Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Portraits

Madness surrounds me, but it's everyday life here. I'm leaving tonight, with Jennifer, on an 11-hour overnight bus ride to Delhi. The first three or four hours will be on excruciatingly tortuous roads, wide by French village standards, but frequently incapable of handling two passing vehicles simultaneously. Since they love to pass on blind corners, that can be an issue. When we get down to the plains it will be 100 degrees, and the bus has no air conditioning. Or maintenance or brakes, for that matter. It smells like an adventure! In fact, the smells will be an adventure all by themselves. I can't imagine it will be enjoyable, except when I recall it years later, romanticized from my rocker. For tonight, just getting through it will be enough.
 
I've neglected telling you about the one week trek in the Himalayas that we managed to stretch into a three weeks. Another time...
 
Love, love, love,
Dave
 
Here are 10 photos for your perusal:
 
In the extremely hilly town of Nainital, there were a lot of porters who likely come from small outlying villages for work. They were typically younger than this man:
 
 
This woman was selling oranges in the market: 
 
 
These are langur monkeys. 
 
 
Tibetan prayer flags flying over a Tibetan monastery in the hills above Nainital: 
 
 
A sweet old Tibetan woman who didn't speak a word of English. 
 
 
Virtually everything in this area is carried on people's heads and backs. This young boy was probably three or four, but his mother had him carrying his share. 
 
 
Nostradamus. Or something: 
 
 
Love! 
 
 
I practically had to beg to take this photo. Such an amazing face: 
 
 
I would have begged for this one, too, if I'd needed to. She'd grown up in the area, but has the look of the people in Nepal or Sikkim: 
 
 
(The End)