Week in the Life- Wednesday

Wednesday was Cave Day.

We originally planned to go all together, as a family, but Chinua said he wasn't feeling well and he'd wait back at the guesthouse with the two younger boys.

When we saw what a hike we had, and how difficult the cave was, I was glad the little boys hadn't come.

(I wasn't glad when I got back to the guest house and saw that Chinua was burning up with a high fever. Poor guy.)

The very first thing I did on Wednesday, though, was go for an early morning walk.

In the fog.

Really, there were chickens everywhere in Nepal. They share the streets with dogs.

It was sort of like walking around the old parts of Kathmandu or Patan, but without crowds. It was beautiful.

I love these old style houses.

Nepal has a Maoist government, after the 8 year People's War that decided it.

I went back to the guest house and the kids and I left and boarded a jeep taxi. Fit as many people in and out of the jeep as you can, is the M.O. I counted 27 people below, and there were people on the roof.

We left the jeep and were argued into taking a young guide to show us the way to Siddhi Gufa, the cave. We walked 2 km along the highway. It started raining on us.

The jolly chaperone.

We cut alongside fields and started up the mountain, toward the cave.

Making our way to the long sets of stairs.

Here's our "guide." He was around twelve, and spoke no English. We spoke in my tiny bit of Nepali.

Finally we reached the mouth of the cave.

Here's the view. We came from all the way down there!

Inside the cave. It was beautiful and grotesque.

The kiddoes were very brave. We left our young guides outside and trusted ourself to the experienced hands of a grown up cave guide. He was probably in his early forties, and he was incredibly strong.

We had to crawl through this opening. I'm telling you, I almost turned back several times.

They LOVED it.

We were often climbing in the dark, over wet and slippery rocks. The camera flash makes it look so well-lit, but really we were confined to the beams of our flashlights.

The ladder. Oh goodness.

Ahhhh. Back in the light of the beautiful outdoors. The nice thing about railings? You can slide down them.

Back down the hill, we boarded a bus and drove home. I like the three Nepali hats peeping over the seats in this photo.

We got back to the guesthouse to find Chinua sick. I got him some fever reducer and tried to make him comfortable, then left with the kids to find food, and play more chess.

And that was Wednesday.