The Mountain Life

Emma joined Ariel in the mountains about 3 weeks ago we think and we've been too busy enjoying ourselves to write, but here are some images of the past few weeks' adventures.

Testing the famed slingshot (known for its conquering of mountain dragons) which she deemed very worthy of its praise.

A day's hike brought us to the town of Devgram only accessible by foot. Here we made a field trip to the town's series of mills, in each one finding a new clue to their function until finally we found this one where a man was collecting the flour and answered as best he could our many questions finally giving Ariel the opportunity to work his Hindi knowledge beyond "how much?"

When our host learned that Emma dances he formally requested that she perform. Of course organiing such venture was a little more complicated, but once the word got out,things finally came together one night on the neighbor's rooftop where he blasted mountain music from his single speaker (of which he was very proud). The best part was getting the children to join in the dance which they did, eventually, every last one of them emerging from their wallflowers buds with beaming faces.

The WallflowersWe set back on the trail to Dumak but lost the trail and right when the thunderstorms started to roll in, Emma yelled, "Ariel! There's people!" We stopped to listen and followed the sawing noises in the rhodedendron forest to two men their fire and their timber. They laughed and took us back to the trail a good km away where we encountered some snow and our soon to be travelling companions for the remaining seven km of the day's trek.

We picked up a guide in the village of Dumak and spent the night at Tholi where Ariel stands in front of its Alpine lake (above). Villagers take their goats and buffalo to graze in the lush fields here. We spent the night in a stone shepherds hut, abandoned for the season.

This is Ariel.

Before truly resting in the stone cold comfort at Tholi, we hiked up to the top of the mountain to have lunch. Here we were especially grateful for our guide as the path was completely obscured by snow for some stretches. The way back down, using our coats as sleds was a much faster trip.

With our guide, Manoj in the morning at Tholi before hiking down the other side of the mountain and back to the world of shared jeeps, plastic bags, and roadside fried food.

There is so much to tell and we've just given a taste but please ask us for more in depth stories in person and you can be sure we will happily expound in detail.