Diwali (Kathmandu, Nepal)

Diwali in Kathmandu!

Festival of Lights. This Hindu holiday takes over the city for 5 days in October. A celebration of the protection of Inner Light over Spiritual Darkness. Streets are abuzz. Many businesses are closed as families and friends gather.

Especially at night. The city is aglow. String lights, flashing lights, flowers, music, fireworks and candles. Melted wax and rangoli powders on the sidewalks- bright colors of festivity. Everybody out in the streets. Up late and off work. Even dogs are dressed in marigolds.

The last days of Diwali marked the end of our month in Nepal. In sone ways time has flown by. In other ways it seems like we have been here forever. It has been an amazingly beautiful, challenging and heart opening journey. This is a country that is both chaotic and calm; struggling and resilient; ancient and modern; pristinely beautiful and also filthy; generous and opportunistic. A month is just a brief glimpse into the complexities of this land and these people. We have seen so much and yet so little.

I would like to return.

*A most heartfelt Thank You to our friend Eshani who shared her beautiful apartment in Kathmandu with us while she was away. It has been the perfect home base to come and go from the city. Staying in an apartment outside of the tourist zone has given us the opportunity to feel like we have been living here- to shop and cook, take care of laundry and meander through neighborhoods far and wide.

Every day has been an adventure!