Nepal Trip 2025
On the 19th of September, our first members arrived in Kathmandu. We organized the trip from the 20th September until the 6th of October. With a diverse group (two British, one Spanish, one Nepali and four Dutch), we would travel through Nepal. Visiting the Maya Universe Academy, meeting Mayans who study in Kathmandu, going on a trek, jungle safari and raft camping. Our adventure started in Kathmandu where we explored the temples, culture and had dinner with the Mayans who now stay in Kathmandu for their studies.
Agriculture at the Maya School
How to plant spinach? How to pick lemons and turn them into lemon pickle? How to properly cut bananas from the tree? How to split rocks to level the ground?
These questions are answered now. As a group we worked hard to learn as much as possible and do as much as we could. We started with planting spinach and finished two fields. In the first photo you can see the planting process. The second photo is from 2-3 weeks later and shows the result.
Lemon Picking.
The school has been busy with agriculture. There are now avocado, lemon, (nepali) orange and banana trees. We did lemon picking due to the season. We picked hundreds if not thousands of them. It was so hot. It just made us realise how hard farmers work in this area. What we did for just 5 days, they do every day.
We turned the lemons into pickles by first washing and drying them and finally cutting them in pieces and taking the pits out so that Maya Universe can sell them in Kathmandu for a better price.
Maya Impact
Our main drive was to show the Maya Universe Academy to the young travellers and impact makers around the world. But we also stuck to the idea that Maya students and employees should be leading the trip. That’s why we had Dipak uncle as our driver. With his beautiful new electric mini-van, he drove us around through all Nepal. He was creative and a quick thinker. He found ways to bypass landslides and road blocks due to the heavy rain at night. He is the father of Maya’s ex-mathematics teacher and legend Saphal sir.
As our Nepali guide we had ex Maya Student Anil (22 years old), who now studies Tourism in Kathmandu and works hard to start his own travel agency.
Dashain Festival Celebration
Dashain’s one of the most famous Hindu festivals in Nepal. It was celebrated at the school on the last day before holiday. We were lucky enough to experience Tika day (the red dot on the forehead). The ritual was magical. An elderly woman from the village put a Tika on most children’s foreheads before they were going back to their families, sometimes further than one day by bus. It was special to share this moment with all kids. This moment was also the end of our time at the school, as we went trekking afterwards.
Future trips
To involve all our sponsors, friends and excited people from all over the world more with the Maya Universe Academy, we will organize this trip on a yearly basis. The combination of seeing Nepal while making an impact was a great experience for all of us.
We hope to see you here with us next time!
