It was a beautiful morning waking up in Tal. Thus far we have avoided the common ailments of trekkers.. blisters and Achilles tendonitis. We walked today to Bagarchap. With the snow capped Annapurna range now dominating the skyline, we now enter the villages through chorten. Chorten are stone arches built at the village entry. The chorten are Tibetan in origin and generally contain prayer wheels to spin for prayers and safe journey coming and going. Best surprise today was Greg arriving around dinner time after walking from Manang this morning. The kids have been following Dad around since he arrived.. even to the shower. They hung around outside the door and kept talking to him. Dinner was as a family tonight- the first time since early September.

Nepal’s location between India, China and Tibet create a melange of diversity. We are seeing more of the Tibetan influence as we head deeper into the mountains. Entering Bagarchap there was an offering collection of yarn “God’s eyes”, coins and small religious items… a typical offering to pray for someone who is ill. Less tikas are seen and now the hardy Nepalese horses are evident with brightly colored saddle pads. Cayla is reeling off horse facts: Nepalese horses naturally traverse on hills, their foot frogs are broader to lend more stability, their back legs and shoulders exceptionally strong and they can easily run uphill. A Nepalese horse costs between 20,000 to 250,000 rupees depending on their speed. Compare this to the fact that the average Nepalease lives on 160 rupee/ day.

New animals seen today including nyaks (female yak), yok-yoks or jola ( half cow and half yak) and now yaks. The cheese is nyak cheese, the butter is nyak butter( tastes like parmesan!). Mules remain the work animal of the region and we continue to pass and be passed by upwards of 100 a day. One day the kids did a mule head count of 129. For our non-science major friends, mules are a cross between a female horse and a male donkey. Mules are a genetic dead-end and sterile. So we have seen mules (many) and horses, but no donkeys. So, for the sake of cross cultural communication, if we named our donkey Waldo.. the question is.. where IS Waldo?