day two

Monday, October 11

This homestay was such a cool experience. Austin and I woke up around 5:45, put our warm clothes on and went outside to take some pictures. It's a simple house made of adobe, and there's a small yard encased by a stone wall. More khursanis (chillis) than I've ever seen were drying against the wall. The charpi is removed from the house and has a board missing from the very low ceiling, so when we went out before bed, I could stick my head out and see the stars as I peed. After a few minutes, our host came out to brush her teeth and gather firewood. Then she led us up to the kitchen room and had us sit down as her husband and then, one by one, her three kids tumbled in from bed in the next room. The bottom floor of the house stores apples and other foodstuffs, and a simple staircase takes you up to three small bedrooms and the small kitchen. Once we sere seated, our host Aamaa served us sweet black instant coffee, that was somehow delicious. The stove in the middle of the room reminded me slightly of a maple syrup evaporator in that firewood was pushed in from the front and end and the front burner was the hottest of the three. Lifting a lid on each burner exposed the flame of coals underneath accordingly. Once the dad and the 4-year-old and youngest son were seated, they put some corn in a bowl on the stove and covered it once the kernels started popping. We could barely finish the double portion they gave us. We were fairly successful in hearing a conversation with them, mostly about our homes, our families, what we were doing in Nepal, and how much we liked the food. Dan dhai, who teaches at a technical college in Jumla and works with an NGO that does sanitation work, among other things, stopped in for a few minutes of coffee and translating, but the rest of the time we were on our own, and when we explained we'd studied Nepali for two weeks in Kirtipur, they exclaimed at how perfect it was. Hah!
After returning to the campsite for breakfast, we dispersed with our research groups for the first of our our village interviews. Lulu, Steve, Tim, and I headed to the village with Manjeet to interview families about their agricultural practices. We talked to a woman distilling raksi, Nepal's home-brewed liquor, in the pathway, a few siblings on their family's rooftop, and two men on the respective rooves. Manjeet had translated all of our research questions for us and Lulu did a great job asking them in Nepali from what he'd written out, while I took pictures, Steve took notes, and all of us pitched in as new questions came up. We got to hold a young rabbit and were served apples and walnuts during our second interview. We learned a lot about what's grown, what's sold, who does what work when, what animals each family has, challenges present them, and more. It was amazing to be conducting this real-life research as we walked from house to house in this village. I mean—who does that? We've got it good, that's all I can say. The third interview we held was with an older man who, on top of everything else, kept bees in eight beautifully made hives outside of his house and many more up at his fields, and sells the honey for 2000 Nrps per kilogram.
After our research, we packed up, had a belated church service, ate lunch, got our fourth tikkas since arriving in Jumla, shouldered our packs, and headed out. We hiked for just a couple of hours along a river and through a beautiful forest, green with moss. Leaves covered the ground and it felt so much like fall. After the last break we took, the remaining uphill was pretty challenging, and once we saw a village up ahead, I hoped that's where we were staying, until we passed right bay. But one we rounded the corner uphill of the village, there was the rest of the group, sitting on a high wall enjoying the incredible view. Aaahhhh. After that, it was tea, relaxing, dinner, and bed.