revitalize.

After such a horrible bus ride, Forest and I were more than keen to avoid Kathmandu city at all costs. We jumped off the bus and got into the first, cheap taxi that we saw; wanting to get up to the foothills, into nature, and out of the hustle and bustle of the city and to the peaceful getaway destination of Nagarkot as soon as possible.
20 minutes or so into the cab ride, we began to realize why this guy might have been so cheap- he definitely was running his car on something other than petrol. The fumes were almost too overwhelming, and by the time we arrived to our guest house, I was feeling more than a little out of sorts. It was freezing, and the restaurant had no fire going, so we each put about 10 layers of clothes on and tried to warm ourselves, quite inefficiently, over the single candle on the table. We ate a delicious meal and headed off to bed, still feeling quite off from the probable toxic chemical exposure. And that is when I was struck with the first bout of our numerous stomach incidents.

I suppose I was getting a bit cocky, considering my last stomach infection had been at least two weeks behind, and well, I needed something to remind me that no, I am not invincible. After a sleepless night, half a bottle of ginger pills and hours of meditative breathing, I was able to feel rested enough to be able to walk to the biggest splurge by far of our trip, a farmhouse on the outskirts of town. I was quite impressed by my ability to walk with a pack on, and only fell once, putting a hole in the knee of my favorite pants and long johns. Luckily, the destination was well worth the adventuresome journey.

Arriving here instantly made me feel a bit better, or at least want to feel a bit better. We spent a lazy afternoon reading, writing, attempting to successfully finish sudoku puzzles (more so on Forest's half than mine) and just being still, something we hadn't done too much of thus far in the trip.

The food was delicoous, most of it homegrown and organic, they gave us hot water bottles before bed, the tea was always brewing, and we had our own bukhari... talk about luxury. After a solid night's sleep, I was ready to start being a functioning member of society again, and we walked down to the local villages, attempting to make conversation with them along the way.

 

We then headed back down to Kathmandu for one final night in Nepal. We were able to meet up with a group of ninth graders from school, and it was really nice to touch base with them and to see them all in their homeland.
After parting ways with the kids we had a few horrible Nepali beers, which tasted suspiciously like hops mixed with rubbing alcohol, in honor of our last night in the country; and our final morning was spent running errands in Thamel, touching base with people back home and finalizing arrangements for the India leg of our journey. Our flight left around 3, and we were able to get some splendid views of the Himalaya on our way out.

The arrival into India was no different than any other time; immediately upon leaving the customs area, we were approached by rushes of loud Indian men offering the best ripoffs they could come up with while burping and farting (this is no exaggeration). We got a prepaid taxi into Varanasi, and as we drove down the road, I could sense the peace and tranquility of Nepal falling away already, with the excitement and pandemonium of India (disguised in a cold, clammy fog of diesel waste, pollution and sandalwood) rushing into its place...