First of all I apologize for the lateness of this entry. I have been a little busy and a little lazy. Maybe a little more on the lazy side. After my first trip, and my second, I took some time off to rest and enjoy myself in this beautiful country. So first I will give you a summary of my first trip to wonderful area of Solukhumbu. I may have to break this down to a few different posts. I was in the mountains for 21 days and a lot happened in those days.
The flights to Phaplu had been delayed for almost 5 days due to the monsoon season. Which meant there was a good chance we would not be going to the mountains that day. Good thing we have connections in high places. There were only 2 flights that went out that day and we were able to get on the second one. We were able to jump ahead of all the people that had been waiting for 5 days to get a flight out. The plan we were on was about a 20 passenger plane. It was a very fun 30 minute flight over the mountains. We could see lots of waterfalls falling out of the foothills and flowing into the rivers below. We landed uphill on a dirt/grass/rock landing strip. From there we met our guide/translator who would spend the next 3 weeks with us. Except for the times that he would randomly disappear and the just show up again out of no where. We walked a few hours to what would be our home for the next week. There would be 5 of us staying there. Me, my partners Nathaniel and Alissa, my supervisor Jessica, and our second translator Sanga. We were staying a local house that was being used as a guest house. They had a couple extra rooms which made for a great guest house. They feed us for almost every meal and gave us tea anytime we wanted it. We would go back and forth between a view villages meeting lots of different people. We got to spend an afternoon at the local school playing with the kids. Me and Nathaniel got to teach some of the kids a some games. The views we got to see that week we’re amazing. We weren’t actually able to see the mountains until the last day we were in the area. The rolling hills covered in rice patties, corn fields, and groves of pine trees were the most gorgeous sights I had yet to see in all of Nepal. After that first week in the small town called Bitikarie we headed back to the main town of Salerie. This was a very nice town. It was the headquarters for the area of Solu. This town all sorts of wonderful things. Hot showers, internet, satellite phone, good food, and coke. We stayed a few days there before we headed out to our next destination. We went a village called Nelle. Now Nelle is a bazaar town and every Tuesday the village floods with people selling all sorts of goods and buying many others. The village is empty every other day of the week. We stayed for 4 days doing training with the local people. At one point we became the honored guests of the town. We were there during the Nepal version of Father’s Day. It’s mostly a Hindu holiday so not everyone celebrates it. Well this town was celebrating this holiday. We were roped into a meal as the honored guests. It was actually pretty cool. It was actually right after we had finished a great game of soccer. The field was one nasty place. The field was covered in rocks, giant puddles of water and mud, and random water lines. At one point I almost killed myself. I tried to pull the most epic save of the ball from going out of bounds. Remember how I told you how the field was covered in water and rocks, well that was an issue. I slide farther than expected and almost killed myself flying of a small cliff and into a building. It was epic though. After that we headed back to good old Salerie. While on the way there we discovered that our teammate, Alissa, had become very ill. We later discovered that she had a parasite. It was a not a good thing. She was to be heading back to Kathmandu with Jessica and Sanga. Me, Nathaniel, and our guide Pauldin would be heading out in a few days for a week of trekking. In the mean time we were resting and watching movies on Pauldin’s computer. That next week of trekking was going to be crazy. Everyday was a new village. Some days were short and easy, others were long and difficult. I would say the best part about that trip was the food. In one house we had great apples picked straight form the tree and bear meat. Yes bear meat. It had attached a woman the day before and they had shot it. It is the best meat I have had yet in Nepal. Going back to what I said earlier, on the last day I was in the area I got to see the full Himalaya range. Including Mount Everest. We had to get up pretty early to see it, but it was amazing. The snow capped peaks were absolutely gorgeous. I could see Everest’s peak far off in the distance. It was a wonderful way to start off the day. Half way through that same day we got to do some great swimming in a nice cold stream pouring down from the top of the mountain. We finished the day in a nice quiet hotel room watching an American made movie. It was one of the best days we had had yet while being there. The next day we were able to fly out a day early. Again it is nice to have friends in high places that are able to push you in front of the rest of the people that had been waiting days to get a flight home. This time we flew on a much smaller plane. It was an 8 passenger plane this time. We could actually stick our hand out the gap in the door. It was fun flight back to Kathmandu. Well that is the short version of our 21 day trip through the mountains. It was an amazing trip that was filled with many adventures. The trip was a great experience for me. The Lord did a lot of things in my personal life that will affect me for the rest of my life. I can truly see Him working in my life
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