When it comes to planning a long-term trip, just about any Around-the-World travel advice column will tell you the same thing, you WILL get tired and you WILL need to rest for an extended period. The six or seven month itch is usually when backpackers really start to feel the drain of travel and need a rest if they want to continue and be happy. Well, if that’s what all the experts are telling me, I guess that’s what I should plan on, right? So my seventh month of travel had a long-term volunteer stay factored into the schedule and budget. This would save oodles of dineros and give my body and mind time to relax. Right??? WRONG.
My first indication that a few weeks rest may be far too long for this traveler was a ten day stint in Istanbul waiting for my Indian visa to be processed. I had been traveling for three months already and my feet were antsy to move on after only four days. Fast forward another three months and I just finished my G Adventures tour from Delhi to Kathmandu, on top of two months overlanding in Africa. Was I tired? Sure, for a few days. Did I need a five week break? Definitely not. But alas, my itinerary and budget had me landlocked in Nepal, so I continued on with my planned volunteer stay in a rural mountain village.
I was headed towards heaven, surely it couldn’t be bad at all?
Now let’s set the stage for this volunteer opportunity. Based on the project description I was anticipating experiencing rural Nepali village life by involvment in primary school activities, tutoring, painting, gardening and cooking. This would cost the equivalent of $5USD per day and would cover two hot meals, a bed and a hot shower. Plus the views around the village would be stunning. Sounds pretty awesome, right?
Every morning the clouds lift and the Himalayas sprawl for miles with stunning views of Annapurna, Fishtail, Manaslu, Peak 29 and Lamjung.
The view truly was stunning, that was no lie at all.
The reality of the situation was quite different. First off, getting to the village was a death wish. I’ve experienced all manner of not-so-safe buses around the world, but Nepal’s buses are extra special. The ride from Kathmandu to Dumre was the standard ‘tourist-class’ heart-stopper. The ride from Dumre to Besisahar was an over-stuffed ancient mini-van complete with non-stop puking locals. The ride from Besisahar to the village was totally over the top. Picture a flourescent pink 1970’s short bus, decorated with every Hindu god imaginable, with zero tire tread, slowly climbing up the side of a mountain on a dirt road with ruts so big its a miracle we didn’t topple over at every turn. I swear I thought I would fall to my death no less than sixteen times. Alas, I finally arrived in my new home, a cloud-shrouded village high in the hills of Nepal.
First thing I noticed? OMG I love dahlias, and the gardens need so much work! I was informed immediately the gardens were off-limits to volunteers. Wait, what?
Seven other volunteers were milling about the homestead with looks of utter boredom on their faces. A few said hello, but most ignored me. After being shown my room and the bathroom, I was left on my own. Any time I asked a question, they basically said I would figure things out eventually. Cool, thanks. Super helpful. After a few hours of staring into the clouds, I was finally given intructions on my volunteer duties and a bit of a run-down on how things worked. First, the cost was actually $6 per day for meals and a rock-hard bed in a rat-infested dorm that made me sneeze non-stop every night. The cold shower was outdoors and free but the temperature was a frigid 2C, whereas the hot shower was indoors and cost $1 per use, and had zero water pressure. Okay, that’s a little different than expected, but not a huge deal.
The rat dorm. I’m normally totally cool with this type of accommodation, but rats crawling on my bed in the middle of the night is just not acceptable!
The view looking out from the rat dorm.
Then there was the work. With all due respect, my idea of “involvement in primary school activities…” does not equate to actually building said primary school by hauling heavy stones at a rock quarry on the edge of a mountain cliff. I was no where near prepared for this type of work (equipment wise), nor would my insurance cover me if I had an accident and fell off said cliff. When I asked the other volunteers what they thought of this arrangement I got two responses, a few were very frustrated and desperate to leave, while the others were quite rude and suggested that if you can’t hack it, then get out. Again, cool, very helpful. After two days of hard labor I decided I wasn’t willing to risk death or injury for a project that was nothing like what I had committed to. I asked to be switched to more appropriate work and was re-tasked with working at the primary school. Wonderful news! Until I learned the primary school was plagued with an outbreak of the mumps, a disease I am not immune to despite multiple MMR vaccines. If that wasn’t a sign to leave, I don’t know what was!
Hard labor with a stunning view of Annapurnas 2, 3 and 4
The quarry pile
Loading the rocks
Transporting the rocks
I would just like to re-emphasize that this path was on the edge of a mountain. One wrong step on this tiny path means falling off the mountain!
Unloading to pile #2
Looking out over Besisahar from pile #2 that is also hugging the cliff edge
The next morning I was back on the awful pink bus and on my way to Pokhara. My budget suddenly ballooned, and though I was free of the frustrating village work, I found myself with antsy feet that weren’t able to move on. Eventually the realization hit that I was getting a tad depressed, and I began missing home pretty seriously. I tried filling my time learning about Buddhism, going on long walks, meeting strangers, having massages and reading epic fantasy books… but after three weeks I had gotten nothing out of my ‘required extended rest period’ except a really bad stomach virus, way too much peanut butter and far too many episodes of House and Master Chef USA.
Wake up call Niff, it’s time to reevaluate! So a few major decisions were made:
1. Get out of Pokhara and check out everything that was missed on round one of Kathmandu.
2. Don’t waste time in places you don’t like just for the sake of saving money.
3. Go see friends in Kolkata, and then reevaluate travel itinerary once your head is clear.
4. It’s better to really enjoy ALL of this awesome adventure (read: spend money) and go home early than not enjoy large chunks of time in an effort to stay on the road as long as possible.
Stay tuned for the final result of all this reevaluating, and in the meantime let’s tick off decision number one, and head back to Kathmandu to dig deeper into Nepal’s rich history.
Niff as RX 