Roughing it starts.

  Nargacot, Nepal
Tuesday, September 19, 1978

After a brief stay in Khatmandu city the four groups split up and went to different small villages for three months of training, mostly in language and culture but also some technical aspects especially for the Fisheries group.

Our group boarded a rickety bus for a climb up to Nargakot. It was not much more than a collection of a few houses and a very basic guest house. Cots in dorm rooms. Introduction to dahl baht the Nepali haute cuisine. Start of language training.

Only there for three days before moving to our 'permanent' training site.

Nargacot was on a hill top north of the city at an elevation of about 7000 feet. Khatmandu is 4500 ft. Distant clouds, the lingering monsoon obscured the Himalyas to the north. Early one morning I was up before 'revellie' and saw that the mountains were out. What a sight.

I took a few pictures with an inexpensive camera I had. However I lost the camera with the first roll still in it. So I have no photos for the first few months in Nepal.

This photo was taken Sept 78 at Nargakot, Nepal during HILT [High Intensity Language Training]. I am the barefoot one in center. On my right, Len Groner from near San Jose, CA, assigned to teach Botany at Pokhara Campus of Tribuvan University where I would also be a Lecturer in Mathematics.

01 Len G, Art Rom.., Bev, Jim

Bev & Jim Sweet from Wellsville, NY were the only married couple among the 64 PCVs who came over on the plane from PHL. They would be assigned to the Tansen Campus to teach English and Business respectively.