Trekking through the foothills of the Himalaya is for sure an enlightening experience coming from the confines of the United States and my sheltered little life. Mixed in with the beauty and awe of the mighty Himalaya were villages and people, straight out of the old issues of National Geographic that my folks had when I was growing up. I'm not sure I expected what I found. I felt like I was back in time- a time I never knew and only read about. Walking along with my Trek Mates, each of us would point, or exclaim out loud about something we'd see that we wanted to share with the others, or ask our guide about. I remember saying, "what's that smell?" I knew it was familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it. Later I would realize that it was because it was out of context- the smell. I mean we were walking through these villages and farms high in the mountains in a land so far from my every day city life back home. All of a sudden it hit me, about the same time I looked up and spied a great big, tall, brilliant green Ganga tree. (Notice I said "tree", not plant). Oh my, that's when I realized we were walking along the Ganga trail. The smell was intense! I had my Trek Mates also exclaiming and pointing - cameras clicking. I got a few snickers due to the fact I had actually smelled it and alerted to it before any of the rest of them had figured it out. It was so odd to see it just growing everywhere, and SO tall! At one point one of my Mates spied one of the women working near us in her garden, and she called out to the woman, "do you smoke this?" The woman was tall and beautiful, proud in her colorful dress and shawl. She stood with her hand woven gathering basket in hand. She waved and gave us a great BIG smile without saying a word. My Mate at that point was pointing to one of the Ganga trees as she spoke to the woman. The woman smiled again proudly and nodded. We continued on our journey, smiles on our faces and quiet thoughts of our own as we carefully navigated down the slopes of the Ganga Trail.
