Kalasha Valleys

"So, why can't you just sell me the ticket now? if it's on the way, it has to land right?"

Kalasha Children

"not right. anything can happen. and usually does."

I was trying to buy a plane ticket for tomorrow, going to Peshawar. the man behind the counter wouldn't sell it to me until the flight scheduled for today actually landed here in Chitral, as there would be a huge backlog of people if it didn't make it. I was reminded of the crashed plane we saw on the way in from Chitral, which was only a few weeks old (and the wrecked fuselage had already been sold to turn into a hotel/restaurant/theme park). Also not very assuring was the fact that the plane didn't come yesterday despite perfect weather - the planes don't have radar and have to fly over mountain passes, and they seem to have a 50/50 shot of actually arriving. I finally got a ticket for RS 3300 - over $50, and about 3 times as much as the book price lists.

Kalasha Girls

We registered with the police to go into tribal areas, and headed into the Kalasha valleys to see the Kalasha people, a non-muslim minority whose woman were friendly and didn't wear head scarves. The valleys themselves were very beautiful, and the quaint villages were very welcoming as well. It was the first time on the trip that a woman shook my hand or greeted me. We were invited into a house where our hosts served us a special kalasha paint thinner / wine and gave us local walnuts. the children were really fun, and I got a bunch of nice portraits. I didn't catch any transport back to Chitral which meant I was staying here for the night (Mike was continuing on with our driver, Manzuul tomorrow, and had to get a ride myself back to Chitral to catch my plane in the morning).

Kalasha Grandmother

I thought the hotel rooms were over priced and real dumpy, so I slept outside in a tent. it was fine, and didn't make much of a difference where I slept anyway since I had to wake up practically at the call for prayer (4:45am) to ensure I'd catch a truck heading back to chitral!

Kalasha woman and child

The Kalasha Valley