Part I: Nepal - Reaching the sky, well at least trying

Hey!!!

How are you all doing!! Hope you are all well, Finally I sit down to write a few stories. I want to apologize to the non-English speakers, but most of the people who might be interested in the mail, either they are Spanish but have no problem reading English or they are English, French,…
As many asked, my liver is getting better after the numerous leaving parties, Effras,... (Note to my parents: don’t worry, my liver is ok, it’s just a way to say that we had a lot of fun before leaving)

Getting to Kathmandu, was a bit hectic. When I sat in the plane to Delhi, the French guy next to me tried to start a conversation, but before the plane took off I was already sleeping, only waked up to have food. When I got to Delhi, with the heat, the noise, pollution, the tiredness, I really felt I was going to faint! Finally after asking one thousand people (nobody knows anything anywhere in the airport) I got an overpriced ticket in a very posh plane Delhi to Kathmandu, nevermind.

After a few days in Katmandu, I decided to go trekking, don’t ask me why, because I have never trekked before in my life. I decided to go to the Annapurna circuit. 14 days of trekking reaching 5.500 meters. So, with all the gear I met the guide, Narendra at 5 in the morning and took an overcrowded, over destroyed and over everything bus to Beshi Sahar. Thanks to god at this time there were no goats inside the bus. Then we had to take another bus to get to a town close to the mountains. Since there was no space we had to sit in the roof of the bus. I laugh now about those excursions with the Suzuki in the pantano. We were in a minibus full of people, in a road far more complicated that San Esteban, crossing rivers around half a meter deep, bagging from one side to the other. Good fun and amazing views!!

That day we slept in a small house right next to a plentiful river, the rooms where 2 x 2, made out of wood. You could only hear the noise of the river at night, so relaxing. Then all the pain started. With my 14 kg rucksack, which one hour after starting the trek seemed to be 100 kg of stones on my back and my super boots (Thanks dad!!). It is funny because we all foreign trekkers go with our super boots, gore-tex, water resistant, various layers of leather, anti-slip soles, air system and god knows what else, and in the mountains, as in almost all Nepal, everyone goes just with flip-flops. There was a porter (because we where getting into the mountains there was no roads, so the only way to carry the goods to the villages was with donkeys and porters, who walked for several days to deliver the food or water or whatever) This guy was carrying 112 kg on his back just with flip-flops through the trekking circuit, wow!!

I think it is the first time I have felt to be at a few days trekking of the nearest road. The villages we were walking through where just amazing, villages with 10-20 houses without electricity, streets made out of big stones, kids playing around everywhere, all women colorfully dressed, hand crafts men doing knifes to cut the grass, timber beds, chairs,…They produce almost everything they need to live.

Lying on the iron-hard bed was the best, after a long day of trekking, you could hear all the bones re-adjusting themselves. After two days trekking, an angel came to earth and twist the knee of the guide I was going with. The angel thing is because although we had to come back because of his knee, I don’t know if I could have done the whole trek. After two days every single bone or muscle was aching. Since his knee was not getting any better after one night we decided to go back and do something else. So five hours in the minibus with five goats inside and a wheeled 200 kg welding machine to get to Pokhara, where we spent a few days. It is a really beautiful town between the mountains next to a big lake. Quite touristy and expensive though. It was funny, one day having dinner in the hotel, while waiting for the food, the waiter took a spoon out of the drawer (I have always been quite exquisite about people putting fingers in my food, right mum?) so at two meters from me, took the spoon, and since there was some crap stuck to it, spent like two minutes cleaning it with his thumb finger, once and again and again... Whatever it was, had to be really well stuck because eventually he had to use the nail to take it out before giving it to me. That night I decided to follow the local habits and eat with the fingers.

After a few days we went to Sarang kot, a small village in the top of a mountain next to Pockara, again a painful four hours trekking up the mountain. Once there, we stayed just one day to see the sunset and the sunrise. In the very top of the mountain there is like a music stand from which you can see the Himalayas in one side and Pokhara in the other, amazing views!! The room was quite small and dodgy, but the views where stunning. You could see all Pokhara at night with all it lights and the lake, very nice.

Since it was festival time, the guide decided to take me to the village where he is coming from, to be with his family. After five hours, again in an overcrowded bus, with goats included we arrived to some town from which we had to walk for two days before reaching his village. Nepal is really beautiful, but I’m kind of waiting now for the destination where I will wake up in a hut in the beach and do no effort at all. So two more days walking with the 100 kg in the back up and down, up and down, between rice fields, forest, jungle...

The night in between I had the worst sleep ever. When we arrive to the room, if it was not a store room, the guy swept all the crap from the floor and put it below the bed I was not sleeping in, very considerated as you can see. I don’t know if it was because of the huge shadow on the wall of the huge dead spider hanging from the ceiling, or maybe it was the mouse that run from one side of the room to the column and finally through the beams over my bed, or maybe the spider that walked me up when run through my face or the worst storm I have been in, just under a very thin zinc roof. I really thought the roof was going to be pulled off by the wind. For any of these reason couldn’t sleep very well...

So after a sleepless night, a few more hours of walk (I think I have never sweat in my life as much as in here) we got to the village. It is really nice place. There are around 8 houses scattered on the mountain, four from the same family, with terraced rice fields between the houses, jungle in the top and the river at the bottom of the valley. We arrived just on time for the sacrifice. In every house they behead a goat to get good luck and to eat the meat, so tired and sleepless assisted to the beheading of the 8 goats. After a few goats I was quite dizzy of seeing all the blood and the heads and the whole thing. The ceremony was quite interesting and took loads of pictures. The next day was the tika, when the oldest of the family put the red colored rice in the forehead of all the family. Really nice ceremony, got loads of pictures as well and I got the tika from the brothers as well!! We had a big meal afterwards.

The five days in this village, have been really quite. Days started at the dawn and finished at the dusk since there is no electricity. They would never allow me to help in anything so my activities where to play in the swing with the kids, go with them for grassing and throw stones to the monkeys, following them into the jungle when they were eating the rice, go swimming in the river, eating and sleeping. I also had my first experience in river clothing washing. It was like a summer farm school, playing with the one day old goat, see how the chicks got out of the eggs, avoid any type of spider (had to sleep two days at half a meter of quite big one), snake... There was supposed to be even tigers in the jungle, but they said that it was very rear to see them and that they were inoffensive as well, buh?

I spent last days walking around Kathmandu, very impressive the monkey temple and the funeral pyres in the river. Now I can not wait to get out of the city again, this is too noisy and polluted. I have to check now whether I’m going today to Kapan Monastery or Nagarkot.

Ok, logging off now,

Have fun guys,

Please, do not answer to this address, do it to Qrmucho@hotmail.com

Qr,...