Pokhara Part 2, Strike Part 2

Oy. Vey. Back to Pokhara to paraglide. And spend lots on overpriced food and drinks. It's super touristy there, so they can get away with jacking up the prices. The weather wasn't as clear, so we could hardly see the mountains. It was cloudy most of the time, so I was pretty thankful that I had seen Pokhara in a prime weather state the previous week.

Pascal, me, Jessica, and Shakar. Best pilots ever.

Jessica and I went paragliding on Friday. When I was there last week with Juan and Tariq, we happened upon a French gentleman named Pascal who was having scooter troubles. Some punk kids had jammed wood into the ignition, so we (but mostly Uncle Juan) tried to assist him in digging it out. Turns out that this man works for a paragliding company, so I contacted him this visit. Like I mentioned, the weather wasn't very nice, but the wind was, so the paragliding experience was quite invigorating. Wasn't something that was on my list of Top Priorities While In Nepal, but I'm glad I went.

We were on the bus ride back from Pokhara to Chitwan yesterday. First of all, the bus needed some maintenance work not even an hour into the journey. We pulled into what seemed to be a repair shop/repair field/junk yard and waited for a half hour while they fixed the problem (Jessica and I weren't even sure what the problem was, as English speakers are usually the last to know, if they ever know at all). Once we were back on our way, we were stopped again, this time by what ended up being another strike. A woman carrying a child in a remote village was hit by a bus. The bus driver took off. There isn't insurance here, and if you injure someone in a MVC, then you have to pay them a stipend for the rest of their lives (sidenote: if the victim doesn't survive, there is a "flat rate" which is usually less costly than injuring a person. Thus, there is speculation that many times a driver will go back and "finish the job" because it's cheaper. Ughhhhhhhhh). Anyway, there was an uproar in the village because this woman's family now wants compensation, but it was a hit and run accident. What better way to get what you want than to block the road with tree limbs and prevent anyone else from traveling? I can't think of a more proper solution.

We waited 5 hours in a village with no where to purchase water or go to the bathroom. In total: we had 1 litre of water and no toilet for what ended up being a 10.5 hour journey back. Thank goodness I have 2 kidneys.