Namaste + Addendum

Namaste friends! I'm writing to you from Kathmandu. I got here with no incident yesterday afternoon and I love it already! I think partially because it's a reasonable temperature here.
I got picked up at the airport and I'm staying with the family of the trekking company I arranged my trip with. They are very friendly. I feel like an exchange student all over again!
We saw the Himalayas and Everest from the window of the airplane yesterday. It was beautiful. There was a line of clouds and then a line of mountains--it looked like the clouds were the mountains or the mountains the clouds. I felt like crying it was so pretty.
There's another woman from the US staying with the family also. She just finished the trek I'm about to do and said it's really amazing. She also said that my itinerary is the safest possible itinerary to prevent getting altitude sickness. Sounds good to me.
My guide seems very nice also. I'm not trekking with a group, but we stay in lodges along the way where there will be other people to meet when the day's walk is over.
I like Kathmandu a lot so far. It reminds me a little bit of La Paz, Bolivia.
Anyhoo, I'm going to look around the city today and tomorrow, off to the mountains!
Ok friends, stay well and behave yourselves! I will try and do the same.
Lauren
Hello again friends, internet and electricity are both a bit spotty here. There are six hours of mandatory blackout every day and other unannounced blackouts whenever it fancies. Inevitably, when the internet works there's no power and vice versa.
I really love it here so far. I had a tour of some of the sights today and it's like taking a step back in time. The streets are a bit hilly and definitely were not built for cars. I think this is my favorite place I've been so far and I've only been here a day! This bodes well for the rest of my month here.
I went to a temple today dedicated to Shiva (I also got a crash course in Buddhism and Hinduism from my guide and my head is still spinning--every ritual has a story behind it that takes at least 10 minutes to explain). There were funerals there today and people being cremated on funeral pyres, just like you hear about on the banks of the Ganges. It was amazing. Fun fact: the pagoda originated in Nepal.
It's interesting to be in another country that was a trading route between China and India, but to see how different the overland trade route is from the maritime one through SE Asia.
There's a large Tibetan Buddhist community here. We visited 2 temples with Tibetan prayer flags and stupas and monkeys today.
There are no street names/signs here which makes navigation complicated....
Did I mention the other woman from the US I met is now engaged to her trekking porter? Crazier things have happened.
Friends, I will attempt to take meticulous notes in my journal over the next 3 weeks so I can report back to you with the utmost detail. It's helpful to me to blog every day because then I can let you all know what's on my mind at the time and I don't have to try and remember what I did the day before, etc. It will be hard to try and summarize the 3 weeks for you when I return, but I will try!
TTFN,
Lauren