The Ethiopian Coffee Craze

Ethiopian coffee - the best of the best. Period. 

Macchiato heavenly goodness

There. I said it. Yes, I'm Colombian and our coffee is fantastic and clearly (probably biasedly!) the best in the world. Or so I thought. After experiencing Ethiopia, I have to say that Ethiopian coffee is by far the best coffee I have ever had anywhere, ever. I'm just being honest here: nothing else that I have ever had comes close, and I think the secret to this wonderful taste and experience in the roasting. 

Traditional Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony

The Coffee Ceremony 

Sipping on home-roasted Ethiopian bunna (coffee) is much more than just a pleasant experience, it's beyond mind blowing! Just like injera, Ethiopians take their bunna very seriously. Coffee is typically drunk between three and four times a day and almost every single time before consumption, a coffee ceremony precedes. 

The raw, whole beans (which are likely not export quality) are roasted on a small pan over a fire. Darker roasts are roasted longer and lighter roasts don't get as much of the heat. The medium to darker roasts were the most common. After the roasting the beans, the roaster brings the pan to the drinkers so they can smell the freshly roasted beans. Then, the beans are ground by hand using a special mortar and pestel. The grounds are then added to hot water and frankincense is lit to create a nice atmosphere. After a few minutes, small coffee cups (simi) are rinsed and then the coffee is served. Usually, Ethiopians add quite a bit of sugar to their coffee but I always asked for mine black and proceeded to have at least three (and often more) servings. 

Frankincense

Macchiato vs. Cappuccino

Coffee ceremony coffee is usually black, with the option to add sugar, and milk is not an option. However, every restaurant and cafe offers espresso-type drinks with milk. The Ethiopian macchiato is the closest version to a 'western' cappuccino and it kicks 'western' cappuccino ass. The Ethiopian version of a cappuccino is its own thing and is basically just hot milk with a little bit of chocolate and a drizzle of coffee. Cappuccinos are not their best drink, macchiatos are definitely king. Ethiopian macchiato comes with a bit of steamed milk on top and, for about $0.40 USD per serving, is dangerously addictive. We'd usually have at least two macchiatos every time we sat down at a cafe… I mean, why not? I'm not generally a coffee drinker at all -- I'm a much bigger fan of tea -- but in Ethiopia, I completely reversed that and had coffee almost every single day 

Size matters

Sipping on coffee in the middle of nowhere

One of the nice things about coffee in Ethiopia is the serving size. Unlike crazy vent or 24 ounce sizes, bunna cups are very small and probably only hold about three ounces of coffee. Some of the macchiato cups can be a little bigger but probably wouldn't hold more than five ounces. Having more than one "cup" is therefore almost the norm. 

Origins

Legend has it that an Ethiopian farmer Kaldi discovered coffee. Many, many years ago, whenever the farmer's goats ate small red 'fruits' from a particular bush, they would be energized. The farmer noticed this only happened with the red 'fruit' so he decided to try it for himself and got the same reaction. Coffee was thus born but it wasn't until the Arabs began to trade it that coffee got really popular. Back in the day, Ethiopia was a much bigger country, known as Abyssinia and its territory included today's Eritrea, Djibouti, and parts of Somalia, Egypt, Sudan, Yemen and even Saudi Arabia. Coffee beans eventually made their way across the Red Sea to Yemen, hence the term arabica when it comes to some coffee beans. Today, Kaldi's is the Starbucks of Ethiopia, with stores all over the capital, Addis Ababa. 

Such a delicious aroma!

One of the most memorable things about Ethiopia is seeing every little cafe always full of people, no matter what time of day. The cafe culture is very strong in Ethiopia, especially in the big cities like Gondar and Addis Ababa. The other memorable experience was the fact that almost no matter where you go, whether you're on a bus or walking around, the scent of freshly roasted coffee beans follows you around. The unfortunate consequence is that I now feel very spoiled and will probably stick to tea to avoid disappointment... until Sumatra in late July!

Namaste! Chia please! Addicted to Tea in Nepal

Tea, otherwise known as chia in Nepalese, is the national drink in Nepal.

Nepal is a tea heaven. It is available everywhere, 24/7 and for not even 10 cents a cup on the street you can have as much of it as you can handle. The quality of the tea leaves is not the best in the world, but the key to this delicious drink is all in the preparation and the other ingredients (especially for their spiced tea).

Most of the tea available in Nepal is a black tea - white or green are extremely hard to find and once you find it, it's probably in a teabag (clearly inferior to good ol' loose leaf!). The black tea variations consist of black tea, milk tea, or dud chia, and spiced tea, or masala chia. Chia means tea in Nepali and, confusingly enough, Chai is tea in Hindi.

The other varieties are mostly herbal and consist of ginger tea, lemon tea, honey ginger lemon tea, jasmine or mint tea. The tibetan variety, butter tea, was left untouched. I had it once or twice when I was in Tibet in 2008 and it was enough to last a lifetime. Butter tea is literally hot piping butter (usually from yak or cow) and it feels like drinking a soupy chapstick. No thanks!!

In most places, tea is very cheap and it's fun to drink - at some points I swear we were having 10 cups of tea a day.

Here's a breakdown of tea in Nepal (in order of my personal preference):

Black Teas

Masala chia

Loving the masala chia

If you've ever had 'chai' tea or spiced tea, Indian style, that's exactly what masala chia is. Funny thing is, for a westerner, 'chai' is a kind of tea just like a 'latte' is a kind of tea, but in Hindi, 'chai' just means tea. When getting a "chai tea", it's the same as just ordering a "tea tea."

Masala chia, meaning spiced tea, was my favorite kind of tea in Nepal. Fresh spices such as ginger, pepper, cinnamon and cardamom are ground and added to black tea with milk (strained before serving). As with any black tea, whole milk is used. We usually asked for our masala chia without sugar because the Nepalese way was a bit too sweet for our tastebuds but sometimes, especially during our long trek, we welcomed the extra sweetness.

Dud chia
A very close second to masala chia, this milk tea is just black tea with whole milk and a little (or a lot) of sugar. It's great for the mornings or during a tea break in the afternoon. We didn't always get it loose leaf though, some of our destinations were too remote and we had to resort to the teabag.

Tea and crosswords, what else could you ask for!

Just black tea
This was just hot water and black tea, nothing to write home about but very handy once your stomach starts giving you problems. Milk is not always ideal to have, especially when sick so black tea was a good alternative and it also helped us with some headaches (in lieu of coffee).

Herbals

Real lemon on my HGLT!

Honey ginger lemon tea (HGLT)
My favorite, by far, of the 'herbals' offered in Nepal. This tea is great for a sore throat or a cold. The unfortunate part is that the 'lemon' is not natural, it comes from a powder, and the herbal tea was almost always in a teabag. Regardless, the nice hot mixture of honey, ginger (real ginger!), lemon and tea was a life-saver plenty of times.

Ginger tea
Hot water plus freshly shaved ginger is another good one if you're sick. Sometimes they didn't have HGLT so the plain ginger tea was a good enough alternative.

Ginger all along the bottom

Mint tea
Mint grows everywhere and it was a good night-time beverage. All they did was add fresh mint to boiling hot water. Usually we'd down a giant thermos of mint tea prior to dinner, just to keep warm.

Jasmine

Matcha!

This was just jasmine tea in a teabag. Got it once or twice, and the 'jasmine' taste wasn't really there.

Green tea! I only really had it once. It was on ABC and it was given to me as a present by a Japanese trekker. He brought small packets of matcha (green tea powder) from Japan and even though it was 'inferior' to the real deal, it was so good sipping on my favorite kind of tea!



Here are more images of the different kind of tea and serving styles:

The craziest tea we got: goji berries, other local berries, rock sugar and an herbal tea bag

"If we don't travel carefully and tend to those with whom we have contact, we will perish."

Fan Feature: BONNIE

This is the first in a series of Fan Features, which are short interviews about the blog's biggest fans. Fans share their adventure stories and/or favorite recipes. Drea's Food Adventures' very first fan is Bonnie -- her story really makes me wish that hitchhiking was still a safe thing to do!!

I know Bonnie personally and she is a fantastic cook. Her daughter, one of my best friends, told me all these 'crazy stories' about her mother when she was younger but I didn't really know the details. Until now.

So, allow me to present Bonnie: a very caring and free-spirited, hardworking individual who knew how to have a great time in the good days of the awesome seventies in the U.S of A.

Bonnie and Wags know how to chill!

Q: What is your favorite adventure of all time?
My favorite adventure of all time was from when I was 19 to 23 years old. At 19 I had finished my freshman year at Ohio State University where I protested against the war and for our environment and civil rights. 

Q: What inspired you to go on this adventure?
I was inspired to travel away from my home state by a desire to escape suburban sameness, explore hippie culture and make sense of what to do with life's journey.

Q: Details, please!
I boldly left campus with Wags, my rescued terrier mix. We hitchhiked down the east coast camping along beaches from the outer banks to the Everglades. We hitchhiked across the deep south with urban stops in St. Louis and New Orleans. With help from a wandering member of Morningstar, an open commune, we made it to the ultimate hippie experiment where everyone felt right at home. The adobe huts were populated with artists, musicians, storytellers, your stoned, your tired and your poor living on food stamps. We cooked our beans, potatoes and chilies over an open fire and bathed in an afternoon monsoon or mountain stream. Camping in the majestic Sangre de Cristo mountains made me feel like I was experiencing the four seasons daily due to wildly fluctuating temperatures.

From New Mexico, Wags and I rambled to our next destination of Cape May, New Jersey via stops at the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Chicago and Cleveland. I realized it's a small world when a woman picked us up during rush hour in Cleveland, Ohio who turned out to be my brother's friend.

Once in New Jersey, I fell in love with the coast and established residency. I returned to college life at Richard Stockton State College in Pomona and put my primitive camping skills to use reducing expenses by living in a tent on a wooden platform behind an abandoned farm and preparing beans from the campus food coop.

This adventure started in 1971 and ended 1975 when Wags and I returned to Ohio.

Q: How did this adventure change or impact your life?
This adventure changed my life as I realized not all folks who wander are lost, that truth is the road not the destination. Being right isn't as important as being kind, gentle and loving. I learned to choose a path in life where the door of my heart is open to helping others. Wags and I completed our circle tour of America by returning to OSU to study for my Masters of Social Work. I had graduated from Stockton College with a BSSW and work experience helping folks having problems with drugs, alcohol and mental illness. I had also supported myself as an Aqua Maid doing synchronized swimming at night while being the first female New Jersey Marine Police officer by day! 

Q: Up to now, do you have any regrets?
I really don't have any regrets, but I am saddened by my lack of endorsement of this kind of adventure today due to its potential for exposure to senseless violence. I feel gratitude for encountering only helpful, gracious and compassionate folks on my circle tour adventure. If we don't travel carefully and tend to those with whom we have contact we will perish.

Q: What's your favorite recipe? Please share!
I bring forward a love of vegetarian meals and leave you with my favorite bean recipe.

Mango/Pineapple Bean Salad

Mango, peeled and diced. Pineapple peeled and diced. Red onion chopped fine. Cannellini beans drained and rinsed. One half cup of cilantro chopped fine. Zest and juice of a lime. 

Combine all ingredients and serve on a bed of arugula or baby lettuce. You can adjust the amounts depending on how many people are eating. I have made this to serve one or thirty. Enjoy!

Thank you Bonnie for sharing your adventures and Bean Salad recipe, but most of all, thank you for being a fan of the blog!   
Have you enjoyed reading Drea's Food Adventures? Let me know if you're a big fan and would like to share your story.

An Idiot's Guide to Avoiding Food Poisoning

Food poisoning is just... horrible

A recent un-scientific survey done by me, recently demonstrated that malaria, the flu, and even migraines are all preferable to suffering from food poisoning.

Don't be a victim of food poisoning!

I'd like to post a few tips to help your stomach stay happy during your travels. Most of it is obvious but I didn't adhere to it all and, of course, suffered the consequences.

I was born and raised in a developing country, so I always thought my stomach was practically lined with steel. I even survived an entire month in India without the slightest discomfort. However, Nepal unleashed its wrath on me and I had the worst food poisoning I had ever had in my life.

Being a foodie can be hard: everything is enticing! Unfortunately, eating everything is not necessarily good for food poisoning prevention. So, here's a list of a few things that should help prevent you from feeling like sh*t (please keep in mind that I'm not a doctor, and these are just suggestions).


1. Don't eat raw vegetables. That's it really. Unless you are 100% sure that the restaurant washes their veggies with iodine water, just don't do it. If you're craving that nice crisp, delicious salad, hold on to that craving and save it for later. Get a veggie soup instead. Whatever you do, just make sure the veggies aren't raw.

2. Don't eat fresh fruit, unless it has a thick peel like a banana or an orange. Love strawberries? don't. Can't wait to bite into an apple? just avoid it. Avocados, oranges, bananas, limes (I love eating limes with salt!!), pineapples, papayas are all safer substitues to other types of fruit that will likely get you sick. 

The almighty Steri Pen!

3. Get a steri-pen before you leave! This little device worked wonderfully and we continue to use it. Using a UV light, the steri-pen purifies your water by destroying the DNA in microorganisms that can get you sick. The battery one is about $90 and the rechargeable, plug-in one is about $110 bucks or less. This way, you don't have to rely on bottled water and can filter your own water in your Nalgene bottle. Not only is it eco-friendly but also saves quite a bit of money!

4. Bring emergen-c or the equivalent. This is the one thing we didn't pack and I really wish we had. If you feel that you're not getting enough vitamins, just dilute one packet in your purified water and, voila! Plus, if your stomach is feeling a little iffy, the slight carbonation will feel very nice.

5. Love meat? Please ask if it's fresh! We saw plenty of chicken, goat, and beef meat just hanging out in the hot blistering sun with no refrigeration whatsoever and smothered in flies. You wouldn't want to have a bacteria-ridden, fly egg infested chicken curry, would you? Even if the cooking managed to kill it all, it's just not worth the risk. So, make sure to ask how old the meat is, has it been kept in a fridge or was it recently killed (a few hours is ok). 

"Look, Ma! No fridge!!"

We actually purchased chickens during our rafting trip and then they were killed and plucked and cooked right in front of our eyes - everyone ate some and no one was upset!

This was my lovely dinner during my horrible sickness

6. Buy some cipro or heavy antibiotic before leaving. Although it doesn't help to prevent food poisoning  if you do manage to get sick, these antibiotics will explode like a nuclear bomb inside you and kill everything in your gut. 

It's definitely not ideal but you'll rest assured that whatever wriggler got inside you is now long gone. Try to eat some yoghurt to restore some of the good bacteria in your gut and stick to basics while your insides recover. 

7. Avoid ice. Iced drinks are amazing when it's unbearably hot out but, unless you know they use filtered, purified water for ice-making, just go for a room temperature drink or go for bottled/canned drinks kept in a fridge. 

8. Wash your hands! This should really be on the top of the list. Please make sure you bring your own soap in addition to an instant hand sanitizer. Most places will have some sort of washing option (buckets, kettles of water, actual sinks with running water or streams if you're in the wild) but it's very likely they don't have any soap whatsoever. Make it a habit to wash your hands every single time after you go to the bathroom and every time before eating - even if you're using utensils. It may seem intense but it will be well worth avoiding the horrible experience of food poisoning. 

9. Following up on #8, bring toilet paper! Always stuff some in your pockets. TP and soap are both hard to find and you don't want to be stuck in a toilet without TP, especially if nature calls for numero dos. And, FFS, please wash your hands, especially after a numero dos!

Street food: freshly cut cassava, ready to fry!

UPDATE: 10. Street smarts, follow the crowd. Some readers reminded me about street smarts when it comes to food! I managed to do India for a month, eating street food almost every other day and didn't get sick at all. The trick I found is: follow the locals. If a street food stall is very crowded, it is a really good sign that the food is probably not going to hurt you. Also, the comment below reminded me that avoiding seafood from street stalls is probably a good idea -- deep fried fish, or really, anything that is thoroughly cooked right in front of you would be my one exception (who can resist!). If the street food is nice and hot to the touch, you're probably in good hands.

There are more things you could do but if you cover these basics, you should be ok. It's not 100% guaranteed of course, and I repeat, this is not professional medical advice! But it should help your stomach stay happy during your travels. Even street food is okay to eat if you follow the tips above! Ever since my sickness, I have been a little more careful and have been ok so far.

I would love to read any additional tips or suggestions you may have (thanks for the ones so far!).

10 days and 180 KM of whitewater rafting in Nepal

Going from mountain goats to 'leave it to beavers'!

Rafting down the spectacular and remote Karnali river in western Nepal 

Our 33-day trek was amazing and after a week-long rest in Pokhara, we were ready for more adventure. This time, however, we wanted to give our legs a break so we opted for a 10 day, 180km whitewater rafting trip (3 days of travel plus 7 days of rafting). Getting set up to go whitewater rafting is super easy in Nepal. Operators provide everything: food, transport, tents, etc. All we had to do was sign up and hop on a bus!

Although we didn't choose this company, we really recommend Paddle Nepal based in Pokhara, they're a little more pricey than the other ones but they're VERY good at what they do.

The awesome but smelly rafting bus!

A two-day bus ride traversing most of western Nepal brought us to the amazing Karnali River. Like many adventures, ours was off to an interesting start! The guides picked us up in a tiny shit-hole of a town and as we were leaving the bus broke down. We had to push the bus to start it and after a short two hours, we were on our way.

The bus was not the most comfortable thing on Earth and, with no air conditioning or fans, it got blisteringly hot in there. Once the meat cooler started leaking, the meat juice started smelling really nice so we plugged in our earbuds and listened to "The Heist" album by Ryan Lewis and Macklemore. After finally arriving at 9PM we ate a late dinner, showered and passed out in our 'cosy' room.

Basic accommodation but with a shower!

We woke up at 4AM the next morning to continue the rest of our trip to the put-in point. The roads were actually not that bad for the most part; what made the journey extra-long was the dozens and dozens of military check-points along the entire length of the road. Commercial operators have to obtain a permit in order to be allowed on the road. The last few kilometers were killer, it was one of the worst unpaved roads we had ever been on and the bus couldn't go any faster than 5 KPH.

We finally got to the put-in point and brought all the gear to the shore. The town was intense: the locals just sat there eating peanuts watching us do our thing and the kids wanted to help us really badly in exchange for a few rupees (i.e. steal things from your bags when you're not looking). Our philosophy is: we never give out money to anyone, no matter what.

The encounters went something like this:

"Sister, hello?"

"Hi."

 "Banana?" as she motions to help carry it...

"Yes, this is a banana" [I was holding one]

"Sister! Sister! Banana? Madam?"

[keep walking, ignore, ignore, ignore...]

Sorry, but no thanks, we'd rather just do it ourselves -- if we really wanted help, trust me, we'd ask. Plus, we'd really prefer not to have our valuables snatched. Anyway, we finally got everything on the rafts and went down the river for just a few minutes and landed on our first beach as big dark clouds rolled in.

The staff had warm drinks and snacks ready for us and we wanted to set up our tent before it got too dark. We were told that we'd be given a tent but the staff had "forgotten it on the bus." Sweet. No tent for 7 days and a crazy storm was about to hit... we weren't too happy about this.

Gimme Shelter!

Fortunately, Gerry the super amazing kayaker/film director/Everest veteran came to our rescue and let us use his tent. As soon as we were able to set it up, an intense hail storm hit and we sat between the raft that we had propped up with paddles and a flimsy tarp we had managed to tie to another set of paddles. The storm didn't stop so we stayed there to eat our spaghetti dinner and played our first round of one of the most addicting and entertaining card games ever: Dirty Clubs (we will have an exclusive post on this game soon).

The rest of the trip was smooth sa-.... rafting! Every day we'd paddle for 4 to 6 hours and land at pristine river beaches, making camping logistics extremely easy. We headed to bed early after the the nightly campfire and woke up for the sunrise. The group of rafters and kayakers was wonderful and we all had a lot of fun together. Both of us even got an introductory course to river kayaking and it is a lot harder than it seems -- we have a lot of respect for those who run Class IV and V rapids on kayaks!

Most of the rapids we hit were class III and IV and it was a blast: the rush of adrenaline when the raft guide yells "paddlepaddlepaddlefasterforwardrightbackleftforwardfasterfaster!" as we are about to head into a wall of rushing water was just amazing! One of the best parts was called Jail House: we stopped to scout the Class IV rapids and then hit them straight down the middle.

Sleep tight

We often just jumped in the river and float down for a while. This was extremely relaxing and Andrea even got to kayak down some of the calmer portions of the river (Eliot was too tall to fit in the available kayaks). We were extremely impressed with the cleanliness of the river. It was almost impossible to spot trash floating down and the water was very clean. This was probably due to the fact that the Karnali River is in such a remote area, the biggest village we saw only had a couple dozen houses in it (no road or grid access for miles).

It was so refreshing to be in such a remote, clean and beautiful place, we really hope to find some more great rafting throughout our trip.


co-posted on www.eliotpeper.com

More pictures of our 10-day Karnali rafting adventure:

Beautiful fields en route to the river (Western Nepal)

Put-in point

Day 1 of rafting, getting all the gear together while being watched by the curious and intense locals

Our cook, our meal

A typical post-rafting afternoon on the beach

Tea time after a day's rafting!

Another typical beach set-up

The fantastic rafting and kayaking crew - all top notch people!

Nice views of the river on our way back to Kathmandu after the trip

Some crocs chillin on the river

10 days of no shower turned Andrea's incredibly straight hair all wavy!

The Himalayan weightloss plan

Rhododendron madness

After a two-week journey through the ancient Kingdom of Lo, we returned to the relative civilization (i.e.hot showers and non-instant coffee) of Kagbeni, a small town in the Lower Mustang region. Although civilized, we practically evacuated out of our room that night because there a kerosene leak that had been going on for hours and we were getting dizzy, headaches and our throats burned. Apparently, the guesthouse owner couldn't even tell that there was something wrong (!!!!!).

We spent the next few days hiking through dramatic river valleys circumnavigating the west side Annapurna mountain range. The scenery looked a lot like Switzerland: burbling brooks, alpine vistas, temperate pine forests, moss covered rocks, etc. Idyllic villages dotted the landscape, famous for their locally brewed apple cider. Afternoon thunderstorms chased us to our daily destinations and, aside from a horrific bout of food poisoning  (the salad was so tempting!), we made it through relatively unscathed. Finally we arrived at the final stop of the Annapurna Circuit, a town called Tatopani famous for its natural hot springs.

Purest water on Earth

Ironically many trekkers now skip this last leg of the Annapurna Circuit route because a new road was recently built to short-circuit the journey. Although there are numerous alternate trekking routes, most tourists opt to take a Jeep and skip the last section. This is a damn shame. We found the west side of the Annapurnas more beautiful and dramatic than the traditional east side of the Circuit and we highly recommend anyone considering the trek to walk the whole way.

We had finished both Upper Mustang and the Annapurna Circuit sections of our 33-day trek and the finale was almost in view: Annapurna Base Camp (ABC).

I thought I knew what stairs were. Seriously, there are stairs in San Diego, hills even. But nothing compares to the stairs leading up to Annapurna Base Camp, aka ABC. If you ever want to train for the Stairmaster World Championships this is the place to do it. The trail consists of thousands upon thousands of vertical meters of rocky stairs that go up as well as down, eventually leading up into the sanctuary in the middle of the Annapurna range.

View of Fishtail peak from ABC

When you stop for air the scenery is absolutely spectacular. The humidity is much higher on this side of the range and everything was green. Bamboo groves danced in the mountain breeze and blooming rhododendron trees turned entire hillsides bright pink. Farmers urged on their water buffalo to turn over tiny rice patties alongside the path. At higher altitudes monkeys swung from tree to tree and vultures soared through the sky. Glacier-fed waterfalls showered the valley that leads up into the mountains. For most of the journey the humidity kept it relatively warm but on the second to last day we were rudely ambushed by a heavy hailstorm. Eliot bravely made it through the 2-hour storm wearing just a t-shirt while Andrea quickly put on her windbreaker, gloves and hat for protection.

We finally reached ABC after a long slog of a climb. The camp itself is surrounded by Annapurna's most scenic peaks. We sipped hot cocoa, crunched our way through the snow and watched the sunset turn the mountains rosy. Although a few of our fellow climbers fell victim to altitude sickness we had no problems, probably because we were already fully acclimated and the altitude was a mere 4,100 meters. The next morning we got up before dawn and watched the sunrise. It was gloriously clear and we had dazzling views of the different peaks.

The final few days of the trek were surprisingly challenging. We trudged our way through the hilly regional homeland of the famous Gurkha warriors to make it to the nearest road. At the end of our 33rd day we hopped into the first motorized vehicle we'd used in over a month and headed off to the lake town of Pokhara. No scales were available to test the effectiveness of the Himalayan weight loss plan but you can look at our pictures below and decide for yourselves.

Our tour of the Annapurnas was complete and our feet were ready for a well-earned rest...

co-posted on www.eliotpeper.com

Before

After

Damn pretty

Valley the path follows

Rural village

Keep that energy level up!

River valley

Waterfall

Almost there

ABC

Sunrise on Annapurna I

Annapurna South (I think)

Cool, right?

Local buckwheat