Just monkeying around! (Dec. 16)

Annapurna South on the left. 

Another clear sky day in the Himalayas! We left Jhinudanda ready to climb the fifty billion stairs we knew we were going to have to climb today! (Might as well be realistic about it!) Along the way I began to amuse myself with future blog titles like, "Revenge of the Stairmaster" or "The Stairmaster Bites Back"....it made me laugh and forget about the stairs for a

moment! Who ever planned this trail did not take elevation gain and loss into the route finding because it seems like for every 1000 feet we climb up, we go back down 1000 feet for a net gain of zero! Except for the first night on this trek, we have been sleeping around the same elevation. That will be changing soon as we get closer to the Annapurna sanctuary!

Machhpuchchhre (aka "fish tail") just above us!

His hairdo reminded me of Donald Trump!

I think I found where trolls come

From! Welcome to Trollville!

Of course I got to talk to many new animal friends today including a whole clan of monkeys!  This was the highlight of my day! 

They were absolutely adorable with black faces and bushy grey beards! They looked like old men! As cute as they were we did recognize they were wild animals and made sure we kept a Safe distance.....even though I would love to cuddle up with one of them!  The bigger and older monkeys stayed closer to us off the trail while the smaller, and I assume younger monkeys, swung around in the trees at a distance showing off their Olympic moves from branch to branch! They were truly just monkeying around!

Peeking from Inside the tree. Look at how long his tail is!!! Grey with a white tip!