blisters and goats

morgan and i did exactly what you're not supposed to do: we went trekking without first breaking in our hiking boots. and we have the blisters to prove it.

we started our time in nepal in a city called pokhara. it has a beautiful lake and a great view of the annapurna mountains, which are in the himalayas. we wanted to go paragliding from there, but we ran in to obstacles the two days we tried-- first a strike (political, apparently), which stopped all forms of transportation; then weather. boo!

after our plans were thwarted, we came here to kathmandu. it's a funny city. there is definitely ridiculous traffic and roads in terrible condition and all sorts of brick buildings, but there's also a sense of nature throughout. you can see mountains when the air is clear, and there is greenery everywhere. some planted, intentional gardens, but they meet up with the organic shrubs and bushes to create a story-book effect of buildings melting into the landscape.

the morning after arriving, we began our 6-day trek. we didn't go somewhere crazy, we just stayed in the mountains in the kathmandu valley. but don't let that mislead you; we were not hiking through the city. our great guide, nima (i'll put a link to his website when i get it), created an itinerary that took beautiful portions of 3 different trails and put them together in one cohesive trip. we were in the middle of nowhere for long stretches of time, and then we would spend the night in a remote little village. sometimes we were staying in a guesthouse with 1 room for guests. most of the time we didn't see any other westerners, even very few backpackers. we were not on a well-traveled route. and it was beautiful. we had a couple of great sunrises, and one night of incredibly clear stargazing.

the end of our trip marked the beginning of the vijaya dashami festival celebrations. on our last day, we hiked about an hour from where we were staying to another little village nearby. we were invited by a guy we met the day before to come to his home and view the traditional celebration. on that particular day, everyone sacrifices animals. i can't believe i did it, but i saw a goat killed. it was something i don't ever need to see again.

the last few days have been quiet around here because all of the celebrations take place at home, and not in public. yesterday we walked to the monkey temple. and it was covered in them. i had a monkey land on my back & shoulder to steal the coconut i was eating. (btw, i just discovered i like coconut! that's fun.) it happened so quickly, i couldn't believe it. but i guess i know why those monkeys are all so fat! the rest of the temple experience was really nice. there were peace flags, hundreds of them, tied from one tower to the next. it was beautiful and very serene.

now we're just relaxing, checking email, getting laundry done, trading in books, and doing the usual traveler stuff. next week we head to a village about 90 km outside of kathmandu. we'll teach english there for about 2 weeks. i think we'll be with 4th-7th graders... should be a challenge!