20“Never thought that I would be so happy to see a yak,” I said. Yak usually meant that there were people and food, water and shelter nearby.
“I can’t believe people survive in these mountains,” said Mom.
“All of the men who live here have to walk up and down the little path we took yesterday,” said Lama. “See, no big deal.”
The herd of yaks belonged to a nearly abandoned village, a dirty little town with tattered prayer flags and a few homes made of stone. There seemed to be only women and children and mangy dogs in the village and they all seemed frightened of us. Only when an old woman, who looked like a wrinkled potato, talked to us and smiled, did the other women relax.
I understood their dirty faces after all those days in the dust. The rain had helped, but I would have been more
