Petrol-free Pokhara

We're stuck in Pokhara due to the petrol shortage and it's a great place to be stuck. It's got a lovely lake that is surrounded by mountains and a lovely breeze. We've spent some time, hours actually, searching for petrol on the black market and waiting for leads that take anywhere from 30 minutes to four days to come through. Obviously, the Nepalis are experiencing more of an adjustment. They, however, are used to fuel shortages so there is an abundance of stored fuel in people's homes all over Nepal. It's an interesting experience of life without oil. The world would truly do well to come up with alternative fuel resources as Nepalese life has slowed to a trickle all around us. I spent an hour last night looking for a taxi to get us up to Marco's. I finally went to a tourist resort parking lot and asked some men smoking under a tree for a taxi. One man made a call on his cell phone. He told me that for 100 rupees, as opposed to the usual 600 rupees, he could take the three of us up the hill as long as we went at 4 or 5 in the morning b/c there was a taxi strike and we needed to go secretly. I felt like I was making an illegal transaction, negotiating in the dark of a tree in a parking lot. I brought him to the lads with his "deal" and we decided to wait out the taxi strike. There is currently a bandha/strike down the road. The Nepalese people are standing in the only (main) intersection of town and let only one car go by at a time. It is very peaceful. They just stand there in silence. I think I hear some music coming from there now. I wonder what impact their bandha will have.

India won't bring oil into Nepal b/c Nepal's debt to India remains unpaid. The main oil distributor has cut off the supply of petrol and won't turn it back on until it can speak with the government. There is, however, no working government - the former government and the maoists are at the tail end of their dialougues re. the shift of power. I've also heard that the Maoists finally gave up and left the government. It's not clear what government there is. It's not clear whether petrol will come back, miraculously, tomorrow. I've heard another rumor that it will come back tomorrow. According to Rick (see below), the taxi drivers get news that petrol is coming to town. They line up for 48 hours at the petrol station and take all the fuel from the first two tankers that come into town. Then, more tankers come in and people have acess to oil again. Today, there are many more cars and motorbikes and taxis on the road. The taxi strike must be off and perhaps there is petrol coming into town for the masses shortly. There is no controlled way of knowing except to observe the amount of functioning taxis. It's definately an improvement today. Yesterday, the vehicles stood silent all along the streets and were peppered along the roads empty and forgotten. Today, the buzz is back on the streets. It is palpable. I never knew I could feel the rhythm of a place so acutely as this. It's nice. I like it here. I feel comfortable.

Yesterday, the lads introduced me to an English man named Rick who runs a motorcycle club of Royal Enfields and Yamahas with his dutch Girlfriend Monique. BTW, Ed and Alex drive Royal Enfields. They're lovely, classic motorcycles. 70% of Rick and Monique's customers are women that come to Nepal, take riding lessons from Rick, then go on tours of 4-7 days with Rick around Nepal. I fell in love with one lovely cream and gold Royal Enfield called 'Honey.' She is not for sale. He is working on her and she'll be available for tours in October. Yet another reason to come back. Just to be nice, Rick took me into town on his motorbike so I could buy the safest helmet available in Nepal. As town is far and fuel is limited, this was an exceedingly generous offer. He speaks Nepali and has run his business here for four years, so I got the same price that the locals do: 1500 rupees (about $21) for a quality helmet from Thailand that has a mirrored viser that goes all the way to my chin - this will be excellent for dust and exhaust - and at the same time, I look like a living video game on the back of the bike.

We have been talking about visiting Silke's duch friend Marco, who lives on the top of a hill nearby, for three days now. We can not, however, leave town b/c we keep waiting for leads on petrol. Yesterday, Rick told me that he can get fuel on the black market for a four day wait. The lads agreed to go this route, so we will wait four more days and will hopefully visit Marco today and stay for a while overlooking Pokhara. I hear there is a beautiful waterfall in the jungle nearby - I believe this will be our next adventure. But, first I'll go for an ayuverdic massage for my lady's day.

We were very close to making it up yesterday, but there was a taxi strike, so we couldn't get a taxi up the mountain. It was too hot and sunny to walk with all our luggage. BTW, I've now downsized from a 70 liter bag of luggage on wheels to a 60 liter backpack to a 45 liter backpack. it's really great to lighten my load! I was very pleased to leave the hotel as the second night we stayed there, I was ravaged by bedbugs and mosquitoes. I couldn't sleep due to the constant assault on my face, even my lips, by mosquitoes, who found every spare uncovered millimeter of me to bite. Even though I was wearing long pants and covered by a sarong with a head wrap and around my arms, my legs and arms and even a spot below my right eye have little bumps and it's itchy and disgusting. I thought the leaches were bad. Nepal is really testing my resolve to just go with the flow.

Last night, we went to a hotel and the lads asked me to take a look to see if it was acceptable while they waited downstairs with the bags. I saw blood marks on sheets and walls and a chain link fence outside the window and smelled dust and mildew - we moved on from there. I was more than relieved when we went to another place with a lovely grass courtyard in the center of the hotel. It was late and the proprietors didn't wake to our knocks, so we pitched camp in the middle of the lawn. I had just traded a pair of trekking pants for a mosquito net and bought a sleeping bag for the journey, so I just hung the net from some trees and laid my bag on top of my yoga mat. There were no mosquitos, no bedbugs. I had a bottle of red wine, chocolate, a mosquito coil and a candle with me in anticipation of the visit to Marco - so we made a little camp and enjoyed our party under the stars before falling asleep. Thankfully, it didn't rain.

The rain is rolling in right now. You can see it approaching like a thick cloud of varying shades of grey slwoly oozing over the atmosphere. The wind takes on a moister, thicker, windier way and again, the changes in this little lakeside town are palpable. I think I will go for an ayuverdic massage and see if they can bring some relief to the bedbug bites.

I like Ed and Alex. They are good company. Alex is much more chatty and charismatic than Ed. Ed has a silent manner and seems to tolerate small talk whereas Alex transforms small talk into something of substance or entertainment. Both are genuine, good listeners and open minded. We've met a host of characters here and I'm pleasantly surprised by their total lack of judgment as to each of the people we've met. For instance, one woman has turrets and is constantly chattering like a chipmunk and slapping her legs or her torso. We've met the sterotypical drunk irishman who waxes on about his woes and his muddled and fuzzy life. He has clear, watery blue eyes and a smile that always spills out from him whenever we make eye contact. He told the lads they were lucky to find me in Kathmandu b/c he just likes me - he can't say why - but he just feels better whenever he sees me - I make him feel peaceful. The lads agreed and said that just about everything about me is special. That made me feel nice.

We met a mad man from Holland who is 30, looks 50 and boasted about living off of disability b/c he is legally insane. He threatened Rick for selling his friend a bad bike. Apparently, this has been going on for two years and sometimes turns physical, so Rick avoids him. According to Rick, he sold the bike to a man who got ill and had to quickly go home. He gifted the bike to this dutch man, who proceeded to ride and crash it regularly for a year without upkeep or maintenance. He then returned to Rick and demanded all the money his friend paid for the bike plus 20%. Rick obviously refused. The vendetta has lasted for two years. Rick asked me last night why I though he had it out for him so much. Perhaps a past life, perhaps he was in love with the man who gifted him the bike and misses him and is taking it out on Rick, or perhaps all of the anger and rage he has broiling around in his insane head unfortunately are projected onto Rick. Who knows? Rick thought the second idea sounded plausible.

As a long term resident of Nepal and a man who has motorcycled all over the world, Rick is a nice man, but is cynical just about everything. We had a long talk about yoga and he hopefully can see now beyond "the kooks that come from India, get rid of their stuff, buy something orange and ask for money on the street as "saddhus"/spiritual seekers" and "men that take advantage of young, unsuspecting girls who are looking for enlightenment." He's an engineer who studied physics so I got to correlate the teachings of electromagnetic energy that I received in Thailand with phsycial theory. It all matches up. Even Rick had to admit it. I think yoga would be good for him. Perhaps I'll tell him that if I see him again. Alex later asked how I felt about Rick's direct challenge to something I believed in so strongly. I wasn't offended - each of us has our own opinon. I only hope that I opened his perspective a little and if not, that's his choice and I respect that. As I was saying this, I was surprised at how rational and logical I sounded, whereas before I might have judged Rick for being too cynical and closed-minded. I continue to grow.

We met a 20 year old angel faced girl from Idaho who introduces herself like this: "Hi, I'm American. I'm from Idaho. I'm here to volunteer in an orphanage. Where are you from?" She is so innocent and sweet. She almost broke down crying last night as she said to the lads, the Irishman, Rick and I how nice it was to meet nice men who didn't want anything from her and gave her a respectful distance. I knew what she meant. She wasn't referring to a physical intrusiveness. Instead, she's referring to the Nepali men who greet every single woman with "hello, where are you from, come into my shop, want a smoke, would you like some tea, how are you?" etc. While this is perfectly pleasant and unconfrontational, after a while, you really just want to be invisible and talk to no one. When people continue to get in your space, your energy begins to become depleted. I saw this in the girl and told her how she could empower her energy field by laying down protective forces of Durga all around her and envision a white gold purple bubble around her so that she can decide who can come in and out of that space. It's a little new agey, I know. But I do it every day and did every time I got on my bike in Thailand - and I swear it works. I put my hand on her shoulder and told her everything was going to be allright. She hugged me and said that I made her feel so peaceful and safe. I am glad. I remember how vulnerable I felt when I travelled through Africa at the age of 20 - anytime I met an older female traveller who offered me advice, it was a very welcome gift. Now, I am that woman for younger travellers. What luck.

Alex referred to me as "like his friend's older sister or dare I say mother." It's weird to be seen not as a young lady, but as a mature woman. Am I really 35? Where did the time go? How lucky I am to still have such vitality and perceived peace and "special"ness from others around me. I accept my aging just as I accept the circumstances of this journey through Nepal - patiently, gracefully and going with the flow. I relish the opportunity to live my time now, so that I indeed can mark the passage of time with gratitude, not a vaccum.