Updates from the Motherland

Namaste Pariwarharu & Sathiharu!

After two weeks of traveling I have safely arrived back in Kathmandu for my final week with my homestay family. It was oddly comforting to get back to the city and last night, for the first time in two months I fell asleep to the sound of rain pounding on the roof and thunder rattling. Even the dogs were silent in appreciation.

I will try to reconstruct what was possibly the most amazing experience of my life, but even in my journal I have found it difficult to recreate and reflect on. We left Kathmandu two weeks ago and took a bus to Pokhara, roughly six hours west of the capital. We stayed there in a guesthouse along a gorgeous lake in the extremely touristy district appropriately called “Lakeside.” We visited the Annapurna Conservation Area Project Office (ACAP) and some other NGOs for a few days and enjoyed the “night scene” which, like all of Nepal shuts down at the 11:00 national curfew. After two days in Pokhara we flew to Jomsom, on a 18 person plane. It wasn’t until we cleared the runway taking off that I thought we actually survive the flight in such a rickety plane. The plane flew directly north through the heart of the Annapurna Mountain Range just above a deep river gorge. It’s an odd feeling to be in an airplane and have to look out and the window and UP to see the tops of mountains. Our flight left early in the morning so we were fortunate enough to avoid the wind, which is what can cause intense turbulence. Upon arriving in Jomsom, which is a good sized village, located in the dusty rain shadow of the Annapurna’s we ate dhal baat before walking south to the village of Marpha. In Marpha we sampled the village’s famous apple brandy and spent one night before trekking south again to the two villages where we would stay with our homestay families. The geography of the area is shockingly gorgeous – high snow capped peaks stand in stark contrast to the otherwise, dry, barren lower hills.

Our eight day homestays took place in the neighboring villages of Khobang and Larjung, both of which are right along the country’s most popular trekking route, the Annapurna Circuit Trail. However, the route is becoming less and less popular because, as of two years ago, the trail has been converted into a rough jeep trail and few trekkers are willing to share the road with jeeps and motorcycles (rightly so). It is actually sad to see what the road has done to the economies of the two villages that once acted as perfect stopping places for food and or lodging along the circuit. Today, many tourists and locals jeep through the villages en route to either Jomsom, or Muktinath in the far north. The area absolutely beautiful, and Khobang is literally located in the shadow of the sixth largest mountain in the world, Dualagiri which tops out at over 8000 meters.

Anyway, let me tell you a little bit about our endlessly interesting and in many ways, hilarious homestays. Unlike our Kathmandu homestays where we are all with our own families, in Khobang and Larjung we were in pairs – thank god. I randomly got paired with one of my good friends, which was very nice. The two of us stayed with a small family of four who had some cattle and chickens and a small vegetable garden, but who’s main source of income came from the small teahouse they ran in their house. Our house was a constant source of entertainment as at any given time there were bound to be 10-20 villagers drinking raksi (the local brew), tea or snacking. It was great because none of the villagers spoke English so we were, for the first time, really forced to speak Nepali. My fellow SITer – Myra – and I shared a room, which can be more realistically described as a tool shed, which was outside, which was outside of the main house and above the cattle pit. There was no heat in the “room,” which was no larger than 6 x 8, literally just large enough for a six-inch walkway between the two beds. Three cattle lived below us and each were adorned with their very own ginormous bell around their neck. We quickly learned that cows never sleep and that the bells never stopped ringing. To make things more interesting there were also roosters in the livestock pit. For some reason, prior to our trip I was under the impression that roosters crowed once when the sun came up – perhaps a romantic notion, but mine nonetheless. It quickly became apparent to us that was not the case, and that in reality roosters only begin crowing at sunrise, but then continue to crow consistently throughout much of the morning. Thus, from about 5am when the rooster first woke us up, we lay in bed listening to a bell/rooster duet until getting out of bed at 7.

We enjoyed some interesting meals in the village, but for the most part our days were dominated by dhal baat. Our family was generous with the raksi, though, which was a new experience for me as my Kathmandu family is Brahmin and does not drink alcohol. Raksi is an interesting grain alcohol, served warm, that tastes in many ways like a combination of vodka and rubbing alcohol. In addition to raksi Myra and I were exposed to a number of interesting dishes at our house. By far the most interesting thing I consumed was a creation that is made from goat blood and flour and then served inside goat intestine – Nepali sausage if you will. Later on in the week, after watching my family slaughter a chicken dangerously close to our “room” I was served the head in my dish, beak and all. At first I thought maybe that meant I was highly respected, although, after attempting to eat it, I think it might have been some sort of punishment. As you are really expected to eat everything on your plate, consuming the head, which has very little meat, was quite challenging. I just sort of gnawed on it briefly and considered it good. Finally, the last night we were served warm beer complete with floating fried milk/cheese stuff, yak butter and salt. Recounting all this is funny, at the time, not so much.

Really, though, our family was great, and it really was an experience. While in the village we had language class and were conducting mini research projects about different aspects of the village so we were quite busy. We did have some time to go on hikes though and I managed to get to walk to a high yak pasture, small lake and on another day to a famous cave where a Buddhist monk is said to have mediated for thousands of years.

After a little over a week in the village we were set free to return to Kathmandu on our own via some combination of trekking, bussing and jeeping. While the vast majority of the group hiked south through Tatopani, Ghorepani and up Poon Hill, myself and three friends decided to go north, which was a bit more complicated, but in the end was most definitely worth it. We ended up riding via jeep-rooftop to the northern most village, and perhaps the only one that has benefited from the jeep road, Muktinath. To go into the district of Upper Mustang you have to pay $70 dollars per day, so Muktinath is the furthest north you can go without getting slammed with fees. It is also perhaps the most beautiful place I have ever been. Located at just under 14,000 feet, it is also considered to be the second holiest religious site for both Hindus and Buddhists. Looking out from the village you see the huge snow capped Himalayas framing a landscape that looks otherwise like Utah or Nevada on crack. Upon arriving we visited the famous temple that people come from thousands of miles away to visit. We touched water from each of the 108 spouts of holy water to our foreheads cleansings ourselves of our past sins, spun the prayer wheels and even saw the internal flame deep inside a Buddhist temple. We spent one night in the Mona Lisa Guesthouse and spent the evening throwing snow balls and playing in the four inches of snow that fell throughout the afternoon, evening and morning. The boys ate yak steaks and I enjoyed the first pasta I had tasted in months. The next morning we hiked through the snow, wearing hats and down jackets, reveling in the landscape that looked entirely different from the one we had seen the previous afternoon. We put in a good five hour hike to Kagbeni, a route separate from the jeep trail, on which we saw no other trekkers. It wove through villages, up through a small pass, before dropping into the valley and the green fields surrounding Kagbeni. We saw fossils, coyote-like animals, mule herders, yaks and were almost caught in a snowstorm, and for the first time since getting to Nepal I really felt like I deserved the amount of dhal baat I was fed.

We spent the night at a cute little place in Kagbeni and then hiked to Jomsom along the riverbed the next day. We left Jomsom early the next morning and spent 7 hours in a jeep getting to Beni where we picked up a taxi and got back to Pokhara for one more night on the town. On Sunday we arrived back in Kathmandu, after two weeks on the road.

It is comforting to be back in Kathmandu, and I’ve woken up the last few mornings to the sound of birds – which prior to this week I did not know could survive in the city. My family is super cute and are adamant that I come to visit them after my ISP before retuning back to the states.

On Monday I will leave Kathmandu for a month on my own for my Independent Study Project (ISP). I plan to return to the Mustang District, but this time venture to Manang where I will study migration. I’m curious to see how effective my research is going to be as my methodology relies heavily on conversing with families in Nepali. I’m excited to be on my own, and a bit terrified, but I know it will be great for me.

I hope you feel at least a little bit updated on my whereabouts. As the flowers bloom in Kathmandu and will be thinking of you all riding out the end of winter. Mom and Dad, I hope you have enough firewood to make it.

I miss you all!! (and happy april fool’s day)

Roz