Saturday Adventure

So this past Saturday I had a little adventure that involved a lot of walking.  I left the house with one of my fellow volunteers around 7:15.  No one else wanted to go, which was very fine with me because I wasn’t sure how long it would take to reach my proposed destination and a big group is WAY, WAY slower.  A few days earlier, I’d spotted a little temple when I was further down the valley way up on the tip of a ridge in the distance.  Really, all I saw was the glint of something in the sun, and asked what it was.  Someone said it was a temple, so naturally I wanted to go!  I envisioned a beautiful temple on a precipice overlooking the river. 

A stone carving at a little temple on the way up.

We headed out with a very vague idea of how to get there.  We hiked up to the top of the ridge the short way which is really cool.  It is steep and towards the top you get into a coniferous forest of sorts.  We reached the ridge in about an hour, and wandered over the top of it until we got to a road which we followed for a while.  At one of the forks about a half hour down the road, I randomly decided that the left fork would take us to the temple.  Of course, I was right!  First, we climbed up one of the hills near the path/road we were on and found a mini temple with some flags lazily blowing in the wind. 

Mini-temple

We split one of my friend’s Clif bars and after a short walk down the hill we reached the temple I had seen.  It was very much on a precipice, but did not overlook the river.  You could see and hear the river very well, but there was another steppe below the temple before the cliff dropped off into the river valley proper.  I spent some time sitting in the sun in what I would describe as “great napping weather,” and then we headed back the way we came.

Good Napping weather at the temple

Looking down from the temple

On the way we stopped at one of the millions of little tea shops along the road and had some tea as we as some very delicious curried garbanzo beans.  I also spotted an ice cream type cone that was packed with what appeared to be frosting.  I was right!  It was pretty yummy, and also a little bit nauseating.  I am big fan of ordering things when I don’t know what they are.  There is definitely some interesting food out there!

We hiked back into the town of Chautara, and met up with a bunch of the other volunteers. 

Along the road to Chautara

 

Some of them claimed that on the drive in a month ago they spotted a pizza and burger place on the road somewhere.  The issue was that no one knew how far back down the road this restaurant is.  A lot of us decided to hike down the road to find it.  But first, we stopped by the local bakery which is very yummy.  I had some cake that was over-priced for the taste, but the cream filled donuts are a nice treat.  And off we went…several hours later we were still walking and we decided to turn around.  On the way back we stopped at a little place and I promptly ordered something off the menu that I didn’t know.  It said it involved peanuts though so I went for it.  I got a plate of roasted peanuts with some spices, onions, and chiles on it.  YUM! 

A pleasant forest on the way back to Chautara

Two volunteers strolling down the streets of Olde Towne Chautara.

A temple in Chautara

 

Then back to Chautara where some people got some ice cream which is pretty legitimate ice cream and I opted to sample the samosa place.  I’ve never had one and boy they are super tasty.  It was a very flaky pastry with curried potatoes on the inside.  I also bought a little round ball of dough that turned out to be sweet and have some pieces of fruit in it.  After that we had an uneventful walk back to our houses and I went to bed early after walking all day.