Just a shout out

Good morning again,

I just wanted to take a little time to thank everyone that supports The Nepal Tiger Project.

We have friends everywhere that give their time, share their talents and contribute financially to the Project. I want to send a particular shout out to Chasen Nuttall, our talented graphic design intern who has worked very hard to create the logo and letterhead  for the Project.

Chase studies design at San Diego Community College and should be finishing up the program real soon. Hopefully he will continue to use his talents to create a positive change in the world.

If you every meet the guy, don't hesitate to say hello. He's super cool and he's up to big things!

For the rest of the team, I look forward to meeting you all in the very near future. Keep up the good work and know that every effort you make is appreciated.

Love,
Charlie

Count your tigers!

Good morning everyone!

I was scanning the internet this morning and I found this post:

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2013/02/20132581124784731.html

Any thoughts?

Have a great week!
Charlie

Mt. Everest and others

Nepal is home to eight of the ten highest peaks in the world, including Mt Everest. The peak of Mt. Everest is just over 29000 feet!

Hello!

Hello Everyone!

On behalf of John Brooks, myself and the other team members of the Nepal Tiger Project, I would like to say thank you for following our blog and for supporting such a worthy cause.

If you've been reading John's posts in the past, you'll know that he went to great lengths to create a positive change for the people and the tigers of Nepal. Now it's our turn to do what we can to ride the momentum and get the word out.

Many of you do not know who I am so I shall introduce myself. My name is Charlie Compuesto and I am a friend of John's and a member of the board of directors. I understand that we are all pretty busy these days and to take the time to read and learn about the people, wildlife and the land of Nepal may not work in everyone's schedule, so my goal is simple.

My goal in helping to write this blog is to learn a simple fact about Nepal and her features and share this fact with you, so together we can learn how to make a difference in the wonderful world of ours.

Looking forward to sharing with you,

Charlie Compuesto

Board member
The Nepal Tiger Project

Nov 1^st, 2012 Delayed

Made my way to the airport in the late afternoon with plenty of time to relax and kick back. Passing through security checks at any airport these days is unpredictable. By now, I should have learned to expect the unexpected. But a four hour plane delay?

The worse part of being delayed four hours is not sitting in the airport, twiddling your thumbs. Is knowing that you will miss your connecting flight. It really sucks and is totally out of your control. I would arrive within a half hour of my plane leaving for the States, But, Customs would take at least that long to clear and then trying to get to the other terminal... not possible. I cleared the customs area at approximately 10:30 PM. The plane was scheduled to leave at 10:35 PM. But wait, there's more!

When I finally arrived in Delhi, I had to leave the arrivals area and then make my way to the departure zone, which took about ten minutes. Guess what? When I tried to enter I discovered you are not allow in the airport unless you have a ticket that has not expired. A the time, I was not aware that the plane home was delayed till midnight, but a delay is what I was hoping for and why I wanted to gain access. Still, I was not allowed in. So India has a special area for people like me. There were ticket booths in this isolated zone but no one was working them, at least not at the United Airlines counter. No phone number to call, no one from the airport able or willing to help, another than to say “come back tomorrow”. And none of the other airlines offering some insight to their system. I will spare you with the rest of the details of my ordeal. Suffice, if not to say, no one ever showed up to the United/Continental ticket counter but I finally received some assistance at 7:30 PM the following day. But the military security still would not let me pass until a ticket was issued. The representative had to go inside the airport, book me a ticket and bring it out to me, which finally satisfied the military. (Sorry, no photographs to show you the chaos at Delhi's Airport I was happy to get out of there and will do everything I can not to fly through India again.

So, that's my story! Hope you've enjoyed it. I've filed my papers to start a non-profit foundation and hope to return to Nepal next year with a team of biologist and educators to document exactly what's out in that jungle and to help the Sherpa people improve their lives without compromising their lifestyle. If you'd like to join the project, or contribute, contact me at canislupusproductions@gmail.com. We'll be lunching a website ((nepaltigers,org) by January 2013.

Oct. 30^th, 2012 – Bus ride home

I had a restful night sleeping in the dormitory. After walking 9 hours the day before, I was pretty much out for the count.

The buses are cued up and scheduled to leave at 5:30 AM and 6:30 AM. We decided to purchase tickets for the 6:30 AM bus.

So, you know those photos of people setting on top of the bus's racks? Here's the deal. All these buses are privately owned and operated. They will sell you a ticket, even if the cabin is sold out. You can wait for the next bus the following day, or you can stand in the aisle or sit on the roof. Same price. My guides assumed, and rightfully so, I would not want to sit white knuckled on the roof for ten plus hours, so we purchased tickets early and secured three seats. Our forth team member stood in the aisle for part of the way then went up on the roof until we reached the Kathmandu city limits. At which time the bus company made every one come inside the bus.

At what point in time do those of us living in countries that have been through such exploitation, and evolved past it, stand up for the less educated and tell them this is not acceptable? Do we have that right? That duty?? Do land borders supersede human, or for that matter, animal rights when it comes to the basic needs of a society or the individual? Greed and selfishness seems to be inherent in our species, but I would argue that we are better than that. By this point in human history, reason should have long since over ridden the selfish gene we've been passing down from generation to generation. I had a lot of time to think about this topic on the ten plus hour ride into Kathmandu.

Once back in the city, I sorted out all my dirty clothes, packed up my scat samples, and made preparations to leave Nepal the following afternoon. A short plane ride to Delhi, India, then a 14 hour flight back to the States.

Oct. 29^th, 2012

Last night, we had a little celebration.  We had potato mash for dinner, a local favorite among the Sherpa people.  The potatoes are boiled, peeled, then mashed by hand to a very fine consistency.  Its then place in a pot and cooked again, then served with a broth.   I helped pound down the potatoes and discovered how weak I am.  It was a lot harder than it looks.  Maybe it was the lack of oxygen, or maybe my body is just a spent unit.   In any case, I could only pound it a few times before handing the job over to another.

Dinner was followed by a lot of chung, conversation, and dancing to Nepalese music.  To a guy who listens to jazz and normally only dances to salsa, this was an interesting change. As isolated as many of the villages are from social services, I wondered how children were born out here.   A local doctor?   A Mid-wife? Nope.   Babies are born here the same way they've been born since the beginning of the human species.  All of the men on my team were born at home, without the help of western medicine.  “Sherpa women are strong”, I was told, and that very few children or mother's die out here as a result of natural child birth. Fascinating, I thought.

A product of natural child birth

We took off around 0730 hours the next morning after breakfast.  We were still above 2,500 meters so, it was no surprise that every uphill step I took was a struggle.  We made it to the nearest town by 11:30 AM, stopping for lunch.    Along the way, I came across a man on the trail.  His gaze was vacant, his clothing torn and dirty.   He stared at me as I walked towards him. “Namaste”, he said as I approached to pass. “Namaste”, I replied, smiling but continuing forward, in an attempt to pass.   He stuck out his hand. It was dirty.  Really dirty, showing the signs of a very hard life.   I looked at it, and him as I reached for his hand.   I could not help but think of how many people back home may have declined to shake his hand, or perhaps offer a knuckle instead.  Or maybe reluctantly shake the man's hand but immediately feel the need to breakout the hand sanitizer.   After our exchange, I continued down the trail, then focused on the hand that had just touched another's, and wondered, what is humanity?

In the next village we passed through, before dropping in altitude, I was reunited with a little girl I had met the year before.  It made me very happy to see her.

My young friend and her brother in 2011

My young friend 2012

Soon after passing through this village, we were able to bypass the trail through the farm fields and walk on the unfinished road they are building that will allow buses to travel further into the mountains, reducing the walk time for many of the villagers that are traveling back from Kathmandu.  Once we dropped below 2,500 meters, I felt like myself again, able to walk at a brisk pace and keep up with the others.

Some villagers are trying to discourage littering on the trails

Some people still don't get it

We made it to the buss staging area in the village of Dareh before night fall.  After dinner, we all sacked out for the night in a dormitory style hotel.   Although I was still in rural Nepal, life felt a bit different.