vaga #7/2 Gopal

PART II

Gopal Bahadur Sunuwar

It is the first chapter that I dedicate to a person, Gopal, life of a trekking guide something more from inside than what is usually known from a trekking guide of the Himalayas

in the photo above Gaurav (son), his younger sister of 17 years who lives with his parents, Vinu, wife of Gopal, Gopal, below the father of 63, mother of 59, paternal grandmother and brother, to the centre Saurav (the youngest son), photo taken November 2020

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The motivations to dedicate this chapter to Gopal are several: to tell, share or make known the story of a Nepalese, his family, and how he has been opening steps in life, overcome extreme poverty, move his family forward for a better life, give the children hopes of better opportunities than this man who was born in the interior of the Himalayas did not have. Because I was also marked by his personality, intelligence, perseverance, courage, curiosity, his humility and pride at the same time, and the sense of humour was what opened a long friendship for us overcoming the tremendous cultural, generational, linguistic, economic, and educational gaps. We have none of these things in common, nor close to it, sometimes I wonder why we became such close friends and with so much appreciation. I think that for my part, it is my admiration for all those qualities, a man who I have never heard lament, aware of the labour abuses in which he lives, is going to complete the year without work due to Covid, instead of complaining he seeks how to get out of those situations so that in the future they are not repeated and even less for his children, and I think that for his part it was the curiosity, the welcome that I gave him of an equal treatment, many times we did not understand when we talked to each other, then we changed the subject and continued with other conversations without that being an impediment. Or perhaps, just because of "humanity in common" – we are human beings – and with nothing in common.

He was born in the photo of the house below, the eldest of five sisters and two brothers. He went to the primary school shree champ devi something very important to give me the name, the school is the way out of that hard life of his parents, He finished sixth grade and left school to help with the family sustenance, with 7 younger brothers working the land in the self-sustenance crops, with corn, potatoes,  goats, and cows. The house is a two-day walk from Kathmandu, that is, not on the high mountain. Their ethnicity is Sunawar, and it is used as a surname in all of the ethnic groups, the first name, Gopal second name Baharu and his surname Sunawar, speak their own dialect.

I share pieces of many conversations we had with Gopal on trekking, lunches and by phone, where I learned about his life. At the age of 17 he left for Kathmandu with the help of an uncle who worked in trekking and looked for work around tourism. As he told me there is no future on the land and only remained in self-cultivation, as sustenance, he wanted more and there were two options, one to approach tourism or go abroad as a worker. The uncle managed to find him a job as a porter, those who carry the loads on their backs for tourists (and not "sherpa" as common and misnamed, Sherpa is an ethnic group and not a trade) for trekking excursions. So he began 17 years ago as a porter, the work is very hard physically, you carry 32 kilos on your back, walking up and downhill, just with something that look like shoes, for days, weeks, now there are kilo limits they can carry (that is for the agencies, and it is respected) but when you have to carry an 8 x 8 inch beam of oak on your shoulder,  and it weighs twice or double or two full gas cannisters that weigh 25 kilos each, for days and weeks, up the mountain. Remembering those times Gopal, the memory of the hardness of physical work he became sad and introspective. It is a trade or only means of transporting things throughout the Himalayas, not only to serve tourists, it has worked like this since there are no roads and the valleys are populated. After 25 years those bodies are burst, the kidneys, back, knees cannot perform any more and some are left with discomfort and health problems for life. They are only seen passing between 14 and 24 years old, after they are older, they are not seen. Gopal, tried harder than the others to draw attention to the bosses, in this case he arrived faster and carried extra kilos to show that although he was skinny and small he could carry a lot, he wanted to stand out. He got the attention he was looking for at the end of the year and became a kitchen assistant in the trekking, which was to climb the important work ladder and in order not to destroy his body, he would no longer carry anything on his back through the mountains, just get to the camp, peel potatoes and wash pots, it is another life. In the time of kitchen assistant his restlessness did not stop there, he was asking the guides during the walks the names of the mountains, the heights, and he was learning them and asking them all the time for information; fauna, flora, history of ascents. With English, he was the same, with his peers he was asking them, how to say this or that. With his intelligence, liveliness, skills, speed in learning and good judgment he stood out and was transferred to assistant guide. He  was already able to handle some  English to converse with tourists. Meanwhile, during this time he met Vinu, a woman of his caste, who lived in Kathmandu with a sister. He married her in 2004, he told me that he chose his wife, it was neither his parents, nor hers, he is the first in his generation to choose a wife and that his wife's family accepted that it was the boyfriend who asked for her hand and not an agreement between parents, he married for love 14 years ago. In 2011, at 24 years, with a son born he tried to look for work outside the country for better prospectives than the work of assistant guide since all that area depends on the seasons and the high season. He only received payment when there was trekking and if there was none, there was no salary. It is difficult to maintain a family in that uncertainty and when there are 4 months of high season and 4 months of low that little or nothing happens, and it is not easy to find casual work as a waiter, for example, to make up for the lack of income for months and the salary he received was not enough to save much. He applied with a group of young people for a job offer in Poland. He had to pay a lot of money, for the work permit, visa and plane ticket, more than 500 dollars. It ended in a scam, they abused his lack of knowledge and his desperation, not knowing where to go to claim. He lost loans and savings for more than a year. Then he was promoted to a guide, already with written English speaks fluently, a basic course of first aid and the handling of mountain accidents, knowledge of all the geography and topics related to mountaineering, who ascended what, and in what year, etc ... to answer all the questions of the clients and without Google to help at least in those times and after a couple of seasons he became "leading guide" of expeditions, that is, he had  several guides in his charge, because each guide is only responsible for a certain number of clients and when there are many there are several guides, and he is the leader supervising the entire expedition, it is the highest position. When it is his turn to be a leader, I feel it on the phone with a very lively voice, he likes that responsibility very much. Then he began to learn about climbing and doing high mountains, it is not the same as trekking, but to make summits and difficult expeditions and there, other knowledge is required, it is a profession of very high risk and also not knowing if the clients are suited, for ice, torment for days, rope techniques and the mental state that is required  that is extremely important. He only meets the client  days before without having practised anything before, and he has to be prepared for any eventuality. Two years ago his agency, which in turn partnered with other agencies, put him as a kitchen assistant for a huge expedition of about 1,600 people plus the support staff. They came from India, more than two months on a pilgrimage to the sacred mountain "where the god Shiva lives" of Kailash in Tibet. There he did not feel happy, for more than two months with a salary of kitchen assistant without having the possibility of doing the work of a guide with a much better salary, and he missed the high season that is when the money of the year is made. He told me he never finished working from dawn to dusk, he liked that  visiting that mountain sacred to the Hindus and their access to climb it is rarely authorised. These are things about Gopal, which I admire, he does not complain, I only feel it in his voice, that is, to go from professional climber with achievements and one day to kitchen assistant the next, his frustration was kept inside, humble and at least with me, he does not lose his sense of humour when we speak that were twice in more than two months,  there were laughs, jokes and good sharing.

photo, the marriage of Vinu's sister, she is also from a family of 8 siblings, in the photo with 3 of her sisters, below the bridal sister with her husband at the celebration

Gopal is Hindu, devout, and enjoys being in Kathmandu for the festivities to be able to share it with his wife and children, but they are the least, in the photo below two are in his room with his brother, and children is the festival "Deepawali" one of the most important festivities, candles are lit inside and outside the houses,  they dress in their best clothes and prepare the best meals that are shared, they are 5 days and different rites for each.

during a few months of the pandemic and without work he left for his parents' house, in the mountains, without signal, and he looked very happy despite the adversities he crossed as head of household, leaving the Kathmandu room to nature and where children can enjoy space, without Covid restrictions and eating what the earth offered in times of unemployment is the best gift. photos from November 2020.

women are the axis of the family and have power within it, there is no machismo, less discrimination than in other cultures and in fact the current president of the country is a woman. The photos below are of Vinu's mother and grandmother, aunts and Vinu with their neighbours room. Those below are of the marriage of a brother of Vinu and the mother of Gopal

He was barely given the opportunity for him to be in Kathmandu and not in the mountains and I being in the city he invited me to lunch at his room to meet the family. We coordinated, I took a taxi, he spoke on the phone with the driver to indicate the address and agree on the fare so that I would not be assaulted as a tourist. About 35 minutes of driving through dirt and mud streets that are half labyrinths, chaotic all the way, he finally told me to get out somewhere. Totally lost in some periphery of Kathmandu, I still did not know how to use the Google Maps well, I waited for Gopal, he appeared after 5 minutes with his tremendous smile. We walked through narrow corridors between buildings to the back of one that was his, one of 4 floors, on the second floor was his room. As I said earlier there are no apartments, they all live in rooms, no running water, a toilet in this case at the end of the hall. There were about 10 rooms on the floor and each with a curtain for a door, his at the end which had a window with a view and light. Two large beds, a wardrobe, a small table for the gas stove, a narrow table with 2 chairs, a stool against the wall, a small table with a TV and the computer in a space of about 16 square meters, painted with cheerful teal paint. All was impeccable, the beds are taken out of the covers during the day, and they are used to sitting down to eat, do homework, receive visitors. I met his wife, Vinu. A young, pretty woman, dressed in robes with her red dot on her forehead. The children were at school, several neighbours stepped into the room at the curiosity of seeing a tourist hanging around their homes. He also lives with a brother who works in security that I didn't run into. I don't know how they manage to store things, winter clothes, all the belongings of 5 people and a house. The dishes and pots strategically well arranged, some pots hanging from the wall, and you see that they needed something was very precise where it was, every inch is used intelligently. There is no intimacy in anything, when the children arrived home from school, they wore uniforms, and when changing clothes everything was very efficient, one went out of the room and the other changed, the boy was covered with a sheet and changed.

I arrived at 11:30, I had "raski" - rice liqueur - special for me, ....pouf ...... at that time then beers. We had lunch at one, Gopal and I at the table, and she ate sitting on the bed. All the previous time is spent washing the morning pots that Gopal did outside, cooking, he was very active in everything in the house. In high season he spends no time at home and when he is there he takes care of everything, washing, cooking, picking up and leaving the boy at the nursery. Gopal at 2 went out to look for Saurav the  3-year-old from the nursery, at that a friend of Vinu arrived, and they began to try on bracelets and make combinations of colours and seeing me looking at them smiling they invited me to sit with them and  to play with the bracelets with zero English. When Gopal returned after half an hour he caught us at three on the bed dead from laughter, he laughed when he saw the situation - things of women - he said. Saurav, a chubby, laughing and restless boy, Vinu changed him and gave him something to eat. Gaurav, the oldest of about 11 years, arrived at around 3 with an impeccable uniform, and greeted me in perfect English. Gaurav, changed his clothes and threw himself into bed to do the homework, there was quite a lot, he showed me the books, that he studied and what he was learning, all in fluent English and perfect English. He looked very studious with a beautiful, enviable Latin handwriting. Nepal is making a tremendous effort with foreign aid to provide education in English, as tourism is the country's main income. He is a good student, when he gets good grades at the end of the semester he sends me photos of his reports he is very proud. Gopal does absolutely not want  his children to follow his path as a trekking guide, he would like them to be teachers who are always called "Sir", for their importance and respect for their work that is the only way to move forward for the new generation or the military.

There I took out a type of cake and juices that I carried for the children, a couple of friends from the Saurav building appeared and one or another neighbour and at the same time some boys appeared with a new table, to replace the old one, with more drawers they were all very happy with the improvement, and we ended up all sharing the cake and juices. At around 4 pm we went to a niece's birthday. We walked through the neighbourhood about for 20 minutes, Vinu bought her some gifts on the way, to get inside some alleys to a building on the ground floor, a room of 9 square meters, dark, without windows, a bed and a table only for cooking. There was an older couple, surely the grandparents, the parents, friends, all sitting and standing where we could there were like about twelve people, they sang the happy birthday to a very charming girl who was happy about 9 years old. I was served local whiskey over and over again and as much as I said "no, thanks", there was no choice, then the boys went to play in the yard. At around 7 pm it was dark, I was exhausted and ready to retire, Gopal insisted that I stay to sleep in his house, they would arrange something, but no, I stood firm, get me a taxi please explain to the driver since in that area the drivers do not know English where to leave me and the value of the drive. I fell in surrender

When the new table was installed, Gopal showed me on his computer a web page he had, !!!!! surprise, I had no idea !!!!! and he asked if I knew anything specific about the page that he has not been able to solve, which I did not know anything about either, however, I saw it and saw so many problems, repeated photos and few, all confusing. He wants to become independent as a guide. The difference in salary is substantial, working for the agency earns him something like 10 dollars a day, versus 35 if you are independent and even more depending on the complexity of the trekking. His agency where he worked if he was caught would fire him. The fee charged per day by an agency is 90 dollars, it is easy  during the trekking to make friends with a client and tell them that if they return or send him friends he would do the service by skipping the agency, it is business for everyone. When he has a client, and it's usually for 2 weeks his colleagues at the agency cover his back, and he says he's going to see his family, or someone is sick etc... Nor can the agency know about his page and that is why he uses a pseudonym "mountain goat".

4 years ago a New Zealand client with whom he became friends and who also appreciated his personality, joy, his progressive attitude, of being a great professional who wants to become independent, opened that website on a free platform, then lost contact with him, and it was left with many gaps, and he could not solve it. I tried to help him by calling Rafael, as we had done the trekking together. Rafa got into the matter from Chile of how to manage the page for changes, he went as far as he could, without the original administrator there was not much he could do, however, he still taught me something how to improve what was there. Starting with the presentation, selection of photos and "marketing" a word that he had never heard, and it cost me a world that understood the concept, in the end I did not achieve it. We met a couple of times with his computer in a restaurant in Thamel to work, while he was trekking I moved forward with his photos. Then I left for Sri Lanka, I ran out of visa. We followed on the phone when we could coordinate our times. It was like 2 months of this. I learned a lot about how the page works and what kind of presentations there were, and I fixed it a lot until I made its slogan. Hours of phone calls, messages, emails, photos here and there, it was exhausting for both of us, frustrating, with technology to explain how it works and the things I had to do and many times we did not understand each other by the language or by not understanding the concepts of marketing, however we always advanced with something, there I won 5 heavens,  for patience. There are three thousand agencies in Kathmandu that offer that service plus as many independents, but in the end both exhausted he ended up copying / pasting other pages, it was what he knew and if they sold like this he did the same. We abandoned this at some point, although there were good and varied photos of each type and routes of trekking. Nowadays, the platform has been taken off the web for being free and staying so long.

With Peter, we met in Nepal at the end of December 2018 and Gopal on his own initiative invited us to lunch on December 25 to his room to celebrate Christmas, they do not celebrate it, and he gave Peter a cashmere scarf because it had been his birthday days before, that excited me much more than Peter. That's where we arrived with the gifts and hats. I told Peter to lend a hand to Gopal if he needed anything on the computer and I told him that I had helped him a few months before, Peter let out a tremendous laugh – "you in computer things" he told me and helped him with several doubts he had.

During the trek it was a huge, shock that he pulled out an umbrella when it started to rain. The photos are from Everest Base Camp. With Rafael, we were in fits of laughter the first time he used it, it does not fit the image of mountaineering with an umbrella at 5,400 meters high surrounded by glaciers !!!! .... NOPE NOPE !!!! . Therefore, our little gift that we gave to Gopal back in Kathmandu when Rafa said goodbye to him, it was obviously a "very flirtatious red umbrella with embroidery" there were big laughs when he received it, the gift could have been so many useful things, however humour was what remained between us.

His profession

Everest Base Camp, 2019

Climbing is completely different from trekking, his last ascent was "Mera Peak" last February previously to "Island Peak", both over 6 thousand meters. In Nepal, he is very regulated in this, when he makes the ascent through the agency, it registers and gives a certificate to the guide confirming his success he already has more than a few. He decides the route, adapts according to the inconveniences, weather conditions, the technique of using ice axes, shoes with spikes for ice, or equipment for walking on deep snow, ropes, kitchen equipment and tents, to see all the logistics without assistance and the well-being of his climbers, do everything possible for their success and leave the customers very happy.

photos of "Mera Peak" March 2018

photos of Island "Island Peak", October 2016

This is my second "tip" of the blog that I pass and both are about safety and here if someone goes to Nepal after a trekking there are many that are offered in the streets with tempting prices, but I do not recommend them, you do not know the real experience of the guides, nor the facilities and skills in case of accidents,  that there are, I had one, no one is safe or guides who do not know anything about hills and information about their names or, totally unconcerned about their clients and I have run into those in trekking, a shame. With all my pleasure,  and pride I pass the data of Gopal if someone one day plans to go to Nepal or pass the information either by a simple two-day trekking in the Kathmandu valley, until ascents I take for granted that you will have the best in all aspects of service, security, personalised,  and pleasant company. (-sometimes he can go weeks without answering emails because he is in the mountains without a signal-)

gopalthegoat@gmail.com    Facebook: Gopal Bahadursunawar     Instagram: sunuwargopalbahadur   +977 9841766927

Gopal would be more than happy to show you his wonderful mountains, as he has let me know.

Gopal, thank you friend, for your friendship, welcome and everything you have taught me, !! Namaste!!