A Week in the Sticks

Greetings!

What a wonderful week, we have been in the sticks of Npl. No electricity at all, dal bhat every meal each day, sleeping on the front porch, walking 5 hours to get there... just some of the things that we experienced.

I thought I had experienced the rugged life of Npl but I realized this week that it had been almost luxury. You know that you are out in the middle of nowhere when a bus will only take you within 5 hours of walking to your village. The hike reminded me of Trekking and we had to scale some mountain sides along the way. We carried our luggage for the most part but they made us put some of our stuff in a basket for a porter to carry. The method they use to carry anything is to strap it to their head. It looks painful and it is for me. I tried it for a few minutes and after a while my neck started to kill me. I guess they just have really strong necks.

One thing we had to get used to was personal space, or the lack there of. Even the flies didn't give me any space. The first night we were there we stayed at the one pastors house. They don't have many rooms in their house so the three of us guys slept on the front porch. That doesn't sound too bad does it?? Well it just so happened that watching us prepare and go to bed was a whole village event. When I rolled out my sleeping mat they all came over and touched it. When I was just right about to fall asleep one of the guys brought a light over for us. He hung it from the rafters and it shone right in my eyes. He asked, is this ok? I told him no, I was trying to go to sleep. This became a regular occurrence. Just as we were ready to go to sleep they would come in and offer us something. Candles, blankets, and one time he even brought us a board for us to lay our heads on and use for a pillow!! Many great experiences.

Another thing I noticed on our trip is how spontaneous they are. Yesterday we were hiking and we passed a parrot farm and one of the women with us just decided on the spot to buy one.

Also yesterday we got up at 6am in order to hike to the bus station and catch a bus at 12. Well we passed a stream and they (our Nepali friends whom we were following) decided to take a break and look for crabs. We spent about an hour there. Then we waited around for two hours in the next village while they made us some food. And as easy as that our plans changed. We would spend the night in the bus station town and catch the bus first thing in the morning. When we were almost at the town we passed some trucks and for some reason they had the idea to ask if any of them would take us that afternoon to our destination, G*. After this and that and plans changing every five minutes we ended up in the back of a work truck on our way to G. Now these are not the ordinary (what I think of in the states as a road) paved road. Or even the "ordinary" dirt road. They are mountain roads that have massive potholes and run along the side of the mountain. Some people sat down in the truck but I found it most comfortable to stand the whole 5 hrs holding onto the side railing of the bed. Any ride you take on these types of road will be quite the experience. Some times we had to stop because some other drivers had parked their truck in the middle of the road and gotten out to play cards, or get something to eat.

These are just some glimps of what we experienced.

Requests: Guidence as we share with a D-sciplesh-p School

Praises: Safety in travels
Guidence as we shared in the village

Blessings,
Austin