The Long and Winding Road Day 2 held in store an accension into the mountains. The terraine became rougher and the tourists non-existant. This is exactly what we bargined for. The road conditions were getting worse and after a loud noise and a bump, our driver pulled to the side of the road. At that moment you could look at the glass half full or half empty. We had an unexpected stop. Our driver calmly got out of the car, walked once around looking at the car, opened the door for us and told us to walk up the small dirt path on the side of the road to visit a Tay mountain villiage. Hmmmm. Was this on the itinerary today. As we got out we saw that we had a flat tire and it was going to take some time for him to change it. Voila, a well needed break in the morning which turned out to be the best peek into the real life of the locals. We walked up the hill, and were immediately greeted by a school full of children stating that white women where approaching. "May, May" they shouted ("Lady, Lady"). In about 2 seconds, the entire room filled with 6 year olds was hovering by the door waiving at us. We quickly visited the school which was simply a little shack on the edge of town, one room with only benches. The teacher was a kind woman who was trying like crazy to get the attention back of 20 small kids. A task that wouldn't be achieved until we had moved on up the hill, out of sight. More kids were the first to approach us, these a little older, maybe 7 or 8 years old. They told us, in their own way, that we were unexpected visitors to their little village. The houses here reminded me so much of those in Africa. Wooden shacks with what I thought was tin roofs (turned out to be asbestos). These houses were built partly on stilts to keep them level on the hillside. They had a single line of electricity that wove it's way from house to house, providing enough energy for a radio or a light or 2. Now it was clear why the houses were built in clusters--close to the electricity lines. The villiagers were all women and children. Heaven only knows were the men were, because working the fields were also women. The men didn't necessarily have jobs to run off to every day. But what became clear is that this is truly a women's society. Women are the connectors, the workers, the homemakers, the child raisers....etc. As we slowly strolled past all the houses and started to make our way back to the main road, the kids all ran over to a tree which was being pruned. They were reaching for something between the leaves. A small brown "fruit" of the tree. Bitter and green inside, the long thin fruits seemed to be a treat for the kids. They wanted to pick them for us. A gift of sorts. They showed us how to eat them and then loaded our hands with them. Bravely, we bit and they all giggled. I couldn't help but feel like they had just played a joke on us. But it just wasn't so. They were amazed that we ate their favorite snack for the very first time. As they continued to eat more themselves, their tiny hands reached out to touch our hair and our hands. We were certainly new to them. Visitors were something they didn't usually get, and we were thrilled that our a flat tire turned out to be our good luck for the day.