We do! We managed to get emergency Indian visas and new pages in Dick's passport in 5days... then we took off on Tuesday and crossed the Bay Bridge to get to the airport - 5 hours after we crossed, a cable broke and the bridge was closed down... then our flight out of SFO was delayed by an hour and a half - we were told we'd never make our connection at JFK - but we did! Emirates Airlines was wonderful - held the plane and walked us through security to make sure we didn't miss it... then Air India pilots went on strike the day after our flight to Kathmandu! It's a miracle - it's magic - but we're here!
Arriving in Kathmandu, we were met by Bonnie and Hari, her driver, a diminutive genius who knows how to zip through every pot-holed, cow and goat filled alley and back road in the city - the bald tires on his battered little red van have been blessed, so he doesn't worry (!)
As always when Bonnie has a car in town, she had a long list of errands, which happily included a stop in the bar at the Yak & Yeti, one of KTM's luxury hotels, to meet some volunteers. Over cocktails, these two lovely ladies passed on a giant duffel bag of Crocs and another suitcase of donated clothes. As we jammed this generous donation into the car with all the other luggage and tried to stuff ourselves between them, Bonnie mentioned that we had to pick up a Belgian magician who would put on a magic show at Ama Ghar - my thought was "He'd better be a magician if he thinks he's going to fit in this car!"
But somehow, Hari juggled all the people and luggage, and we all bumped and bounced to Ama Ghar, where our children, plus kids from two other homes, were waiting in the courtyard. Our magician, whose name was Sylvain, was phenomenal - he combined clowning and magic, involving the kids in a delightful show. Sylvain makes his living 9 months of the year by performing professionally around the world - then comes to Asia for three months and entertains at childrens homes and hospitals for free. That's a kind of magic, don't you think? That someone would devote their life to making children laugh?
