Why People Love Nepal
The first to greet the traveler and, in passing, leave him stunned, are the great mountains of the Himalayas. They seem to greet you as you watch them from the hole in the window of the plane that suddenly looks smaller than you thought and dirtier than you expected, while you stand perplexed looking at the highest peaks in the world and thanking technology for doing the thousand and one photos from every possible angle to those wonders. All while you wonder, what will be the Great Everest? You fell friend Like Edmund Hillary and all the travelers before you. The enchantment of Nepal caught you and you will not stop feeling hallucinated, stupefied, happy, until a few weeks after returning home. Your relatives will ask, your friends will want to know more because everyone will see in you that halo, that shine, that look and smile, silly but immensely happy, that you will have discovered something you never thought existed.
You definitely understand why more than 80% of travelers return to Nepal.
Let's continue on our particular trip...
You settle in a hotel in the middle of the hustle and bustle of Thamel, the tourist district par excellence and your first contact with the world of trekking or hiking and mountaineering. Without knowing how you just lost looking at stores of all kinds. Discover Assan, the oldest district and market in Kathmandu, which has remained the nerve center of the capital of Nepal since medieval times. You, simply think you are dreaming or hallucinating or do not know very well what. Between places of salt, vegetables, beads or dentists and barbers, suddenly you turn around and voila! An alley leads you to a small square, a Stupa in its center, Buddha's eyes watching overhead, doves perched on him and children playing around. You see some women dressed as in India, wrapped in the colorful fabrics of a Saree and others dressed in a gray skirt and colored tablecloth. You do not understand anything. Suddenly a Sadhu, in white clothes, gray skin and face painted in a corner, in the sun. Meanwhile, a Buddhist monk circling the Stupa, and you there, standing, perplexed.
1st lesson Nepali, Coexistence and mutual respect.
- You realize that Buddhists and Hindus, Nepalese and Tibetan refugees live in peace and harmony. What peace, what calm you feel. You will continue to feel this way, while you visit the ancient temples and palaces of the area.
Are we going trekking?
- Many are those who come to Nepal to walk long journeys to visit the beautiful Himalayan mountains. Some even dare to climb a peak. Others, without much preparation, take the opportunity to take a short walk for a couple of days or three and savor the experience.
Whatever your choice, you will enjoy. As long as you pay attention to your guide, who is not there to show you the way but to guide you in the adventure and ensure that you return home safe and sound. The trip, suddenly, has given a 360º change. You are in the middle of nowhere and everything at once. Welcome to the world of mountains, meadows and rivers, dense jungles and steep snowy peaks. Here you will discover that the people of Nepal are gentle by nature and very diverse. Here you will live unique and unforgettable moments full of overcoming and mixed emotions when contemplating the magnificence of the Himalayas.
There will be a day that you will wake up in a small shelter at three thousand or four thousand meters of altitude. It will still be dark, it will be around 3: 30-4 in the morning. With the dream and the freezing cold of the night, you will dress and go out, with your traveling companions to walk high. Only the light of the front lights gives you light. The grass creaks at each step. It is frozen and the crystals of ice stuck in its leaves shine with the reflection of the lights that shine on you as if they were precious brilliants.
Suddenly, the sky begins to clear up, without realizing it barely, it dawns. You are about to reach the top, the summit or the base camp, the emotion of everyone is palpable, the steps are rushed, the breathing feels stronger and the pulse accelerates. - "Almost," -think- "we are almost there, I almost see them ..." - You will stop, you will observe- "But what a radiant sun, I have to get there. One more step. Calm down, you're almost there. "- lots of photos. The guide urges, "up there are better views. If we hurry, we will arrive just in time to see the sunrise above the Himal (they are called in Nepal). " You, like everyone else, will look at the unbelieving guide that what he says is true, because this visual spectacle is impossible to improve, you will think. But friend, like all travelers before you, you will discover, stupefied that the guide was right. You will arrive, because the desire to discover and wonder will persist and when you are there, on the top of a mountain higher than any other that you have been before and in front there are still higher, shining, white and pink mountains interlaced in the snowy peaks touched by the light of the rising sun. The emotion is so great, the feeling of freedom is so strong and the camaraderie is born and felt among all of you who will be together in that magical, unique, unparalleled and different moment every time you come back and relive it.
So you are welcome to Nepal, the land of wonders, culture, history, adventure, and excitement. Everything, always, on the skin.
