The previous night we finally met up with our Singular Humanitarian and CHOICE Humanitarian group in Kurintar and after a church service in the morning, we promptly loaded up the buses and headed out of town towards our final week-long destination - Duradanda. Believe me, I was kind of excited NOT to be riding in a bus again for a while after we finally reached the village.
A view on the way up. This is when we transitioned from the "silk road" to the "real road"
Villagers hauling their harvest.
Unluckily, it was still a 4-5 hour ride mostly on roads like you see below - dirt and rocks and bumps and steep cliffs off one side at all times. And I'm sure the bus driver felt it was his duty to drive as close to the edge as possible when I the edge was on my side and I was sure we were going to plunge to our deaths over the edge more than once. Luckily, I made a new friend - Danalee - who kept me busy talking rather than watching when I'm sure at least two bus tires were off the road.
We are all out of the bus because one of the two buses we were in broke down on the way up the mountain and we had to wait for them to fix it. The other item of note, most of the roads winding through the mountains were one lane. Big problem when the few other vehicles in the area came through and wanted to pass. We finally solved the traffic jam problem but took a little longer to fix the bus. 
I ended up walking the last few miles with a few people into Duradanda because I didn't want to wait any longer for the bus. We were greeted with an amazing sunset right when we reached the village.
I ended up walking the last few miles with a few people into Duradanda because I didn't want to wait any longer for the bus. We were greeted with an amazing sunset right when we reached the village.
And even better, we were greeted by the whole village with singing and dancing and tikkas and garlands and more tikkas and more garlands and more dancing and singing. It was a purple cow night.
This is me with the village lady who pulled me in with the locals to teach me how to dance Nepali style. A little intimidating at first and definitely outside of my comfort zone since I was the only white person in there dancing, but it was soooo much fun!
After all the festivities finally died down, we headed to our living quarters for the week. Two rooms for the girls and one for the guys. This school room was my abode for the rest of the Duradanda stay.
This is me with the village lady who pulled me in with the locals to teach me how to dance Nepali style. A little intimidating at first and definitely outside of my comfort zone since I was the only white person in there dancing, but it was soooo much fun!
After all the festivities finally died down, we headed to our living quarters for the week. Two rooms for the girls and one for the guys. This school room was my abode for the rest of the Duradanda stay. 
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