#1 Seven Mountains, Yak Cheese, and Peace in My Hair
Beyond seven mountains, seven monasteries, and seventy seven sharp turns, lies Paro. I need to get there today so I can sit down calmly at my desk in a hotel and not lose my mind before heading back to work tomorrow. A hotel taxi would cost me 1,000 ngultrum, which is around 8 dollars. Not bad at all. That’s exactly what I’d pay for a ride from my Valencian apartment in Maritim to the Old Town. The difference is, here I’d be traveling 60 kilometers, not 6. If I share a taxi with other passengers, it’ll be only 300 ngultrum. What does that mean? It means the following: I first have to throw my “bundle number one” on my back - a 25-kilo trekking bag, and sling “bundle number two” across my front - a 10-kilo daypack—and walk about 3 kilometers to the intercity taxi stand. My alternatives are hitchhiking or walking for two days. So yeah, I choose my taxi. The driver finds me himself, I stand out enough in the crowd that he already knows exactly what I need. He gestures that we’re still wai...