3 February 2012                                                                             Power till 8:00 am

Rakesh picked us up about 8:00 and we were off to Chanute. I had debated on going when I heard we would be hiking in to a high mountain village and it would take an hour and a half. I’d seen those trails UP the mountain side. But I decided I needed and would be sorry if I let this  experience pass me by. I put on my Nike’s and we were off. It took four hours to drive up there. Some of the water user’s committee members were waiting for us. There was Gene and I, Elder Deppong (Debbie wisely decided she’d better not go – and good thing. She would have had a hard time….) Rakesh and Krishma.

It wasn’t long and we headed up the mountain – and I mean up. We had thought the mountains are straight up and today we found out first hand that is true. We hadn’t gone 50 yards and I’m thinking….WHAT WAS I THINKING?  There were lots of stone steps in places and let me just say the trail was quite rugged. The Chairman of the Water User’s Committee grabbed my hand many times and pulled me along. There were two young girls, probably about 15, who really helped me a lot and they pretty much stayed right by me. One of them gave me a walking stick and that helped a lot.

Gene was good too. He told me when the going got tough, to give him one end of the stick. I did and that helped a lot. Now I’ve said how bad it was…I’m going to say how great it was. I thought I did fine. We stopped a few times and after a few minutes rest, I was ready to go again. And to think I was actually hiking in Nepal and we were probably as close as we will get to the Himalayas. There was a lot of haze today so things weren’t really clear, but it was an amazing sight nonetheless.

It was about an hour and a half of hiking when we got to the little village. We took some photos and had a short ceremony, laying the foundation stone for the water project. We all laid a token stone and then had a short meeting. They told us they spend about two hours a day going for water and are just so grateful to LDS Charities for making it possible to bring water right to their little village. We are just so happy to be involved in projects like this – We love it.

Gene  looking at a house under construction

A tap stand at the first Chanute project

"Walking trees" coming up the mountain....

Women collect fodder every day for their animals

The landscape was quite barren..

Small temple on the mountainside

how about all those terraces?

Water User's Committee Chair....He helped me up the Mtn.

They carry their babies on their backs a lot

In fact, they carry A LOT on their back....

Two young girls who stayed right with me.

typical Nepali

When I look at their surroundings, I ask, 'how do they support themselves?

The village grandma....oldest woman living there...

She laid the first stone...

Gene took a turn...

The audience watching from above

The User's Committee....so Happy!

Hard work living in Nepal....all by hand...

Discussing details with Committee Chair and Rakesh

Terraces everywhere...little land is wasted

so cute....

in anticipation of planting..

Heading down the mountain...

over hill, over vale and down the dusty trail...

down, down, down

My new friend with her mother...

We were nearly home when Sister Deppong called on the phone. She said that Laxmi was at the Gonglola Heart Hospital. She and Jessica went to have a check-up and they found Laxmi’s blood pressure was very high. She has been there all day and will stay the night tonight. I did call her and she said she is okay…but the doctor want to get her pressure under control before they let her go. I know she is prone to high blood pressure…I hope they can get her fixed up.