Rocky Road to Ramechhap - Chapter 3
Hello all again. We awoke Monday morning to the sound of diesel engines, roosters crowing, and a common occurrence here in Nepal, some guy horking loudly to rid himself of some unwanted spit. It is one of the more disgusting habits of the people here, but they have it down to an art form. If you want further clarification I would be glad to demonstrate upon my return home.
The assistant cook came up to our room with a hot cup of chai tea at 6:30. We then had a wonderful breakfast of noodles, hard boiled egg and tea. Then we started up the track to Ramechhap. We were a party of eight. Five in the cab and three in the back in the bed. The road proceeds first across the river, again not by bridge, but through the river. Then we go up. If nothing else, Nepal is vertical. Wherever you go, you go up, and then you go up some more, many switch back turns, precipitous drops, very narrow roads, dust, rocks, and only first and second gear get used. What goes up must come down, and down we go, cross the river again, then up and up and up again. The going is incredibly slow. We made 14 kilometres in over an hour. When we arrived in the town of Ramechhap, what a surprise, pavement through the centre of the town. And Tata buses parked ready to make the trip down. Tata is the make of truck and they are ubiquitous in Nepal.
Despite the rugged going, these roads are actually used by the local buses. These simple vehicles are made for whatever roads they meet. There is a bus that leaves from somewhere past Ramechhap and goes all the way to Kathmandu each and every day!
Until you've actually seen the remoteness and how horrible the roads are, it is hard for me to describe how incredible this feat is. These buses all have multi-toned very loud air horns, that they blow on every corner to warn coming vehicles. This is critical because most turns are blind. The difficulty lies in passing these huge rigs. Many times we had to stop, actually back up to find space, and let the beast pass.
After refuelling the truck, we kept going to Rampur. At one point we stopped, all got out because the road appeared to be washed out. At these heights, one takes precautions. After much Nepali chatter, a young local lad appeared out of nowhere and assured us that others had negotiated the rest of the "road". At the village of Rampur the road ended. When we got out of the truck every person in the village came out to stare at us, including all the school kids. We are a real novelty, as there are no white faces in this part of the world.
Then the walk to Thingre began. Thingre is the latest village to have completed a water system with TSS using Canadian money. They had just finished the work in May. Our aim was to see one village that was completed, then visit Salleni, the village that our money was going to support. For an hour and a half we trekked downhill, in the hot sun, on a south facing slope. I thought this will be a slog coming back up.
We passed through one village on our way which had no water immediately available, but was slated to get some soon. The village elders met us and first showed us a brand new reservoir. It is below grade level, built with concrete, and is about six feet in diameter by about five feet deep. Water feeds into it from a spring source somewhere above them. They have three taps in the village that are fed by this reservoir. One is at the top of the village, the others much lower down.
The village is on quite a slope, so going from one end of it to the other involves quite a climb over some difficult terrain. Each house does not have its own water, but the villagers do not have to go very far to get it. This is a huge change, particularly for the women. Each house also has it's own outside toilet. You at home might not like what these are like, but they are better than just using the bank.
Women are responsible for gathering water, no matter their state of health, whether they are pregnant or just given birth. They gather it in large aluminum vessels much like milk cans farmers in Canada might use. They are very heavy. They are placed in a huge wicker basket and then carried using a tump line over the forehead. Many things are carried this way in Nepal. The doctor told us that there was a very high incidence of prolapsed uterus as a result of all this exertion. The percentage is showing a marked reduction in villages where water is readily available.
When we reached the bottom of the village, it was suddenly like we were the royal family being greeted by the masses. All the villagers met us with leis, which they placed around our necks, and bouquets of flowers were placed in our hands. And each member held their hands in prayer, bowed their heads, and held our hands as well. It was overwhelming and a real show of appreciation for what change this has already made to their lives. This was followed by us being seated in the middle of the village, with everyone seated on the ground in front of us. We then were given fresh papaya, roasted nuts, boiled egg rolled in curry, oranges, limes, and tea with store bought cookies. It looked fantastic, but for us it was a dilemma. We did not want to offend, yet we were unsure of how safe it was to eat this food. Safety be damned, we ate heartily.
Following this we all had to take pictures. They all got a real kick out of seeing themselves in the back of the cameras. Digital is a real asset. We felt a tad uncomfortable because we had really done nothing, but to them we were "Canada" and Canada had given them this gift. We were humbled by their show of affection, their generosity, and their thoughtfulness. Knowing Libby had a bit of a struggle on the trail because she did not have her trekking poles, and she has a wonky knee, one of the men quietly carved her a stick out of bamboo while we were eating. It really was a help on the way back up. Which leads to chapter 4.
Namaste.
Stay tuned for Chapter Four.