Dulikel to Pokara

I never understood the term 'professional driver' until today. We have one. Good thing! Picture a series of 'esses' stacked one on top of the other, all the way up a mountainside. Remember the road to Ronda Jesse and Zack? Same thing! Just more traffic, bigger trucks and passing. Lots of passing. Passing on turns, passing when there is oncoming traffic, passing, passing, passing. There is only one road through Nepal so all of the traffic is on it. The only difference between this road and the one in Ronda are the few strategically placed trees and berms that would slow you down just enough so that you could enjoy the terror if you go plummeting over one of these mountain passes. The drive from place to place is 240km by road. It took us 8.5 hours and that included a 1 hour stop for lunch and a 1/2 hour stop to cross a river on a suspension bridge. Normally I would have been terrified to walk across that bridge but today it was a relief just to get out of that car. Our speed averaged out to 30km per hour which seemed to me to be positively flying!

Every muscle in my body aches. My legs from standing on the back seat brakes, my traps from gripping the imaginary steering wheel and my jaws feel like my mouth has been wired shut for a month. Sean is not much better. After taking one particularly sharp turn to find a large truck in our lane (there is really only 1 1/2 lanes anyway) he said 'I think I just pooed a bit'. Shortly afterward he covered his eyes and dove head first into the seat chanting 'NOOOOOO. Stop!' Instead of having the desired effect of braking on the driver, Kechup just turned to look into the back seat to see what was wrong. Seanie won't do that again! At one point when Kechup reached the great old speed of 70 km per hour, I leaned forward to tell him that we really were not in a hurry. Actually, that is a lie... I did not lean forward. The gravitational force had me pinned to the back seat. It was freaking terrifying!

The light spot in the day was when we passed a van with a goat standing on the roof. It is not unusual to pass vehicles with dozens of people on the roofs, but a goat?????? We think that he was being hazed by his buddies. Either that or he was dared! I hope he made it home to collect his bets.

Uttam tells us that they only have two or three accidents a year on this road. What a coincidence.... we passed all three of them today.

At times like these, I wonder about my sanity. At home I insist on ski helmets, life jackets and seat belts. I would have packed my children in cotton batting at birth if I could have. Here I am in a country where safety is the least of concerns. Life is like a candle flame... one slight puff and it is lights out.