A week of schoolwork, kind of

Saturday, October 30th.
The rest of our time in Pokhara was really wonderful. We put together a 50 or so paged report and presentation on our research from the trek, building it up day by day, and then presented our slide show to the three sisters and others on Friday afternoon. We then had our last dinner with them all at the big house.
In our free time each day throughout the week, we would wander around the lake and bazaar and find dinner. We also found a jazz bar with really good pizza, a great atmosphere, and an unpredictable performance schedule. We eventually did get to see some live music, but what they had called "a band" the night before ended up being three guys they'd thrown together at the last minute. They were good though, so we stayed.
Just yesterday, we got a chance to talk with the sisters--especially Lucky, the oldest one who was first to become interested in starting an organization--after our presentation. I'm thinking I'd really like to come back and do some work with them.
Pokhara is such a beautiful place and it was sad to leave, but before we knew it, we landed in the jungle.
After a four hour bus ride with our favorite drivers, we arrived in the Chitwan (Heart of the jungle) National Park--home to some of the last Great One-Horned Rhinos, as well as Asian elephants, Bengal tigers, leopards, crocodiles, river dolphins, all sorts of birds, and more.
Our hotel is so great. It's called the Lama Lodge, and it consists of a semi-circle of cute little bungalows with two rooms each, surrounding a central lawn with lots of trees and a rope hammock. It really felt like a jungle dwelling.
On Saturday, once we got here, Lama and Kewal, one of his employees and a fellow avid bird and other wildlife watcher, took us on a walk to traditional Tharu (indigenous) village, but we were distracted by a rhino siting. We saw an enormous male and a young female, within just a few meters! There were a bunch of other people there who'd heard about the rhinos too, and Lama kept directing us out of the line of potential attack whenever the creatures moved. Eventually, they made their way into the river and we were safe. We sat on the bank and watched them relax in the water until the sun started to set, at which point we saw our first of three consecutive incredible jungle sunsets. The male rhino was particularly fascinating. So massive and so densely wrinkled! (Here follows a revision of an old camp song. Newfounders: you know what I mean-forget prunes.)