A million steps up for Taylor, one step back for Bob

Today was BBQ Sunday, so most of the day involved eating, lounging, and babies. This morning was a bit of a different story though. After tarping their enclosures, both Kevin and Bob lost considerable amounts of weight. We decided to try to fly Bob again.

Basically, there's a large hill-ish mountain behind Maya Devi. The goal is for Bob to fly from up there, with me, to his typical landing site with Scott. So bird and radio in hand, I went up. This was the easy part, except for Scooby deciding to come along and being under my feet. But we made it. Unfortunately, as I got up there two kites showed up. I took one, Scooby took the other, amd we had a pretty good eye on them. After a few attempts, Bob finally took off towards Scott, only to be attacked by both kites. This forced him to turn around and land somewhere on the hillside out of my vision. So Scooby and I start trucking to the left, only to reach a huge waterfall. This was unplanned,a nd it took us a it of time to et across. Unfortunately, once we did we were no where close to Bob.

With Scott directing us from the ground, we hiked upwards through the rice paddies and vertical climbs. Finally we got to poor Bob, still being mobbed by the kites. He happily stepped onto the glove for a second go.

After finding a clear area to stand in, and checking the sky for kites, we deemed it safe to retry. Unfortunately, the kites came back, causing Bob to retreat to even higher ground. Up went me and Scooby to find him. So there's me, Bob, Scooby, and kites on the hill. Which was great, except I had no idea how to get down. Scooby lead the way while I clumsily stumbled down the steep ridges throughout out the rice paddies with Bob, kites trailing not too far behind. Bob was a trouper, I fell a few times and he just calmly sat on the glove.

When two kites because three, we had to give up on the mission. The new problem was how to get down the rice pattie mountain with a vulture on one arm, radio in the other hand. After a lot of sliding, bumbling, stumbling, and falling somehow Scooby lead us to a beautiful stone staircase seemingly from nowhere to nowhere. At this point, a welcomed gift. We followed it down right night to Maya Devi, everyone grateful to be out of the wrath of the wild kites...


Until tomorrow.

Kites, Cows, and Dogs

Friday morning I walked Bob up this hill close to Maya Devi. The goal being to fly him down to his usual parahawking landing site. On the way up we ran into lots of Nepali wome, resulting in lots of baiting, some cows, and one brave kite. The kite came down and got me in the head from behind. I thought that was the end of it until she also mobbed Bob in flight. At least we tried.

Because of Tihar, all the pilots were off and he restaurant was closed. Scott, Anita, Talo, and I walked into town to have lunch. For some reason there were a lot of cows in the streets, more than usual. There was also a cow vs. dog stand off for some food.

Speaking of dogs, the street dogs are so well mannered and submissive its really weird that they mind people amd direction so well.

Scooby went missing for a few days, i was worried out him but he showed up this morning. :)

Kevin and Bob went through Extreme Aviary Makeover: Insect Addition this morning. I throughly disinfected their aviaries and Scott put tarps down. Hopefully this will help us keep a handle on what they're eating. Bob gained 20g after chowing on bugs last night.

I'm off to do a vulture talk for a British group, though they'd much prefer to talk to Scott. Oh well, what to do

What's in that tree?

Yesterday we drove down to Pame again, Bob is definitely getting there. Tomorrow we will fly him to the landing site that he will be flying to during parahawking flights. If that goes well the next two or three days, we can start doing glider flights with him!

Everyone else is also chugging along. We flew Sapana free flight today, she did pretty well except for the equipment part.

Goggles had a moment today that set me up for failure...got himself tangled in a tree and the creance. As I attempted to free him, something in the tree must have bit me, and my entire hand went numb. Luckily Adam gave me some antihistamines and it's almost back to normal.

In honor of the festival, there are a ton of candles lit all over town, and people's houses,and even here at Maya Devi. They all look beautiful.

Serge is cooking for us all tonight, it smells great. Good food with good people (and birds)

Lastly, a sad little story. We've been keeping the birds out on the lawn to weather all day. First because the fresh air and sun is good for them, second because they spend a large amount of time eating bugs in their aviaries. We waited just a bit too long this evening, and Bob couldn't find his perch. He tried twice, and fell both times. Poor thing, he gratefully accepted my assistance to place him on his perch. He's content and sleeping now :)


Also, a big happy birthday to my mom xx

Tihar

We are currently in the festival of Tihar. It seems everyday I'm introduced to a new Nepali holiday or tradition. Yesterday was dogs day, where everyone is to be nice to dogs. Seeing as street dogs are in abundance here, it seemed a little strange. Going with tradition we gave Scooby a beautiful flower necklace, which was the nicest o all the dogs i had seen, not that it matters.... Anyway I also tried give him some beer but he preferred meat products. Go figure.

The festival continues 3 more days, I'm excited to see what else I will learn. Back to the purpose of this blog...we attached Bob's tail mount yesterday for his telemetry. This means...wait for it...flying him off creance! We drove down to Pame where he did 2 long free flights. He was absolutely beautiful to see in flight.

His progress is making me excited for the season. Kevin is still fighting his diet, but he's slowly dropping the weight and he should be flying soon too.

The kites are coming along. Sapana and I are working on a friendship,which is seemingly one sided at the moment, but she will come around with time and trust.

Anita made a very yummy pasta dish last night, but the rain prevented us from eating outside.

Jess, Ivan, and I took the motorbike home but the headlight was out. We used my flashlight, again probably the best gift I could have received.

Oh, and there was a gecko in my shower last night :)

Sunday was BBQ day, so not much was going on betides eating and laughing...but that was okay with me.

Monday we took Bob to Pame to fly. It must be so weird to see two white people in a taxi with a vulture. I'd think we were crazy too. Upon arrival we were greeted by cameras and questions, paparazzi style. Luckily Scott and Shiva kept it under control. Good session.

Yesterday Scott and I went to the vet supply store. Basically it's a roadside shop selling antibiotics, vitamins, and treatments for poultry and cows. We have to sift through dirty boxes to find what we need. Bought some disinfectants and deworming stuff. A good trip. Went home and finally properly cleaned the aviaries, hopefully that will keep the bugs out. We had a feeling the vultures are eating tons of insects and that's why their weight isn't dropping.
We also gave Bob some new anklets. All and all a productive day.

Today we are going to deworm the birds, hopefully get new anklets on Kevin, and fly Bob off creance! Exciting times ahead

Internet is back :)

Blog

Haven't been online in a few days, the Internet was down for repairs.

Thursday night Scott, Anita, Talo, Adam and I went to Nanis for dinner. Its amazing how   I have such a low tolerance for spicy food, and yet the 4 year old Nepali was eating the hottest foods so easily. Scott also introduced me to my new favorite drink, sprite with beer, better known as a shandy. 

Took Bob out to fly him some long distance runs. I'm impressed at how well he did just sitting in the car on the glove. 

So far I've been in Nepal two weeks, and I've been introduced to two new sports that I love. Paragliding was wonderful,  but today Jess, Stee, Ivan and I went rafting down the Seti, it was so much fun! I love all of the outdoor activities I can easily participate in here. A stroke of luck put us in a raft with two people from the Taronga Zoo in Sydney. We chatted some, and I asked about my buddy Brendan. I invited them back to meet the birds at Maya Devi today.

Had a nice birthday dinner Ivan with two delicious cakes.

Getting ready

Tuesday I did my first vulture conservation talk, but when it rains it pours...so I actually ended up doing three in one day. Its nice to talk to people and teach them the importance of conservation. Hopefully they all can help us make a difference.
It was also Jodis last night in Nepal so we went to dinner at Moon Dance, we all had a nice night.

We've spent the last two days cleaning, painting, and overall renovating for the new season. Maya Devi looks great, and our bird area is cleaned out and ready to go.

And I'm definately adapting to a completely different lifestyle. Last night I took the flashlight in the shower, just in case, without a second thought. This morning I chased to cockroaches out of my room and didn't get grossed out.

Life is grand :)

Sunday night we all went for pizza. It was a nice night but 7 people is a little too much for their kitchen and the food took a while.

Monday had beautiful weather. The birds all got some sun and did some verticals to build a little muscle. Spent most of the day trying to get rid of two kittens that wouldn't leave. After work we had Japanese food in town, yum :)

I bought a cool device that is keeping most of the Mosquitos out and i finally slept the whole night!!!

First flight

Today Scott took me on my first paragliding flight. It was absolutely amazing! Much calmer than expected. Saw a wild Egyptian vulture and followed him to the thermals....really cool.

This afternoon we wanted to work the birds but the rain prevented much. :(

Preparing for the season

Ysterday Scott and I cleaned out the birds enclosures and let them spend some time outdoors.

Today I'm going on my first paragliding flight, then Anita and I are going shopping, and there's a barbecue this afternoon. Should be a great day!


The birds are still a bit heavy so we are just doing some basic vertical exercises to build muscle

This morning I met a bunch of people at Maya Devi, as well as the birds. It was a nice relaxing morning.

Spent the afternoon greasing up some gloves to get them ready. Then a tour group came through for lunch and we gave them a talk about vultures.

We weighed the birds but it'll be a few days until they're ready to work.


Now were all sitting around before dinner

Pokhara

Today we headed out to Pokhara, a 7 hour car trip. This morning we gathered some supplies in Kathmandu and headed out.  Its late, so Im just going to bed, but tomorrows a new day. Can't wait to meet the birds and get settled in.


On a different note, culture shock moment of the day was a TV commercial advertising a match making service for parents to select a match for the arranged marriage of their children. It shows 20 something's opening an envelope with just a picture. Then said child jumps up and hugs the parents. The tagline is "give your child the gift of a happy life"....yeeahh

 xxo 

Arrival

Yesterday I flew from Newark to London, great flight. No neighbors and got to watch Zookeeper and Mr.Poppers Penguins. All and all an excellent flight. The next, to Bahrain was not so good. This small child insisted on screaming for 3 of the 6 hours. Perfect. After a 4 hour layover, with a flooded bathroom, I was off to Kathmandu.

Got to the Scared Valley Inn around 8pm local time. On the way I learned there are few traffic rules in Nepal, and people don't move for cars.

I had some French fries and went to sleep early.

This morning I saw my first native black kite, and I got to enjoy some delicious banana pancakes.

Afterward I went wondering around the city. I saw a few temples, monks, and cultural ceremonies. The streets remind me of Quito, very crowded with people, vendors, and vehicles.

Went to lunch at a really nice place and discovered my dislike for Asian Pad Thai. Afterwards I ordered a plate of fried rice. It was good, so there's a plus.

I'm still struggling with jet lag so it's hard to stay awake...taking it easy and reading on th roof for the afternoon...