where the rapids have no names

i like this font. it looks like a typewriter.

right, so i went rafting last week. so incredible - mainly because it was the first time i got to get out of the crazyness of the city since i've been here and mainly because Nepal is so beautiful. the mountains outside of the valley (kathmandu is in a huge valley completely surrounded by smaller green mtns) were so amazing. so steep, so vibrant, so tropical, just dripping with color - all different shades of green. the rafting experience was a bit more grass roots than i'm used to, which is so nice.

rafts are great and all but i my favorite part is jumping out and floating in the less rapid parts. i and a couple others were out of the raft for quite a while and the current was pretty strong. it just made me laugh how fast we were floating down the river. i kept thinking the guide will tell us when we need to get back in the boat, you know if there are rapids ahead, but instead he just yelled, not very concerned about liability, in a loud fierce Nepali accent, "swim to the left!" or "swim to the middle!" it was great. slash i was thinking - are you serious? are we in danger? but whatever, it felt great to be in the water - so freeing, i can't even tell you. there's something so beautiful about being in the water in your clothes. it just seems so natural. i think skinny dipping is over-romanticized as being this super-liberating experience. and well, maybe it is, but i feel like the focus is usually "i'm not wearing any clothes." and when i get in the water with my clothes on the focus is usually "i'm in the water!"

ok, right, rafting was great after all the floating. when we got to the big rapids i wasn't as afraid of falling out. there were a couple times when i thought, "this looks more like a wave at the ocean that we're going straight into..." yeah, it was so excellent. amazing scenery. amazing rapids. amazing water.

so, when the trip ended we were all really soaked and really tired. but the bus with our dry clothes hadn't made it yet, something about the Maoists holding up trafic we heard - no big deal. we ate lunch, the clothes came, we went up to the road to catch a bus back to kathmandu. it was hot. i fell asleep on the side of the road. i wake up and there are no cars passing. we find out the Maoists have shut down public transportation in the valley and were burning tires in the villages, blockading the only road back to the valley. hmm, we're not in kansas anymore, eh? well, we hung out at the little river/jungle/cafe for 5 1/2 hours... finally something happened and we were able to catch a bus back to the valley. it was quite an experience. we crammed in the back of the bus. excruciating Hindi music blaring on and off through the speakers, metal seats infront of us crashing into our knees. we laughed. we shifted. we tried to sleep. really it was unforgetable and you know, i wouldn't want it any other way.

i posted photos from rafting and many other things on the photo link.