lots of adventures and experience - family, intercultural communication and games, challenging weather, broken down buses...and now political upheaval - the real world. soak it all in!! ...and be safe....

[Ethan]

Psh, western toilets are too much of a luxury for you Eryn! You like it rough and tough, and thats really gross if you think about it the wrong way! This whole trip sounds really eventful! I'm glad you are on it, but stay out of trouble, y'hear?