Sunrise on Macchapucchre or Fishtail Mountain

Insect on a marigold

       At 8:30 we started a four-hour trek in the Birethanti area- a walk around the villages in this area.  We stopped to see some millet being ground by a diesel-powered machine.  Then we stopped at the house of an elder, like a mayor, and visited their sleeping room - four beds, a Hindu altar, and a TV run by solar power.  We looked into the kitchen with its cement/wood fireplace/oven in one corner, shelves with metal plates, bowls, and pitchers and not much else.  Padam, our local guide, showed us a grain grinding stone and a basket they can wear to work in the fields during the monsoon season.  All the houses are full of extended family.  They farm everything by hand- rice, millet, coffee, papaya, tomatoes (under a plastic greenhouse) spinach, cauliflower, etc.  They also grow jasmine and sip jasmine water each morning because it is sacred to Vishnu.  It is part of their morning ritual.

Nearby waterfall

Drying corn

Load coming

and going

Water buffalo - used for plowing and other farm chores

Macchapucchre or Fishtail Mountain

Hungry goats

Diesel-powered grinder - grinding millet

Much grinding is done by hand

Farmhouse kitchen

Farmhouse bedroom

Everyone sleeps in the same room

Watching the tourists go by

We continued our walk along the Annapurna Trekking path which was originally a salt route to bring salt down from Tibet.  Rice was traded for the salt. 

We stopped at a school where some British college kids were volunteering for a week to help with any work that needed to be done - they didn't have a clue about doing any form of manual labor.

We went to the Rhino Waterfall on the Brungdi River.  In the monsoons the Rhino Rock is covered by the water flow.

School sign

Tents for the volunteers

Rice on the left and millet on the right - the two main crops in the area

Shrine for both Buddhists and Hindus - covering all the bases before setting off on a trek

Rhino waterfall

Trail through the village

We went back to the center of the village and sat in a museum run by a Nepali retired from the British Army.  He has collected examples of many of the devices used in this area in the past.  Padam and Manoj described how the items were used. 

They explained how honey is collected from cliff faces using bamboo rope ladders, smoke pots, long poles, and collection baskets. 

We saw an old Sarangi, which is like a violin.  Before TV and cassette players, a person could stroll around a village and play music for entertainment.  The instrument is quite intricate.
            The last stop was at the police station.  We talked with the head officer.  There is little crime here - mostly men getting drunk and beating their wives.  It may take the police three or four hours to reach the far parts of their precinct.

Sarangi - traditional Nepalese folk instrument

Gale trying out the Sarangi

Local police officers