Monday, October 10, 2005

Here is a corn harvest stalk...its display requests a better harvest this year than last. Posted by Picasa
Bhim placing the grass monkey on the tree.... Posted by Picasa
This is a photo of a grass monkey that Bhim made during a rest break along the trail. All along the way, Bhim would pick a few seeds, leaves, stems, or berries for me to smell, taste, or crush to realize, city idiot that I am, what coffee, pepper, licorice, and vegetable dyes look like before I see them in stores.  Posted by Picasa
Downhill view of Birethanti village. Posted by Picasa
This is the lovely young woman who was our server at the restaurant pictured below, in Birethanti. She is 11 years old. Posted by Picasa
This was the view from a balcony of a little restaurrant along the trail.  Posted by Picasa
A wooden platformed suspension bridge over a "rivulet", kindly built by the swiss.  Posted by Picasa
I think this is my favorite waterfall site. This was a hugely loudly gushing flow of water, but I think it is drowned out (as are many of the images) by the immensity of the landscape's scale. Ironically, Nepalis are very humble about their landscape features. For example, this was routinely referred to as a "rivulet". The very large landscapes we were walking over were called hills, at over 10,000 feet. Nepalis may consider calling that high-ish altitude, or for tourists, requiring aclimitization (meanwhile they are hopping and skipping over the stairs that line these hills). At 15,000 feet, a spot might be high enough to be called a base camp for the beginning real trek to a real mountain. They're funny like that. Posted by Picasa
Verdant Waterfall. Posted by Picasa
Waterfalls along the trek. Posted by Picasa
More of the valley views. Posted by Picasa
More of the valley views. Posted by Picasa
More of the valley views. Posted by Picasa
More of the valley views. Posted by Picasa
In this valley shot, you may be able to see some of the terraced farm plots. Besides rice they were full of family garen consumables...tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce, cabbage, spinach, gourds, melons, some bananas, and millet. Posted by Picasa