Adventures

We took a bus (it was 7 hours) through the Himalayan mountains into Pokhara yesterday. Arrived at about 11pm, the city was shut down (there is a curfew here too of 11pm). WEve had a pretty awesome couple of days...yesterday we went rockclimbing AND repelling (when you shoot down a rope down the side of a cliff/rock)...pretty f-ing scary. it was only 30meters but its pretty wild when all that is below is a bunch of rocks. that was just outside of Kathmandu, and today (in Pokhara) was even moreeee coool!!! we just got back from paragliding! we ran off a mountain starting at 1400meters and then the parachute or whatever you want to call it, catches the wind and then pulls you up (you go with a pilot too). we reached up to around 2100meters above the ground...SO exhilirating! we did a half hour flight but it was probbaly more like 45 minutes in teh air. we did this really cool thing too where you get reallly really high in the air (in the clouds and above the mountains) and then the pilots drop the shute so that you spiral down at intense speeds, about a 1500 meter drop...you really feel that g-force where your cheeks kinda blow up a bit and your legs feel like they are like 400pounds going against the wind. Makes you pretty dizzy after too cause you drop so fast and as you drop you are spinning pretty fast. SOOOOO cool though, probably the funnest thing ive ever done. we got a certificate for paragliding too haha!
It is nice to be here in Pokhara because it is alot tamer and calmer than it is in Kathmandu...and the air is sooo much cleaner cause of all the mountains. there arent horns honking every second like there are in Kat, and you dont have to worry about crossing the street because there isnt as chaotic of a system, even though there are still no rules, there are alot less cars on the road. It was pretty funny though, we were expecting to come here and have this nice little getaway on the lake and go swim and what not...hahah but as with everything else in this country, the lake isnt the typical lake that we see in North America..pretty polluted (actually really gross) haha and the "beaches" (cant even really call them that but for lack of a better word) are green and muddy and not pretty. so, so much for that! Its still amazing though.
anyways! Off to go for a hike, will be back in Kat tomorrow for work on monday. Will try and upload some pictures if we go into a cafe where the internet isnt ridiculously slow. I dont know if ive already mentioned how everyday there are 12 hours of when the city has no power. divided into 6 hour intervals. so we basically have to work around those times that the power will be out. its pretty frustrating at night. Its wild too cause Nepal has enough hydro electric power to supply the whole country but I think what happened (so i hear) is that they sell alot of it to other countries (part of their corrupt system) and make profit from that.