the himalayas are alive

I just got back from trekking in Langtang and it was absolutely breath-taking, both because of my surroundings and because I reached 5200 meters walking vertically up a mountain. I am hurting. Still, it was stunning. I loved being back in nature and having traffic congestion caused by yaks and horses instead of cars and buses. The scenery changed so much over the whole hike, from mountains similar to the Appalachians, to an enchanted forest in which I was waiting for Hobbits to scurry out, to a desert wonderland, to the glaciers themselves. We became so close to our guide as well that we cut our trip short one day to visit his village and meet his two children (he is 26 and his wife 23, and they have 6 and 3 year old sons) and family. We spent that night sitting around a fire singing and dancing to Nepali drumming. It was almost as magical as the trek. Here are some photos from the past month:

my house
sunset in my villagemy brother and sister peeling cornmy brother with his "corn hair beard"
the squat toilet
the view out of my house now that the corn has been cleared
the rooftop groupDoa showing us his monastery
the inside

the sunlight coming through the windows created patterns on the floor that looked like Nepali characters to me...probably a Buddhist sutra

the swings made of bamboo the village children play on
the Durbar Square in my hajuraama's village
view from the bus still 6 hours away from where we started trekking
along the way......a monastery in the mountainsthe view from 5000 meters
walking in a cloudtrafficrelaxing in a guesthousemy guide's villagemilking cows with his grandmother