Sneaky Sneaky

I snuck past the Bhundh early in the morning on Wednesday in Chitwan and made it to Kathmandu without incident about noon the same day! It was kind of a gutsy thing to do but several of the staff sat the Cancer Hospital were very specific about how it could be done and if you get up really early before the tribal people manning the bhund show up to guard their road block of burning tires or big rocks you can sometimes sneak past and get through!
For those of you not really clear about all these Bhundhs I've been writing about Sorry... a bhundh is a road block where all motorized traffic is prohibited from moving past a given point. They block traffic and sometimes shut down the bazzar too. Sometimes bicycles and those on foot are permitted to pass. These are often political strikes or just a group protesting a cause or even the death of someone in an accident in the past! It is a way for the common people to obtain a voice and exhert some control over the government as there is only one road out of K-du going west and it is this East - West Highway. All economic trade comes and goes through India and Nepal on this road so it is pretty effective to dominate it. It cripples Kathmandu after about a week as they run out of fuel and food past that!

There remains 5 -6 locations across this highway where the Tharu people ( a tribal group) are making the bhundhs so even if I flew out to Dhangadi ( the last airstrip west) and tried to get trough there they have blocked the road going up the mountain and i'd get stuck in blistering hot Dhangadi so I've called Dave and strategized and we have agreed I'd do best to sit tight here in K-du tilll they reopen the roads. At least it is not so hot here! I do have the downside of paying about $25/day for hotel and food though so pray it will get resolved soon! Also we have the compounded challenge of 12- 16 hours without power here so I'd betted dash this off not knowing just when the "load shedding" starts today!

I do so appreciate all your prayers and hope to see many of you in about a month as Dave and I return to Seattle!
He is still working on the well... they are going deeper but still no water.. the manager of the project himself fell in to the well ( 20 feet) and got banged up really good but no broken bones! so that has delayed progress! If it is not one thing it is another!