Arm Chair Traveler

Terry Smothers was this month’s featured Armchair Traveler Series guest speaker at the Monticello Public Library. ON Feb. 22, Smothers shared about her March 2017 trip to Nepal. “There was a lot of walking and hiking,” she said of the trip that took her to Kathmandu and the village of Dhampus. Smothers said many of the historic structures are still heavily damaged from the 2015 earthquake. Their rural economy is supported mainly by the growing rice and corn and raising some livestock, though cattle are revered as sacred in the Hindu and Buddhist cultures. They use water buffalo to plow their fields. Among the many highlights of her trip, Smothers got to ride an elephant and helped wash an elephant. She was also there for the Festival of Colors, which signifies the arrival of spring and the end of winter. (Photo by Kim Brooks)