Saris burdeos, emeralds and yellows that once dressed smiling women move today through the streets of Kathmandu stained with blood and mud. Children, always present, mourn their parents today, and parents desperately search for their children. Red brick mountains, dust and skeletons of buildings make up the landscape of the capital of Nepal, a city that I knew more than a decade ago in a country that I always said I would return to. And to which I will return.
With these few paragraphs I want to dig into my memories and remember that wonderful trip I took to Nepal, as a tribute to those who suffer so much today.
2004, had 24 years and it was my first time in Asia. We start with India and we get to Nepal exhausted, exhausted from so much intensity of smells, flavors, images and feelings. We cross the border between the two countries by bus, one of those crowded and uncomfortable vehicles that travel narrow roads in the middle of the Himalayas and in which every minute you pray (to whatever) don't get out of the way, looking terrified at the precipice through the window. After a few hours, the die is cast, the mind learns to relativize and trust, so you relax. People help a lot, calm and smiling, with that peace characteristic of Buddhist countries.
We arrived in Nepal from India by bus exhausted, exhausted from so much intensity of smells, flavors, images and feelings
And Nepal, after india, It's like a lake of clean, warm water on a summer day.. It's peace and love, It is couples of men and women treating each other as equals., It is the majesty of its mountains and the simplicity of its inhabitants. The muscles relax, vital rhythm drops.
The bus took us to the capital, Kathmandu. I remember it with great affection and it is difficult for me to imagine the destruction of Thamel, that neighborhood of narrow streets and poorly placed buildings, animated by backpackers and full of restaurants, local bars and travel agencies. So poorly placed that they have not withstood the onslaught of mother earth. There is even more destruction there.
I find it difficult to imagine the destruction of Thamel, that neighborhood of narrow streets and poorly placed buildings animated by backpackers and restaurants
What has become of the pagoda of Boudhanath? I have a sunset etched in my mind sitting in that immense temple, a world heritage site., watching pass, calm, to the monks, the first Buddhist monks I ever saw. There I learned the rudiments of praying to Buddha, spinning those wheels as a prayer and lighting incense as an offering. what peace!
They were my first Buddhist temples, with that air of a Technicolor movie and those faithful walking from one to another with their flowers, candy and candles, in spacious plazas that connect some buildings with others, leaving space to sit, lie down, meditate, read or sleep.
In Nepal I learned to love Asia. I have a sunset etched in my mind sitting in the immense temple of Boudhanath
I remember many scenes with children, those children who today will be teenagers and who suffer the poverty of a poor country among the poor. They laughed with your smile, They played with the "guiris", those strange beings dressed in a bad way, and they returned to their chores, surely many without schooling, other orphans or, simply, hungry.
In Nepal I learned to love Asia. And I was left with a pending task: walk through its mountains. I've had that idea in my head for eleven years and the earthquake hasn't put an end to it.. Nepal needs help, and the best help is to keep traveling there. Your economy, its people, they depend on it.
The photos in this article may not reflect the reality of some areas of the country today., but many others remain the same, the day to day continues, with its bars, restaurants, travel agencies, its hiking trails and its temples. That is why I hope that travelers will soon return to the country that reconciled me with us..
