Hey everybody! So, I’m currently in the beautiful lakeside town of Pokhara. It’s a tourist town, and I think I’ve seen more westerners here than in Kathmandu, for sure. It’s a hotspot for trekkers because it’s situated in the green hills, just below the Annapurna mountain range. For the more extreme trekkers, the Annapurna range itself is a pretty adventurous trip. We’re here just to get out of Kathmandu for a few days, and the town is beautiful.
We had a little difficulty getting here though. About 20 or 30 kilometers from Pokhara, our bus got stuck in a huge traffic jam, along with miles and miles of other buses and cars. It turns out that about 10 kilometers ahead of us, an accident occurred and a few people died. Well, in the USA, insurance would cover things like that, but here, people hold up traffic and demand money from the person who caused the accident. It’s like the family’s form of life insurance. They held us up for over 4 hours, until they finally reached an agreement on the money. We finally made it to Pokhara in the evening.
It wasn’t such a bad time waiting in the traffic though. We met a German woman who teaches math and geography, and a couple from Holland, Azaria and Merika. We talked for hours and we really liked Azaria and Merika. When we finally got moving again, Azaria and Merika needed a place to stay so we split a cab and they stayed in the guesthouse we are staying in. Later that evening, we all went and got dinner and talked and laughed and had a really great time. Afterwards, we went down to the lakeside and sat and shared a bottle of wine. We talked a lot about Holland and the USA. They left yesterday for a trekking adventure of their own, but it was very cool meeting them.
Yesterday, a man named Purna took us around the town. First he took us to the Seti River gorge. It’s a river that has carved a deep gorge into the earth. The hindu myth around here says that the river goddess was angry with the people of Pokhara at some point, and decided to hide her face from the people by digging the gorge. Turns out, Pokhara has a lot of soft limestone and calcium in the rock bed. Then he took us to Mahindra cave. It was very dark and wet, but a lot of fun. We went in through a large hole in the ground, with stairs, but you have to crawl out the other end through a hole that a human body barely fits through. Then we went to Devi’s Fall. It’s a 200 meter water fall that is still digging away at the soft rock at the bottom as it flows over 600 meter below the earth! During the monsoon season it’s particularly strong because they open the dam on the lake. It’s called Devi’s Fall, because legend has it that a woman named Devi was bathing in the water above the falls, when they opened the dam and she was swept away. Later he took us to an under ground Hindu temple, that is situated in a cave near Devi’s fall. A large stalagmite was discovered there, which they worship as Shiva. (For those of you who aren’t familiar with Hindu mythology and religion, Shiva is the god of fertility and often represented as a phallic symbol, so hence the stalagmite in the cave.)
So, today we are awaiting the arrival of our friend Saran, and we’ll go around and see more of the town. We leave for Kathmandu and Thursday, and for the USA on Friday! I’ll try to post one more time before I leave, but I’ll be back in the country pretty soon! Bye for now.
Matthew ;^)

PS
I tried to upload some pictures, but I don't speak "computerish"...sorry :(