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| Girls collecting sticks in Malana |
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| Donkeys transporting goods |
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| Malana village view from our guest house |
Mateura village became what we called our home in India, so we stayed here our longest (almost 2 weeks) leaving our things in our rooms and venturing out to other nearby villages of Parvati Valley with a small bag. We left our stuff and went to Malana for a night. It had to be the scariest drive I have ever been on. The roads were tortuous around the mountains with poor road conditions and steep cliffs with no barriers along the roads. A few times,we had to get out the taxi and push it through certain parts of mud in the rain! After an hours drive we then trekked an hour up the mountain across to Malana. Because no cars can get to this village, food is sent via donkeys or the sky line which transports goods from one mountain to the next. The trek is not difficult as two months ago a pathway was built however it is quite steep so many times I found myself stopping to catch my breath. There were donkeys carrying goods up to Malana and two girls collecting wood and sticks as well as children running up to us shouting 'Chocolate', the only word in english they know. When we arrived at the village, I was about to rest my bag on a stone barrier around a tree and immediately I was shouted at by the villagers not to touch. I should have done my research before but found out after that many places in this village are holy and if outsiders touch, they must pay the cost of a slaughtering of a lamb to purify the object. Malana is the oldest republic in the world and the people here are very ancient and strict in their customs and beliefs. They admire their beliefs an view non Malanis as inferior to them making them untouchable. You cannot touch them nor many parts of their structures in the village. They speak their own language Kanashi and do not like change. When we were walking through the village we had to be
There isn't much to do in Malana because you can't interact with the locals. Luckily, we met some cool tourists there from Israel, France and Spain staying in our guest house so we chatted with them on our guest house rooftop until dark as there was no electricity. I didn't quite like the vibes in Malana, something felt very cold about this place although it was interesting to see somewhere that's so ancient and different to anywhere else I've been. When you analysed the village, you could see that these people survived on the basics of life - food, clothes and shelter and absolutely nothing else. The houses all had lots of wood stacked underneath for winter when they make fires for warmth as it snows there. Malana is also known for having one of the best marijuana plantations in the world higher up in the mountain which are protected by the villagers and it is their main source of income. This hash is famous and known as 'Malana Cream'. We actually got to see it and it was very sticky and soft and smelt very fresh. The children and people here are absolutely beautiful - like a light brown skin, brown hair and light eyes maybe because they are believed to be descendants of Greek soldiers of Alexanders Army.
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| Breakfast in Malana |
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| Waterfall at the end of Malana trek |
The next morning we had breakfast on the rooftop of our guest house and I was very happy to be leaving. As we made our way out the village, you got funny stares and several times locals shouted at us not to walk down certain paths.We didn't know where was considered holy or not. If you also got too close to them they tell you not to touch them. We took a different route back, down a very steep mountain with lots of stones and rocks. I found this trek downhill very scary and dangerous and at one point I began to feel nauseous and completely out of balance. I felt as if things were spinning around me only for brief moments when I looked down from high points. I think these are some slight symptoms of vertigo but I am not sure if it is just fear of heights. I don't mind heights, but it's the fear that I will fall and die that was scaring me the most. This 2 hour trek downhill felt like an infinity for me and I took much longer than Karen & Ben to get down. I took my time and once we reached the ground I felt so relieved. There was a beautiful waterfall at the end which made it all worth it in the end. You couldn't pay me any money to do it again though! I don't know how those poor donkeys do it everyday with heavy weight. We enjoyed the waterfall for half hour and left to find transport back to Mateura. Rather than pay alot for a taxi, we hitch hiked back. The first big truck we stopped and Karen & I jumped in the front while Ben was told to go in the back of the truck. The drive was again scary for me and little did we know that Ben was struggling with loose gas tanks in the back which were flying everywhere. He spent the entire ride trying to dodge them! Poor Ben, we felt so sorry for him as he was bruised and a bit shocked by how dangerous the ride was for him.
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| My last time with the Mateura children |
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| Kids trying to grab my camera |
On our walk back up to Mateura village, the children spotted me walking back and ran up to me shouting my name to play games. Despite being exhausted, I still wanted to spend time with them so I stayed out for two hours and played hide & seek, relays, hopskotch and skipping. They were really a fun bunch of children and brought such joy to my heart. I felt like I knew them so much better. I could see who the popular kids were and who the other children did not like. I couldn't understand what they said to each other but I could tell there was banter and competition amongst some of them. I loved these children the most out of all the children I met because they didn't beg or expect anything from me. All they wanted was attention and to have a good time. My second favourite was Navi, the girl from the guest house who I also spent alot of time with because she was always around and over two short weeks I could see her growing!
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| Picnic in Mateura |
Ben, Karen, Ilan (a guy we met in our guest house from Israel) and myself spent the next day at the waterfall in Mateura for a nice picnic up in the mountains. We could tell there was some type of landscaping done here as it was beautifully laid out with lots of different trees and flowers. The more villages we went to, the more we realised how much nicer Mateura was than the others. There is something very different about this place, perhaps the fact that it's quite untouched by tourists. The people and children are very friendly, the houses beautifully old and wooden and the lots of peaceful cows, goats and lambs everywhere.
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| Sunset in Kalga |
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| Kalga guest house |
The next day we left our things in Mateura again and headed to Keer Ganga which is a 2 hour bus to Bershani village and then a 4 hour trek up the mountains. We heard it was a mission to get to, but very beautiful and worth it. We refused to pay for a guide and as a result we ended up wasting 4 hours walking in a complete circle! We walked through some nice villages though like Tulga and Poolga and came across this perfect picnic area so we stopped to rest and eat with our useless guide dog! It felt like we were in a Twilight movie surrounded by tall green lush trees. A few hours later we ended up in the same spot we started off ! Because it was going to get dark soon and we didn't want to risk being stuck in the mountains at night, so we decided to stay a night in Kalga village and head to Keer Ganga in the morning. Kalga was beautiful, probably my second favourite to Mateura. We stayed in this guest house which had a lovely place to sit on mattresses and eat and watch the sun set. We stayed up chatting all night and all shared a room to save money. There were no showers so you warmed water up in this heater outside and mixed it with cold water in a bucket to bathe yourself.
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| Resting on our way to Keer Ganga |
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| Ben, Karen & I |
The next morning we met a group of 7 Israelis who were all heading to Keer Ganga so we split the cost of a guide and headed off! As usual again, I was always the last one lagging behind the group. I don't know why but I just found these treks very difficult but not as much physically as it was mentally for me. The trek was steep and had very narrow pathways with drops. One trip and you could stumble over and fall off the mountain. Despite this I would admit it was an absolutely beautiful trek being surrounded by green and nature with everything you can imagine - from rocks, stones, cliffs, waterfalls, logs, gravel, grass. It was a bit of everything. Within an hour however, started to feel very anxious and dizzy again. I was afraid to say anything to make a scene with the group so I held it in for a while until suddenly I got on the ground and busted into tears crying hysterically. I think the last time I cried like that was 6 years ago when my heart was broken. It was an uncontrollable cry where I felt like I was gasping frantically for air to breathe. Karen luckily was nearby and stopped to help calm me. I don't know what I would have done without her there. We weren't sure if it was vertigo or an anxiety attack from the heights or an altitude thing being difficult to breathe. I knew I had 3 more hours to go of this so I tried my best to stick it out. I came across some difficult parts on the trek to cross and I had another attack crying. It was very embarrassing for me as I was with 7 guys and a guide and everyone was trying to help guide me on where to step. What a hot mess I was, but once I got by those areas, I was relieved especially when we came by the beautiful waterfall, that brought a smile to my face!
The next morning we met a group of 7 Israelis who were all heading to Keer Ganga so we split the cost of a guide and headed off! As usual again, I was always the last one lagging behind the group. I don't know why but I just found these treks very difficult but not as much physically as it was mentally for me. The trek was steep and had very narrow pathways with drops. One trip and you could stumble over and fall off the mountain. Despite this I would admit it was an absolutely beautiful trek being surrounded by green and nature with everything you can imagine - from rocks, stones, cliffs, waterfalls, logs, gravel, grass. It was a bit of everything. Within an hour however, started to feel very anxious and dizzy again. I was afraid to say anything to make a scene with the group so I held it in for a while until suddenly I got on the ground and busted into tears crying hysterically. I think the last time I cried like that was 6 years ago when my heart was broken. It was an uncontrollable cry where I felt like I was gasping frantically for air to breathe. Karen luckily was nearby and stopped to help calm me. I don't know what I would have done without her there. We weren't sure if it was vertigo or an anxiety attack from the heights or an altitude thing being difficult to breathe. I knew I had 3 more hours to go of this so I tried my best to stick it out. I came across some difficult parts on the trek to cross and I had another attack crying. It was very embarrassing for me as I was with 7 guys and a guide and everyone was trying to help guide me on where to step. What a hot mess I was, but once I got by those areas, I was relieved especially when we came by the beautiful waterfall, that brought a smile to my face!
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