Day Trips

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In the middle of February, we had a party for Young Leaders-talent show, dinner, campfire, and camping on the beach; it was an absolute blast! I have learned so much from these kids, I only hope they are learning from me. The kids sang and danced as well as showed off their kung-fu skills.

There was another stretch of Holy Days so Tom, Mithun (TC employee), and I went to Pokhara to meet up with another volunteer for paragliding. Once the office cleared us to go, we stopped a bus driving by to get in. Catching transportation here is basically hitch hiking-you stand on the side of the road and when a vehicle drives by you shout your destination, if it’s headed that way you hop in and agree on a price. The micro we stopped that day was full so we got to ride on the roof. I was so excited to sit up top, but we got kicked off right before a police checkpoint. Once in Pokhara we checked our reservations for paragliding and they gave us a very brief run down of what to expect. Ah, I was a little nervous knowing we have to start by running off a cliff, but it was awesome! We happened to book it the same day of the 2009 International Paragliding Competition so it was crazy busy in the sky which made it challenging when trying to land. Before landing my guide asked if I liked “extreme”. I agreed and with that we started doing 360’s in the sky-so exhilarating! The parachute was underneath us and we would flip around over the lake. I tried taking pictures but I was holding on for dear life. The trip back to Trisuli from Pokhara was a long one. We hopped on a local bus but the driver changed it’s destination about 30 minutes into the trip so we got off and tried finding another bus going toward Katmandu (which passes Trisuli). No buses were coming so we got into a lowry (similar to semi) and rode the rest of the way home.

One Saturday morning, Mithun, Tom and I were going on a day trek and brought 7 Young Leaders with. The trek was supposed to be 2 hours up, see a cave, and 2 hours hike down. The hike up took only 2 hours but we decided to stop by Mithun’s grandmother’s house for water and food then see the cave. Mithun’s grandmother was so excited to see all of us that she made us special rice and prepared curdled milk (for energy) and insisted we stay longer. All the kids sat around watching me eat with my hands laughing at me struggle. I was starving but couldn’t figure out how to scoop the rice in my hand then put in my mouth without spilling so I gave up and had an 8 year-old teach me. Pretty humiliating but I was no longer hungry. Once we saw the cave and headed on our way down we soon realized that we were lost and no longer going down but around and around the hill. The 4 hour trek actually took 8 hours and we returned just in time for dinner. Everyone was standing out waiting for us as we returned and kept asking if I was ok. Since women don’t generally do trekking in the village they assumed something happened to me and continued to say how strong I was. The young boys hiked 7 hours without food and water and they were worried about me!

In the beginning of March there was a National Festival-Shovaratri, the celebration of their god. The kids had a few days off of school to celebrate so Tom and I were able to get into the festival as well. Our chef made a special mash for the day…very fun to experience a festival

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