Descent From the Hills!

Namaste from Pokhara!
Wow, the last 2 days have been a whirl wind. I feel although they have actually been 2 weeks rather than 2 days. So, update: I have been in Pokhara for a few days (how many not sure. PS. will write later about living outside the confines of time and a schedule.) Ok, so I was wanting to stay somewhere besides a guesthouse. They are nice and fun and cheap, but I needed something else. So I was trekking by myself up outside of Pokhara in the high hills when I met a Nepali woman named Dhana! Well I asked her if I could rent a room for her, she said yes! For 50 rupees a night (maybe equivalent to 75 cents, plus meals, plus alot more!!) Ok so I moved in to their mountain cottage, or should I say hut. The father's name was Prem, the mother Dhana. They have 5 daughters aged 6, 11, 12, 14 and 18! All incedibly cute and sweet. So upon my arrival the next morning they cleaned their daughters things out of one room and made room for me! I got comfy (as much as I could) and starting to take in life in the hills of Nepal!! What a difference from the city! Well, Dhana and the girls made me a delicious meal of dal bhatt the first night. After presenting me with the tin plate of food the whole family stood around me in a semicircle watching me eat. I must have looked very silly! Afterwards the girls wanted to go walking with me. So Robina and Rosmina took me for a walk to a beautiful spot above Phewa Tal lake VERY high up, and we watched the sunset. They sat and held my hands and looked at my skin for what seemed like hours. They said they wanted white skin like me and they stroked the insides of my arms (pasty white, where the sun don't shine!) I told them it was funny because in America people think that tan skin is beautiful, and I told them that everyone would die for beautiful dark brown skin like theirs! I tried to explain the concept of tanning booths and tanning lotions, but they couldn't quite grasp. Anyways, we then dropped by 2 large tins to a man's cottage. They said he would fill them up with milk from his buffalo and we would get it later. So we walked around a little more and talked, and they found my brush in my bag and had a great time brushing my hair and giving me a braid.

About half an hour later we picked up the steaming tins full of buffalo milk and decided to go home as I was very tired although they were bursting with energy. At home we sat around in my room under a very dim light bulb and I showed them pictures of family, friends, and some postcards of Oregon. Dhana, the mother, was especially amazed at a picture of the MAX train from Portland. Then I took out my sketch book and showed them some drawings. I drew each of them a different picture (mostly variations of my signature palm tree.) They were amazed because I drew an ocean, which they had never seen before. Then Rosmina took out her pens and drew a very elaborate design on my palm,sort of like a henna type thing. It was time for me to go to bed, so I lit a mosquito coil and laid in bed absorbing the noises of the countryside. Birds, bugs, and other cries of various animals. Very calming.

In the morning Dhana and Robina woke early and we trekked up to Sarangkot. It was incredibly steep and rocky. I was literally dripping sweat and soaking wet. I felt rather silly because multiple times on the trek elderly women with HUGE loads on their backs passed me with ease. (The physical strength of the Nepali people is amazing!) Finally at the top I got some great mountain views of Macchapuchare (sp??). And we went back down observing some poisonous caterpillars. Dhana found a tiny leech and showed me. At the bottom Prem made me mint tea with the mint in their garden.

I think this family has had only one other person ever stay with them. His name is Andrew and from what I could gather he stayed with them 18 years ago, but they talk about it like it was yesterday. They showed me a letter he sent to them 6 years ago.

Anyways, this was a most amazing experience. At many times it was uncomfortable though. I felt like I was being constantly watched (which I was.) This was just because I think they found my mannerisms, demeanor, and appearance quite funny or maybe interesting. Privacy in a house like this is non existant. I lived there for a very short time, and can't imagine how people live like this their whole lives. Quite amazing!

A few other notes about this: I sort of felt like living in the hills was more like camping for me. The toilet was a hole in the ground and "wiping" consists of splashing some water on yourself. When I was in town though I bought a roll of toilet paper, so descreetly brought a few sheets in when I went! (Dont tell!)
During the day there really isn't much to do in Western standards. No games, toys, movies, not really even any paper. So they keep themselves amused though other means. Very interesting to observe the girls at play.

Morning time: breakfast consisted of fresh mint tea and a few biscuits (which are actually cracker like things.) The girls found some liquid eye liner some where and had great fun applying it to me. Then they found some tikka powder. A tikka is the red dot you see on women's foreheads here. So we had a huge ceremony where they put a red and yellow tikka on me and applied some eyeliner to me. It was the most dolled up I have been here so far. Then they each wanted me to give them one. So the ceremony continued and I emerged covered in red and yellow dye with pink stained fingers. Great fun!