Final Stretch . . .

We're down to our last two weeks in Nepal and have bittersweet feelings about being so close to the end. 99% of our time since we returned from Langtang has been spent in Kathmandu, and we're both a little tired of being stuck in the city. I even tried to escape yesterday to safety kayak for a commercial rafting trip, but an accident that shut down the highway about two hours outside Kathmandu forced the entire trip to turn around when we were only halfway to the river!

Of course, Kathmandu has had its fair share of fun activity lately.. The first national games in ten years were held last week, and despite a ton of furor about which groups could compete (even the athletic teams are divided by political and militia lines, and the People's Liberation Army protested the last-minute inclusion of the Nepali Army by pulling out all of their own athletes), the games seemed to go off rather well.. and it was fun to see all the athletes walking around Kathmandu in their warmups between contests. There was also a festival (I can't remember many of the details) that involved this large chariot (at left) that was hauled down the main boulevard from Jhamel to Patan amidst a lot of fanfare. Coming up on the 14th is the Nepali New Year, and cultural festivities are starting to pop up here and there in preparation.

Last week Sanu returned from international conferences in Kampala and Cyprus, and is now loaded with fresh ideas he'd like to apply here in Nepal. In Kampala FoST was recognized (one of four prizes awarded to a pool of 200+ participants) for its efforts to go beyond efficient stove design (what most other participants presented) and focus on alternative fuels (briquettes). We're already drawing up a few ideas for prototype production, and I joined Sanu a few days ago on a field trip to some of Kathmandu's metal yards, scrap yards, and large-scale metal fabrication shops to learn more about available materials and communicate our new ideas.

In other news, Sushmita (NOH employee) spent a few days in Dumrikharka last week, and reported that multiple families are continuing to produce and burn briquettes. They're even producing extras and stockpiling them for the wet monsoon months this summer! I've been considering returning to Dumrikharka myself to make sure everything was going smoothly, but with this good news I may save myself the LONG bus ride it takes to get there and back. I'm hopeful that the report I wrote will help NOH and future volunteers keep this project running strong in the coming months and years.

Our friends Krish and Peter (who we did the Annapurna Circuit with back in December) just got back from their 2nd trip round the Circuit, and we're excited to spend a few days with them down in Chitwan National Park between the 14th and 17th. We're super-psyched to see the Nepali lowlands, ride elephants, maybe see some rhinos, and avoid the malaria-ridden mosquitoes.

For now, I'm working on a few CAD drawings for FoST, and Ashley is continuing her observations/volunteering at Martyr's Memorial Hospital..