Day 3- A Long Drive and An Up Close Look at Monsoon Devastation

 This summer, Nepal suffered from devastating monsoon rains, landslides and flooding. Hundreds of people died. Today, we saw ithe damage up close. Our drive to the airport in Manthali followed the BP Highway and took us 8 hours. Like many others in Nepal it links the capitol and other cities with the Himalayas and appears to be an engineering miracle. It crosses many rivers, has hair raising ascents, dangerous switchbacks up and down steep hillsides, and only has two very narrow lanes. The past week was the Nepali “Christmas” holiday when scores of Nepali families leave Kathmandu to visit family. Today was the day they all tried to return home. The highway is so badly damaged it is impossible to imagine how it could ever be rebuilt. Entire families on small motorcycles, crammed into vans and in the backs of trucks took tremendous risks to get home. For miles and miles the highway no longer exists and the immense cement structures that supported it have all crumbled. Homes, cars, vehicles and trees litter the rivers from the hundreds of huge landslides. I have included a few photos to give you the idea. 












Tomorrow we fly to Lukla to finally begin our long trek to Everest Base Camp and the summit of Kala Patthar. We feel fortunate to have made it here safely. 

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