In the village outside of Pokhara

Traffic must go around the sacred cows in Pokhara

(pictures will follow later) 

Tuesday August 7 Lamachaur/Bautlachaur Village near Pokhara

I am in the village! Wow! I'm totally off the tourist circuit. Fortunately, there is an 18 year old (Bikash) whose parents live in England whose English is perfect. He's been my nonstop guide for the last three or four hours. Till the electricity came on and he started up the internet for me. That's how I'm blogging. I was so afraid of this part of my trip, but I needn't have been. It's so comfortable, with flush toilets (before it was a hole in the ground) and running water (which I don't drink). The bed where I'll be sleeping is just a little softer than cement, but there are screens on the windows now, so I won't have to lather myself with bug repellent. Overall, I took a big, big chance on this part of my trip, and it is paying off big. I can hear roosters crowing.

Bikash and his aunt, Phal Kumari or Kanchi (who just 14 last time I was here), met me at the airport. The flight over the Himalayan mountains was spectacular. I flew over four peaks above 23,000 feet in the Anapurna range. Gosain Than is 26,290 feet, not that much shorter than Mt. Everest! The two engine plane seats 18 and had such a clear view. I might take their tour of Everest later this week. Phal and Bikash showed up with a taxi, which they paid for. Pokhara looks different. Bautlachaur looks so different but I recognized the Peeple tree and the Gurung house where I lived on and off for two years. But the rest! Every child in this family is building a new house, pretty close together. Let’s see if I can explain the lineage here. Amaa, who the Peace Corps had me live with during training to learn the language faster, had six children. Boys: Baal, Padam, and Koz. Girls: Mina, Phal, and Puthali. Mina married Roy French, a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer, and moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, where she had two kids, Kenny and Ginny, who moved away. Puthali (the younngest) married Kumar and had Goma (22, living in London) and Bikash (18, my current tour guide). His parents live on a huge army base (where he grew up) outside of London and have full British rights. Boz is building a house right here and sells KIA cars and bicycles. Padam is a politician and is building college housing for the Engineering students who go to school just over the wall. Baal has two kids and is just starting to build his house.

At my request, Bikas and I walked down to the Seti Gandaki River and saw the destruction of the river’s flash flood last MAY. Finally I saw the unpaved roads and the stone walls, unmortered, and the miles and miles of plants, both crops and wild. The station where they used to burn dead bodies in a ritual is now stranded on a little gravel island. Out of Service, Bikas said. The Tibetan refugee camp looks like a palace now, with its grand buildings. More coming soon! They are calling me for coffee.