Today has been quite an adventure! We are visiting our guide, Phurba's family farm and staying overnight here. It is high in the hills above Punaka and is a large rice farm with some cattle as well. It is a large but very basic home with a little electricity but no running water or plumbing. We arrived in time to have lunch with the family, all of us sitting crosslegged on the floor (Ron and I did some squirming, but the others looked totally comfortable). We used spoons at lunch, but by dinner we were mastering the technique of rolling a ball of rice in our palms and mixing in some meat or chilies and cheese into it and popping the whole thing into our mouths. I even tried butter tea (tea with butter and salt), but I think it's an aquired taste! After lunch everyone popped a gob of betel nut into their mouths. It is a very common practice here as evidenced by the red mouths and blood-like stains on the ground everywhere. Not wanting to be left out, I popped one into my mouth as well. I didn't expect it to be so hard - it takes awhile to soften the nut - and having visions of red-stained teeth for life, I quickly gave up on becoming a betel nut addict.

In the afternoon we enjoyed a stone bath. It was a wooden structure of about 4 ft x 2 ft sunken into the ground and filled with water (shown above). They built a large fire and heated rocks which were placed in the water to heat it. We then soaked in this for some time. As it cooled, more rocks were added. When we were thoroughly wrinkled and relaxed, Phurba brought us some of his mother's home made rice wine with eggs scrambled and cooked in it - it tasted much like saki.

The farmhouse is not heated, but we are snugg in bed with warm comforters over us that I suspect we will need by morning. A great experience!!