Himalayan Cosmetic Adventure!

The Gurung are people of Nepal living mainly on the southern flank of the Annapurna mountain massif. Their numbers are estimated at about 200,000. The Gurung speak a language of the Tibeto-Burman family.  I don't speak this language, but the language of makeup broke through all cultural barriers.  The men folk pictured here were so elated that their wives had been taught basic makeup application techniques that they offered to carry me around different parts of the mountain.  Of course, we didn't make it up to 29,000 feet, but it felt like it to me.  I noticed that many of these men had no qualms about staring at me during our journey.  Since I was on their turf, I took this staring as not bad manners, but simply a fascination with a foreign beauty.  The native at the right took a special interest in my comfort.  After a series of simple hand gestures and facial movements, I deciphered that he did not want me to walk on the earth at all.  He carried me on his back in his little basket for almost three days!  A bilingual Pakistani man we met on the trail informed me that my carrier was named Herbert.  Of all the names!  Although he did make a few feeble attempts to deflower me (a simple tsk, tsk was enough to discourage him),  I appreciated the ride.  On my departure from the Gurung people, Herbert presented me with the basket that I had come to know so well.  I store firewood in it now.

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