I can’t even begin to describe the majestic atmosphere that Dasami, Nepal provides. It was a 13½-hour trip by all terrain vehicles in over a foot of mud on the edge of a mountainside cliff covered in fog and clouds. We were packed 43 people in three vehicles meant for 9 Asian people a piece. It was a tight squeeze to get in and an even tighter squeeze as my teammate Caitlin almost fell out of the faulty door twice and the outside temperature was frigid at night and the roof dwelling people got back in the vehicle. There was one way up and that was a rain caused mudslide after an hour of river crossings. We conquered the maintenance mishaps, and crater impacts and got to our mountaintop point at 11:45 pm. We slept 27 of us in a mud wall, barn basement on straw and a mat that night. I froze my tail off and maybe got a few hours of sleep, but it was worth it to wake up and see the Himalayan sunrise. For all I know, I was staring at Mount Everest.
On the first morning, I woke up to find the toilet. Funny story about that, it was actually a tarp around a hole in the ground with wood logs around the edges so the hole didn’t cave in. I was happy to have found it though, because even though the population is not a lot in the village, everyone is out at 6:30a.m. passing by and open air isn’t the best choice for women, although, I won’t say it doesn’t happen frequently…..
Our contact, Reuben, asked a squadmate and I to fetch water to help the breakfast process. We weren’t sure what to expect, but soon we realized that there was no running water in the village and that there was a river pump nearby where we filled up our metal pots and carried them back. The 40 pound-ish pots were difficult to carry, but I definitely did it considering the six-year-old children carry them up mountains everyday. This is where bonfires come into play. We had to have fire all day every day in order to boil the water to drink, to make coffee, and to cook everything. It was the only kitchen like appliance…the fire. I think all weekend I had one cup of water and the rest coffee. The water tasted of smoke from the kettle cooker, so coffee masked that taste. It sure made me appreciate tap water and the availability of bottled water. The nearest bottle was a few hours down the mountain.
After an amazing fire cooked scrambled egg breakfast, we went on a four-hour hike! The trip was incredibly awe-inspiring and I couldn’t help but to praise God in all His glory. Who else could make mountains roll and create natural cedar tree forests on the way to a viewpoint that would take anyone’s breathe away!? This hike was where I met Mira, my Nepalese little sister who I’ll talk about in my next blog. I just couldn’t soak in enough the gorgeous landscape of mountains, small mud huts, barren tiny crop fields waiting to be planted, little pens of cattle, pigs, and water buffalo, and the bright red national flower blooming everywhere on trees.
