First day in Chanaute

I arrived in Chanaute after a long, bumpy, and dusty taxi ride from Kathmandu. The first hour was spent getting through Kathmandu and the outskirts of town and during this time the air was filled with black exhaust spewing from most of the busses and trucks. After that, the ride got a little better as the traffic thinned out and the air cleared up some and we made our way through the smaller towns and into the mountains. The last two hours were along a narrow road that alternated between dry and dusty or wet and muddy. The road ran along the Melamchi river and the view is nice and scenic. However, most of the time we had to follow behind several large dump trucks or busses and waited for those rare opportunities to pass.
When we finally arrived in Chanaute after about four hours, we found our way to the clinic and I met the two midwives working there, Mina and Bina. Neither spoke much English and so I asked about the translator, Bhoudimann and they informed me he will come later. Mina then phoned the clinic director, Hasta, and he informed me that they were not expecting me until the 24th (10 days later). He told me he will be back from Kathmandu tomorrow and so I spent a couple of hours going through the acupuncture and herbal supplies that were salvaged from the old clinic that was destroyed in the earthquake. Bhoudimann arrived three hours later and I gave him the gifts from the previous volunteers, Ari and Bonnie. Bhoudimann then told me he is planning on leaving the country for better work and so I will probably have a new translator.



That night Bina made me a delicious dinner of dal bhat, spicy potatoes and rice. Afterwards it poured down rain and my roof had a few leaks, so I moved the bed and my stuff to the dry sections of the room and placed a pot down to collect the water from the area with the biggest leak. My first day had come to an end.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone