this morning we woke up and i ran out and bought 2 cups of yogurt and 10 bananas for $1.32. we mixed together yogurt, bananas, and muesli bought the day before; zoë threw in some oranges as well. we sat out on the front porch overlooking the valley.
from this height we can see several spins of mountains strung together. if you looked at it from a greater distance it would appear the earth had wrinkles. clouds gently rest in between the mountains; only their thin line of peaks is visible. these ranges are a build-up to the massive peaks that hang over mcleod and i am sure they just keep getting higher.
the altitude has not made us sick, but the air does seem a tad thinner and the sun has burned my face. also, the air is very dry considering how much it rains. at night the true reward comes: the stars are so bright even though there is so much light pollution. down in the valley below the lights of towns twinkle but it looks like the same perspective as from an airplane.
the air here is significantly cleaner than where we have been, it even smells like pine sometimes. zoë has had a cough for a while now and it worries me a little. 1 in 4 travelers who come to india get a lung infection because the pollution is so bad. i remember in bangalore a fog that rolled by us of car exhaust and industrial smog -- it is no wonder she has a cough. if you spend enough time in a place with really bad air your snot turns black. what gets me is the raw sewage and smell of death we occasionally pass.
as we sat eating our breakfast zoë noticed a child with a stick chasing something we could not see. behind him, a faithful dog followed, and behind the dog a cow, and behind the cow a crowd of children. we certainly missed out on some sort of exciting event.
the tibetan new year has proven to be a little scary. the children are armed to the teeth with firecrackers and all sorts of other explosive fun. they chase and throw the firecrackers at each other in their chaotic celebration, and i cower trying not to get in their crossfire or lose my hearing. when the firecrackers go off its a very sharp, short sound, but there are also these massive firecrackers that shake windows and echo through the valley. i always laugh when these go off because they are so ridiculous -- we feel like we are in a war zone!
the monkeys continue to be a great source of free entertainment. it amazes me how well they climb and leap from building to building. even the small ones seem to latch onto smooth concrete walls with little effort. when we eat in a restaurant on the second floor of any building they often run by our window.
there are also tons and tons of mongooses. they are just like squirrels without the bush tail. instead they have a thick rat like tail that is definitely used for balance. they are grey, slightly bigger than squirrels, and much faster on the ground. there are tons of them in the grassy terraces right before our hotel.
after a while we head to a cafe to get caffeinated right before zoë's hindi class (she seems to be really enjoying them!) i dropped her off and now i'm at an internet cafe typing this up. writing is proving to be useful for both memory and understanding india.
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