Pokhara!

Pokhara

6:30 am I'm siting on the rooftop gazing at the mountains drinking milk tea. What a wonderful way to start off the day! Since being in the city the skies have been a buy cloudy and this is the first time I'm able to see them. It's unreal. They are so large! These are some of the tallest mountains in the world.

Visiting my friends in the city is a complete different experience. Their volunteer lives are nothing like mine. Although they are hanging out all day and having fun with each other it made me appreciate what I was experiencing even more.

When I first got down here Santos took me to meet his fiancé Allie who was a past volunteer. It was so exciting to talk to someone who went through the same thing and laugh about little things that the family does. 

Next he took me to Lakeside to meet my friends. I'm felt pretty cool riding on the motor bike. I met Ivan at the hotel peace plaza and we went to meet up with Daniel. Upon arriving I got to meet all of the other volunteers. It was cool heading everyone else's experience and telling my own. They all agreed it was cool that I was actually living right in the Nepali lifestyle because some of the, have bad home stays or just stay in a hostel.

I mentioned my painting project to them, and got a bunch of he others to agree to come up and paint.

I desperately needed a shower so while they were getting some food I walked down the street and paid 50 rupees to grab a shower! That is only 52 cents. It was such a great feeling to have a shower and a normal toilet! I met back up with everyone and we all hung out all night at various places. While walking to a blues cafe the rain started pouring. I'm not just talking rain, I'm talking about a monsoon. We trudged our way through the water that was flooding the streets and escaped into a cute little place with live music and spent the rest of the evening there.

(Drying off from the rain. We were all soaked!)

The next morning I headed out to start to explore the streets. Lakeside is the tourist district of the city and probably the most chill place I've been to. All along the street are shops and cute cafes. My first stop was moon dance cafe where I finally got to get online and post my previous posts. I ate a lasagne for a change. The whole dal baht thing is getting pretty old quickly. 

I met up with Ivan and Daniel and talked about our previous night and about Nepal at tea time. After some time we went to the very end if the strip to a place called cafe. Hands down my favorite cafe so far! The place is build with little hits around the edge wi three big ones suspended over water with a few bamboo branches. Everywhere you look the ceiling and air is strewn with prayer flags and the whole thing overlooks the lake.

When you enter your hut all shoes must be taken off. There are a bunch of mats and pillows to sit down on and just relax. We stayed there for hours. 

Afterwards we walked down the street and got up close and personal with one of the city's camels. I've seen them a few times but this time the little boy practically ran him right I to me. It's so weird and quite comical to be by the water in a shopping area and watch a 10 year old boy  walk a camel around. I thought that stuff only happened in Morocco!

The rest if the evening was spent traveling from cafe to cafe until ten at night. At one point we saw a dog try to take on one of the cows wandering the street. No one touches the cows or kills them because they are considered to be god. At any given point walking down the road you will see about five cows, a couple dogs, cars and motorbikes going in whichever direction they feel, and tons of people buildings things. It's a very overwhelming experience for your senses every place I've gone so far in Nepal, and it's off season. It was a lovely and relaxing day. It was very enjoyable and such a beautiful place but I really am happy I am getting the experience of both lives!

Today I am off to explore some more shops to get a Sari made for a family party as well as a traditional outfit to wear to school. If I get the courage I even might go para gliding.