Wed – Sat, 5/19. Poor connectivity to the internet. No pictures yet. Flew to Pokhara (30 minute flight vice 6 hour drive). City is Nepal’s second largest and a key recreation mecca. Met mountain guide and had lunch with a lake view. Drove 90 minutes (about 25 miles) to trekking start. A few miles of the road was detoured to literally a river bed (with flowing water) while they repair a section of the road before the monsoon season. Roads are better than Kathmandu, but only marginally. At no time did we exceed 30 MPH. Fortunately, no earthquake damage.
The trek was easy. Mostly a dirt road. Walked through one village with an outdoor seamstress and blacksmith shop. Saw a white-faced monkey. We arrived at the resort with little interruptions to point out birds. (Our leader is an avid birder.) The lodge is new, with two-roomed cottages spread over on side of the large, deep valley. It was cloudy most of the time so we didn’t get the benefit of a view of the massive Himalayan mountain range. Power, hot water, no wifi. Booze. Lots of birds. (I’ve become aware that every meal for the past six weeks have been slow, leisurely affairs, which I normally abhor. Now that I’ve noticed, they are now irritating.)
Thursday involved a hike to an upper village and medical clinic. Friday had us hiking to a lower village and small school. Due to light rain the leeches came out. Bug spray on feet, then socks, then shoes. Salt applied also. A few people got bit anyway. I did not.
Upper village is nearly disappearing. Only 80 inhabitants. Mostly women are around, as men are looking for work in the cities or overseas. (The Middle East employs a great number of Nepalese (male and female) people at reduced wages. Fraudulent employment agencies are a risk.) The women tend the fields and wild stock. (Sanjeev admitted that even when the villages were filled with men, the women did most of the work. The men sat around and got drunk.) One woman manages a run-down museum for tourists. There are a number of local resorts, though it seems that ours is the only one active this week. The clinic is housed in a small building with very limited supplies and a staff of four. Three of them commute from Pokhara! About a 150 minute drive and hike, each way. There are village clinics throughout Nepal. This clinic services three villages, none approachable by car. While we were there a meeting of about 17 midwives gathered. That number seemed like overkill for such a small community.
The small school is below the lower village and has only 25 students, all below grade 6. There were two other schools in the area for older children. Four teachers (two paid). Uniforms. They’d won an award in 2017 as the best small village school in the region. The head teacher (lives 90 minutes away, on foot) was very capable and carried an air of confident authority inconsistent with the size of the school. She’d like to expand her nursery school from being just a shed and try to get internet access.
The lower village had rebuilt itself to be a living museum. We toured the basket makers, loom operator, seamstress, cook, “mayor”, goatherd, etc. We also met an old man who had served as a Gurkha soldier in the British Army. Had lunch, including their version of alcohol and water buffalo jerky. Small collection of locally-made items for sale. There was dancing.
On the last morning the clouds parted a bit and we finally got a view of the Annapurna Massif, home to the world’s tenth tallest mountain and one of only 14 mountains over 800 meters. There are peaks named Annapurna South, I (the highest), II, III and IV. It reputedly has the highest death-to-successful climb ratio on Earth. We were able to see Annapurna South. Clouds still covered much of the scenery, so we didn’t get the full impact. Pretty impressive though.
On Saturday we trekked back to our bus and retraced our route back to Pokhara, including a ride in the riverbed. (Motorcycle sped past at an improbable speed, axle deep in water. With a passenger!) Saw farmers using water buffalos to plow their small fields (with, no doubt, a smartphone in their pockets). They take advantage of the monsoon season to grow rice.
Pokhara is on the shore of a large lake, which Sanjeev was keen on taking a boat ride, rain notwithstanding. We rebelled, saying tomorrow’s another day. Nice new hotel. Long street of souvenirs, outfitters, tour offices, hotels, bars, etc. All in English. I stepped into a bar after dinner because the live band was playing a favorite Eagles song, then hung around. At ten, the band folded up their show to make room for a live telecast of a championship soccer game between Chelsea and Manchester United. Standing Room Only. I departed.
Tomorrow we tour the city (and maybe do a boat ride). The next day we begin a rafting adventure for three days. No wifi, no power.
