Hi guys!
Sorry for the extremely long radio absence... Life has been
incredibly full and spectacularly AWESOME! The remainder of my time in Nepal
was a lot of trekking (3 weeks, to be exact) to unbelievably HUGE mountains
through tropical jungles, evergreen forests, rocky tundra, and finally barren
glacial deserts. The stars, views, and wind chill were all unreal... Generally,
just a really wild adventure! Then, we moved west to a tiny village called Ale
Gau (in total, about 10 mud houses) where our Nepali instructor Amrit grew up.
We spent 2 weeks teaching in the local school, harvesting rice, millet, and
lentils with our homestay families, and observing and partaking in a lifestyle
different from any I’d ever experienced. We did a lot of cool day hikes in the
surrounding valley, watched some really stunning sunrises over the ever-looming
Annapurna range, tried (and failed) to milk buffalo (we did drink a lot of
fresh buff milk, though. Verdict = warm, creamy, and EXTREMELY DELICIOUS), and
came to the unanimous conclusion that village life in rural Nepal is probably
the greatest ever.
I was home for a month over Christmas eating cookies, skiing, and roadtripping through California with my sister, and then flew to Rome in January! I
spent 5 weeks zigzagging my way all over Italy with my friend Chrissy from
Nepal. Our approximate itinerary was Rome (art, architecture, lots and lots of
RAIN. Who knew that the Mediterranean had winter?) Then.. Florence, followed by
all the rest of Tuscany (lots of rolling hills and spectacular views and tasty,
tasty paaasta!). Then, a long train North to the Dolomites and Turin (the
birthplace of chocolate covered ice cream bars. Yes PLEASE!), then down south
to Naples (Pompeii and PIZZA), and onto a ferry and over a smallish sea to
Sicily! We spent two weeks on the island taking cooking classes from the
hysterical woman who rented us our apartment (I can now make pistacchio pesto
like a FIEND) and basking in the glorious and long-awaited sun! Chrissy flew
back to the States in mid-February, and I spent a solo week hiking along the
Amalfi Coast... which is incredibly touristy, but for very good reason. White
sand beaches, tiny, colorful cottages hanging off of cliffs over sparkling
turquoise water... kind of just really spectacular. Then, after a solid month
plus of gastronomic adventuring (intermingled with cultural learning, of
course!), I flew from Rome to Santiago, where I met Jihelah to begin the South
American leg of our adventuring!
Woohoo!
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