Tansen

     A short prop-plane ride delivered us close to the Indian border at Bhairahawa where a 'buck' driver loaded our things into the back and we drove off thru the farmland.  No scooters here!  It's tractors!  And Brahman cattle in the street.....standing, walking, lying down.  Sacred as they are, everyone detours around them!  Greasy machine shops lined the streets, to fix all the trucks and tractors.  We're not sure what all is grown there, but probably some of the vegetables we eat here in Tansen.


     After one hour of travel, at slow speed because of cattle and traffic and people, tall hills loomed ahead.  It reminded me of the Applachian range in Kentucky  - how it takes off almost immediately in some places.  We entered the canyon and climbed, climbed, climbed.  The road hugs the side of the hill.....a cliff is on the other side.  Two vehicles could pass each other, with care. Drivers just flash their lights to inform any vehicle around the corner of their presence.  What buildings were perched on the edge of the road had to be on stilts.  The river was at the bottom of the canyon.  After another hour of this, we turned a corner and saw lights sparkling from top to bottom of a hillside..like stars.  Tansen was just ahead.  Of course, the hospital is on the upper end of the town.   And then we had a bit of a walk uphill to get to our residence. Some dinner had been saved for us, so we tackled that right away before unpacking a bit and going to bed.

Our rooms are at the far end

We are impressed with how thorough they are in welcoming us and orienting us!  Ganesh is the Nepali in charge of the Guest House, among other things.  Jason, from UK, is Hospitality Co-ordinator and spent the morning with us, going over the 'book' we need to study further about culture, security, Jon's duties, community, etc. This was after we had started off the day with an hour's language lesson!   We then had a tour of the hospital.....Wow!  What a busy place!  It is on        many levels as it's been added onto over the years and crept up, or down, the hillside.   Talk about view property!  We've got a corner on it.  Right now the haze seems to dull the view, but we are impressed with the scope of the countryside before us.  We are eating at the Guest House, just up the hill from our 'suite,' for a couple days.  And we're welcome to sign up for any meal.

See the bread in the little oven?  I love Chandra's smile!

Tressa, in charge of in-home workers, brought our 'di-di' to us this morning ...ready to start working immediately!  So Chandra, veteran of 18 yrs. with expats, will come two mornings a week, unless we need her more.  She scoured some of the dirt we had noticed on everything.  She did our little bit of laundry....by hand!  She went to the hospital bazaar and bought basic ingredients for baking.....and made us a loaf of white bread!!  We can use our tabletop oven when the outside source of electricity is working.  Otherwise we are on a generator and only the outlets for the frig and a lamp will work.
We have switches for every socket...on, off.  Turn on the water heater(wall type) for shower 20 minutes
ahead.  No hot water in kitchen, except for what you boil.  A water purifier on the wall works only on outside electrical source , so we store drinkable water in bottles for the other times.  We bought iodine today for soaking veg. and fruit that don't peel.  It will be wonderful to have her help!

Beth and I walking to town.

Beth Beels stopped by after lunch to meet us and offered to take us to the bazaar!  So, I rested up a bit before she came and then we walked, climbed down, climbed up, walked........maybe a couple kilometers to Tansen bazaar.....on rocky ground.  I'm glad I have my cane, as it gives me some stability on all this uneven ground.  Rocks of all shapes are used for walkways......instead of concrete?  So, I have my work cut out for me......NOT tripping on the rocks!   Of course, the cane gets me a lot of attention from the locals.  Ugh.  And not being dressed like them, yet, brings stares.

Shopping on Straight Street

There is one restaurant in town, and we started there, in their outside atrium, with a cold drink, sharing our ideas of what we needed to find.  This is the place in town with the 'western toilet,' which is important to know.  Very restful atmosphere....we'll be back.  Beth then led us thru a narrow passageway that became a tight tunnel and opened up on Steep Street.....because it is steep!  Up a ways, we turned left onto Straight Street, because it is....straight, and level.   Everyone knows Beth, so she stopped over and over to greet people and visit a minute.  Namaste is the word of greeting said with both hands held in front of one, as if in prayer.
    Jon found his electrical adapter, a squeegy for the bathroom-shower floor, a wastebasket, a scrubbrush.....and we bought groceries at Kurien's Shop.  If he doesn't have it, he will find it.  I was surprised at how much he crammed into a little shop!  We couldn't carry it home, so he will box it up and send tomorrow to our door.  And, I'm told I can just call him up and order my groceries...to be delivered!  This beats home...having a 'di-di' and groceries delivered!  And our housespace has doubled!  We have a living space, a bedroom, and a bathroom!  Room for guests in the living space, as the twin bed is our sofa.  We have better internet reception than ever!  WE can skype from our room.  So blessings abound!

Marita takes a rest while Kurien adds up the bill.

There is a TV/video room at the guest house, or we can bring DVD's home to watch on computer.  What more do we need?  oh, we can put TP in the toilet, too, because we flush by dumping our shower water into it.  Water is scare here, so it all needs to be recycled.  So, we stand in a basin to take our bucket shower.  There is a dribbly showerhead, if that suits.  Enough about living conditions.

Beth was perceptive about my stamina on this trek, so she asked her tailor if he knew someone with a car who could come take us back up to the hospital......oooooh-la-la.....our own personal driver!  Just in time for dinner.  And now we're glad to sit and hear from friends at home.  Your e-mails are so precious!    We are interested in your lives, indeed.  We may be doing the adventurous, odd things, at the moment, but we cherish you......friends we've known over the years who have enriched our lives over and over.  Thank you for engaging with us.