Nepal is Cool. Where is that Again?

So it is pretty easy to distinguish that I am not a world traveler, I did not ever do well in geography, and I do not speak in any other language but good old American.  I do realize that I have been doing a lot more traveling as of recent but before I met E, I had literally only been out of the country once (not counting weekend trips to Rocky Point, Me-he-co).  So when Nepal was brought up I acted like, "oh yeah Nepal, I have been wanting to go there forever, so cool,"  but what I was really thinking is really "where in the world Carmen San Diego is Nepal?"  So I googled, did some research, packed up my Vera Bradley tote and we hit the road.

What a cool picture right?
E took that one...

When we landed I knew it was going to be poor, because TOMs shoes have been there to launch their new eyeware campaign, but I was not expecting people living in huts on the side of the road, garbage piled up, and cows sleeping in the streets poor.  It was definitely an eye opener.  Lucky for me, we stayed in some really nice accommodations up in the base of the mountains at Gokarna Resort.

So I do not know if you have to google Nepal, but it is really know for its outdoor extreme activities, like trekking, bungee jumping, and white water rafting.  Since there were no extra strength, extra long rubber bands or rapids at Gokarna, we settled on a nice little trek, that I think most would really call a hike, or it was rather slow, so maybe it could even be defined as a stroll in the woods.  We walked up to the front desk to book our hike and they handed E this little teeny tiny bottle and called it "medicine."  Eric pointed at me and said, "just don't tell her that."  At which point I immediately began to pay attention and started to ask questions.

"Medicine for what?"
"For the leeches Mam, it is rainy season."
"Are we going in water?"
"No Mam, they are in the mud."
"Huh?"
"Namaste Mam."
(Namaste my ass I am not going where any leeches are...)

E got the death stare and then I remembered, I am in Nepal, it is cool, I can handle any of this let's hit the trails and if there are any issues we have our trusty guide, Amit.  So I  rubbed the medicine onto my legs, shoes, ankles, and then I double dipped for more, there will not be any little blood suckers on my precious limbs. (If you have read past posts you will remember that I have had encounters with these little buggers before)  So we set out of our rainy hike.

We walked out on the slippery golf course and up into the lower trails of the hills.  It was a misty morning and I was feeling quite sprite and happy after my yoga session so we walked and chatted with Amit, as he practiced his English.  About 10 minutes into the hike he stopped us and did a leech check.  Everyone came out with a clean bill of health and we continued on in hopes of spotting deer and monkeys.  Well I was hoping, E has a phobia with monkeys, but then again I have one with leeches so I told him to suck it up.

We saw this:

And this:

So we did not actually get any pics of monkeys
on the hike but this is from our room.

And here we are scared of the monkeys (I was just pretending but I think E was definitely ready to get out of there):

Hide and seek from the Monkeys and Leeches

After about an hour and a half we came back out onto the golf course.  It was time for the final test, we had been watching our feet closely and discarding leeches as they tried to attack, so last check was inside our shoes.  E took his shoes off left then right, no problems, clean bill of health.  Then Amit inspected his.  Then me, who had probably watched my feet the most diligently of the rest of the trekking team, removed my shoes...And I am sure you have already guessed it but I had one little creature on each little foot, having a nice big lunch.  Dis-gust-ing.  Really?  Only me...Namaste, you gross little leeches, namaste.