Day 120 - Halfway!

Hello halfway mark! It seems a pity that after today we will be on the downslope of this trip when I feel like I am just now getting the hang of long-term travel. It is said that the first three months are the honeymoon phase, followed by a brief bit of depression and homesickness. If you can ride out that week or two of funk, you can travel for an infinite length of time, working as necessary to replenish funds, and then continuing on. I had my funk, and have now been travelling for over a month funk-free. I don't particularly want to come home, but other backpackers have said that it is virtually impossible to travel with debts taking their monthly toll. Most travelled for a few months like we are, returned home and held regular jobs to get debt free, and then left again, sometimes for years on end. I don't plan on doing anything so extreme, but the way I am feeling right now, the prospect is certainly tempting.

We had the day free, and I used the time to hitch a ride into town on the back of a motorbike with one of the staff. The nearest ATM was in Sarayangat, over an hour mortorbike ride away. The staff person stared over my shoulder during the whole transaction and talked excitedly with the security guard posted near the machine. I later learned that the ATM was brand new, one of the only in the region, and that he had never seen one in action before. This is so foreign to my very Western notions of an ATM or credit card machine on every corner. Here virtually all transactions are carried out in cash, and while money changers are readily available, means of getting money are quite sparse, and only located in tourist centers.

This evening, we went into one of the neighboring Tharu villages. Cz and I did a little prep work for dinner (snapping beans), and then Cz entertained all the village children with a combination of card tricks and taking their pictures and then showing them on the viewscreen. After the more complicated preparations were made - a chicken was killed and plucked, spices ground between two stones, and oil heated, I moved into the kitchen hut to learn how to prepare a meal. Everything is cooked over small wood fires built in earhten pits. The pots rest on top, and need almost constant attention as ingredients are added. It is hot, smoky work, requiring a delicate balance of maintaining the fire, stirring the food, and adding ingredients. All the village girls helped me, passing the right amounts of the right things, and nudging sticks under my pot as necessary. None of them spoke any english, but they were very friendly and curious, and I am sure amused at my ineptitude.

After dinner, we walked into the nearby jungle where we were to spend the night in the viewing tower. Two guides went with us to protect us from tigers and a known wild elephant in the area. We arrived at our perch unmolested, and climbed up to wait. No large animals made an appearance, but the sky was lit with stars, and forest around equally full of fireflies. We went to bed in surprising comfort with real beds, sheets, and mosquito nets with the sounds of the night jungle all around.

PS. Just read that Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize...He must be the most successful non-president ever. He can put his medal right next to his Oscar Statue...Maybe when the musical version of "An Inconvenient Truth" comes out, he can win the Tony for it as well.