Chitwan! Elephants and more

Hello! I spent the past week in the Chitwan sweating and it was sooo worth it.

The bus ride down there last Sunday was long and windy. It was beautiful though outside and I saw a lot of country side. The hills here are so dramatic. They stick up out of the ground so suddenly that you can really tell that they are still growing unlike our hills which have weathered so much. It's gorgeous although it makes for terrifying cliffs and hairpin turns on a washed out road in a ramshackle bus.

In the Chitwan, we did tons of things, but 3 stick out especially. Bathing the elephants, eating with the Tharus, and the canoe rides.

When I found out we would be bathing the elephants, I thought that meant watching them play in the water. WRONG. We rode the elephant (haatti, pronounced hottie)s down to the river and then proceeded to enter it. Our haatti sprayed us with it's trunk sat down in the croc infested river and dumped us in and flipped us over it's head with the use of her trunk! It was soooo fun.

The Tharu dinner was also amazing. The Tharus, for those who don't know are the natives of the Jungle. They are the only people in the world who are born immune to malaria. The night started with a wild pony drawn cart ride. Our driver whipped the pony into a frenzy and our 2 wheeled cart flew down the road. The driver joked that he had fed the pony "rakshi" which is Nepali for alcohol, I'm not completely sure he was joking though. Our cart started in last place and finished first. After that exhilarating experience, we got off and sat down in the midst of a beautiful village. We ceremonially washed our feet and brushed our teeth with pieces of bamboo (which had been iodized, thanks Pitzer!). Then our hosts passed out flowers which we decorated our heads with and then started passing around the rakshi. They also had special food for us which was sculpted into all kinds of animal shapes but we didnt eat that. Then we watched the women dance and ended up joining them. The dance was not terribly complicated but it was syncopated with the claps and steps. I finally figured it out though and had a great time. After about an hour we went inside to eat dinner. We had tradtional tharu foods including snails and sticky rice. Everything was spicy. I ate a bunch of little snails they were delish. I had one big one too, but that one was not so good. It was strange to have so much spicy food and nothing to wash it down with but hard alcohol. After dinner we danced with the villagers. A couple of our teachers danced too and I met a bunch of the villagers. Apparently rhinos come into the village from time to time, especially in the winter to eat their aloo (potatoes)! That was an awesome night. To top it all off I went swimming in the hotel pool in my petticoat that night and rinsed off all the sweat! It was amazing.

After that story, a canoe ride doesn't seem nearly as cool. It was fun though! I saw a bunch of gohi (crocs) and on the jungle elephant ride I saw a mama and a baby gaidaa (rhino). It was really gorgeous. I will try to put pictures up soon.

Well that covers the highlights of the Chitwan. Next week I am going to Bandipur and Pokhara and then trekking for a week. I will update there!

Love, Hailey