Friday wrap up

Friday

We awoke to probably 100% humidity and who knows what for a temperature, but it was WARM!  In the morning we started with breakfast in a local restaurant.  Next we headed to the ...........school.  This is a much larger school and the children wore white uniforms and neckties.  Very sharp outfits to be sure.  When they saw the camera it created madness with wilding waving hands, peace signs, hellos being shouted, laughter, giggles. and many smiles.  A reception such as this always makes us laugh and feel just wonderful.

While Bal and staff met with students we headed to the International Organization for Migration to see Kendra Rinas...a Maranacook grad and member of the cross-country and track teams Marty had coached.  We spent a wonderful hour catching up with her and learning about her work.

While we were there a man climbed one of the coconut palms and started trimming the fronds and next we heard them crashing to the ground as coconuts and fronds landed on and near a metal roof.  Once back to the school we again were met by the kids and the same frenzy that seeing the camera had initially erupted again.

After leaving the school our route took us north and off the flat straighter roads that were decorated with colorful villages into the hills and then the mountains with their distinctive village organization.

Lunch in the mountains in Fikkal Bazar, Ilam district, in the restaurant Muskan View.  We had momo, which is a Tibetan dish similar to Chinese dumplings and Georgian Khingali.  The noodle was so thin and tender and were filled with wonderfully spiced chicken (David's dish) and cabbage and onion (Marty's).  

After lunch we kept going up in elevation and the mountain road was never less than a constant turn, bend, switchback in one direction or another.  We were in and out of the clouds and often just around a bend where we could see, we suddenly could see nothing.  All the time one is driving on these mountain roads the horn is constantly being sounded.  All the curves are blind so sounding the horn lets the oncoming traffic know you are coming as well as their horns alerting you to their presence.  Of course, these drivers are nearly always passing in blind spots so the horn sounding is absolutely necessary.

At roughly 6:00pm we we met a truck coming down the road at a fast clip (the roadway is basically one and a half lanes wide); he swung way to the side to clear us, and caught a wheel in the gravel.  You must understand that there was a sheer drop off on the outside (his side) of the road, so in horror we watched him roll off and over, knocking down a few medium-sized trees until he came to rest about 100 feet down in the woods.  We jumped out and were relieved to see three young men climbing up to the road.  They were luckily only bruised; it seems that none of them broke a bone.  We were so relieved but shaken up from the experience.  Rather than drive the additional hour and a half to our planned stopover, we stopped at the next town, Gopetar, and our  accommodations there were a whole story in themselves.  Gopetar is tiny; the buildings are anything but level, and our guesthouse rooms are papered in newspaper sheets.  The beds are platforms with a blanket for cushioning.  We've asked for extra comforters to help out.  The toilet is out and down a set of unlit concrete steps - - beyond that we will let you use your own imaginations.

We have arrived in the dark and will be on the road at 5:30 so there may not be any photos.

All the excitement aside, this is breathtakingly beautiful country we are seeing, but impossible to photograph out the window of a moving vehicle.

Ae we waited for dinner Rajesh was talking to one of the elders who was sitting in the cafe part of the guesthouse.  He told us that the man wanted to know about ANSWER.  So he was explaining it all.  We suggested that he use our iPad and show the man the ANSWER book as there is an electrónica versión on it.  Some time later the Third would met the modern world through technology.  As he was shown how to swipe his finger across the screen to change pages we watched his expression of amazement.  Later, after he and others had seen the book he began to ask other questions such as "how do we measure the transparency of ANSWER." Then he asked how we knew if the school principals were honest and not skimming money off the top.  Good questions to be sure.

Before dinner David, Bal, and our driver (Samundra) sat down for a local brew called Tongba, which is made from fermented millet.  It was served in a metal container with a lid and straw.  After sipping for a while, more hot water was added and they continued to sip.  Our dinner was dal bat with dried water buffalo, pickled mango, fresh cucumbers and tomatoes.