The quiet hilltop village of Khechuperi and the friendly hosts of the homestay seduced us so much in such a short time that we decided to stay and enjoy the place for one more day before continuing on our route.
The village was really small, just the houses of a handful of families, the monastery and animals everywhere: goats, chickens, cats, dogs and the occasional cow.
And in the middle of all that, there was Diken the tadpole, the daughter of the homestay owners, always doing her thing with her rabbit and her stuffed panda bear attached to her back.
That girl couldn’t have been more tender and she kept us entertained the whole time.
In the morning we wanted to go for a walk in search of some waterfalls that, according to the guide and the locals, were not very far away, but the truth is that we never found them.
After asking a lot and walking a lot, we were unable to get beyond a small stream, but at least the walk had been worth it.
In the afternoon, after eating at the homestay and watching the patience and skill with which the homestay owner and her sister-in-law made the momos, we went down to the sacred lake even though that meant having to climb the hill again to return to the village.
Back at the accommodation, and with almost three more members of that family, we decided to contribute our bit to the decoration that all the travellers had created.
Toni, the more clever of the two, took it upon himself to record our visit there with a marker and a piece of wood, as well as sticking a photo of our niece on a mural of travellers who had passed through there. She must be the youngest of all.
That night there was rum and beer for everyone…
On the last day of the hike, before starting the march, we wanted to witness an important religious ceremony in the monastery of the village, where the monks recited prayers and played musical instruments. And Diken, of course, joined in the party.
We had a nice lunch before saying goodbye to everyone and after receiving a gift in the form of a homemade stick we began the descent.
It only took us two hours to get down to the road, but it was enough to leave us with some seriously bruised toes.
Once there we had to wait for a jeep to pass by heading towards Yuksom as it was too many kilometres to cover on foot, but it took us almost an hour because every vehicle that passed was full of people or just passed us by.
Finally a jeep took pity on us and, after sending some of the occupants onto the roof of the vehicle, we crammed ourselves in with the rest of the passengers.
That night in Yuksom we went out to dinner with Pauline to say goodbye, as she wanted to continue trekking and we had to return to Pelling. The Indian visa was about to expire and we had only a few hours to cross the border with Nepal.
Waking up too late that day prevented us from returning to Pelling with a shared taxi, so we had no choice but to pay the owner of the guesthouse to go back with him. 1500 rupees was the cost of the joke.
That last day in Pelling (and in India) nothing could separate me from the fireplace of the Kabur hotel or the kitten that pampered me purring on my legs.
That night, a group of very curious and friendly young people from Sikkim invited us to have beers and surprised us by telling us things about their state and other things that they curiously knew about Spain.
It was a nice farewell to a country that had welcomed us for 4 long months full of experiences, Nepal was already in our minds at that time…
