DAY FIFTEEN

Every so often, I turn to Sophie and say, “You are in Jumla!”

These past two weeks have been the realisation of eighteen months planning and I am still pinching myself that we are actually here, shooting this film. We are in Jumla Bazaar which is the main town here and the only place in the district that our ‘dongle’ can pick up a net connection. We are stealing a few hours to get online and download nearly two weeks worth of emails en route from Urthu-Chautara to Tatopani where the EWN ‘Women’s Initiation in Eco-Tourism’ training commences in a couple of days.

We’ve been in Jumla for twelve days (we started shooting in Pokhara which is why we are on day fifteen) and it seems like we’ve been here forever. It feels to me like I never left. There is something about this place - a timelessness. We have spent the whole time so far based in one village where we’ve been capturing village life and doing a few interviews with the various characters that I have gotten to know this past year. Everyone here is thrilled to be a part of the project, particularly at the hope that the film might promote Jumla as the tourism economy is highly coveted.

Sophie has been doing an amazing job catching the goings-on in the village and shooting some absolutely stunning images. As soon as we arrived she was raring to get out as she immediately saw where the inspiration came from. Everywhere you look is another interesting and thought-provoking sight – it’s picturesque and cinematic at every turn.

We are both sad to be leaving Chautara. This is our base and where my (and now our) Jumla family is. It is amazing how warm and sweet everyone is, and the bonds have only deepened. But leave we must. It will be interesting for Sophie as Tatopani has a very different feel. And we will shoot the training so she will see how it all began in my head. It is also going to be challenging working from there as there is no power to charge all our equipment. We are going to have to do overnight runs back to Jumla Bazaar to recharge batteries and download footage.

These things are all part of the trials of shooting in such a remote area. We’ve already had our share of technical problems as both our super-duper top of the range 2 TB drives decided to die on us. And even this morning, the jeep we booked to take us to Tatopani doesn’t want to start. But this is Nepal, so we take it all in our stride because somehow things always work out. Ke garné?