Nepal

Sofia makes us look back. It can be both good and bad – but we always learn something in the end. I wish the world leaders would learn from looking back too.

Sofia has shared some very special experiences from her looks back in time – please visit her lovely site for more inspiration!

I did not know where to go with this challenge at first, but as I have been scanning old slides and right now Nepal and Peru, I have tried to find some of those overwhelming experiences I had as a young woman never been outside of Europe before.

In my home we had many grand picture books from travels near and far, and during winter time my nose was deeply buried in them. I read and savoured everything about interesting places, and two of my major dreams were to see the Himalayas and the Andes. All the treasures hidden, Machu Pichu, Annapurna, Mount Everest…Shang-ri-La from the old novel by James Hilton…

In 1986 we flew to Kathmandu in Nepal. Here are some important ”looking back moments” from that journey. Moments of beauty and moments of pain and sadness. I certainly grew up some and learned much from these experiences.

After some days in Katmandhu and biking in the Kathmandu Valley, we decided to go to Dakshinkali. D is an important Hindu temple in Nepal where they sacrifice animals to the fierce goddess Kali. Not a place for the weak hearted – like me. But I went. This was a place that truly made me understand the difference between reading facts and seeing them in real life.

There were endless queues with people holding flowers or leading goats to their last minutes. The stairs down to the temple was crowded with holy men and disabled people.

This woman suffered from leprosy and hade neither fingers nor toes. I could not bear to look at her closely. This day was a day of tears only.

Today I do not regret I went, but that very day, and for some weeks after, I really did. Leprosy was in my mind something fearsome from the Bible, and I automatically kept the distance to this poor woman.

Fishtail Mountain – or Machapuchare (6993 m) – is the majestic mountain close to Pokhara, where we stayed for some days at a Ghurka lodge. I knew about the British Brigade of Ghurkas, they were considered among the bravest and most feared soldiers in the world.

We had a lovely stay, and planned an Annapurna hike some day in the future. (But this never came true.) Our last day here, a big monitor lizard walked by our breakfast table, something I very clearly remember as I was home alone…

Back in Kathmandu again, we went to Nagarkot in the early morning to walk towards the best point for the sunrise over Mount Everest – Sagarmāthā (himmelens huvud). A sensation never forgotten. Was I really here?

We also wanted to go to Chitwan to see wildlife from a bit closer up. (It’s us two in the photo, taken by someone I no longer remember.) While we passed through the river in an oxcart, the owner asked us if we came from Sweden – we said we did. ”I’m sorry about Olof Palme”, the man said. That was both surprising and heartwarming – so overwhelming to sit in an oxcart in the middle of nowhere and people knew that our prime minister had been shot less than a week ago.

The next long journey was in 1987, and went to Peru and the Andes.

Machu Pichu needs no introduction. This photo was taken when we first arrived at the top and could see the old city. The moment I went through the opening in the stone wall, is one of my best moments ever. And certainly when it comes to travel. No picture in the world can show the feelings I had there and then.

I had read a great deal about the Nazca lines too. They cover an area of 500m2 in southern Peru. They were made 500BC -500 AC, and there is still no answer to why or what for. Only theories.

We soon realised that our plane was very small and only took 6 passengers. OK, smaller planes are said to be safer… but when I looked out of the window and saw them pumping up the tires by hand…I had my doubts.

We survived of course, and had a great flight seeing signs that Von Däniken had proposed coming from outer space.

This is one of the animals in the Nazca lines – The Condor

We went by train over the great plain to Cuzco. A wonderful tour with llamas, vicunjas and the majestic mountains. The trust and confidence these happy women showed! They threw up their handmade carpets to us in the train and expected them to either be bought or to come back again! And it never failed.

The Uros are an indigenous people of Bolivia and Peru. They live on floating islands in lake Titicaca near Puno. I guess they still are – and I had seen them in my books. They used Totora reeds to make reed boats and the islands they live on. On the islands they grew different vegetables and potatoes and they had pigs too. An island lasts for about 25 years.

I hope you could follow my thoughts, and maybe understand something of how much I learned during those two journeys. Travel is one of the best teachers.

Before finishing off with the volcano Misti at Arequipa, I want to thank you so much for Setting a Mood in every post last week! Incredible variety on how we can create moods and how we can feel differently about them too.

Next week Anne’s challenge will be on Intentional Camera Movement, ICM. You can learn all about it by checking out the various online tutorials or wait for instructions from Anne. She says it’s all about having fun and there’s no wrong way to do it! Hope to see you then – and before that, stay nice and curious.