vaga #4/1 Sapa

I was walking outside Sapa, when this old woman crossed the street, she approached me to ask for a cigarette, she made guttural noises, and for me it  was equally incomprehensible as their language, without a single tooth, she didn't stop laughing, obviously we shared one at the amidst gales of laughter

Part I

My first bus, learning how busses work, taking off my shoes at the entrance of the bus and looking at the stops for something recognisable to eat, hard-boiled eggs saved me. I didn't take my eyes off the window. What caught my attention was that in the rice fields there were graves in the middle of the plantations, one, another, then several together, all the way to the mountains. That's when I told myself for the first time that I am in a culture that I don't understand. Like graves in the rice fields,   PLOP  I shrugged without knowing why. Anyway, I ate rice, as if I had an alternative, and knowing about the dead bodies planted around the fields ... ... ... I found out about two months later that  relatives were buried in the rice fields so that they "do not lack food 'in their other lives, (I have not seen them again anywhere else) only the first year and that is the largest decomposition plus the wooden coffin that decomposes very quickly on contact with water permanently. I sent Gonzalo, who was suffering from terminal cancer, the photo and asked him if he wanted to be buried in a hemp plantation so that "so he wouldn’t miss his weed, in his next life... .."

at the bus terminal a little girl of about 12 years with good English offered to take me for three days of trekking staying at her house with her relatives, I passed I didn't even know where I was standing. Later I learned that one of the important incomes of the ethnic groups is trekking with tourists and providing accommodation. I had the Chinese New Year in February, the Chinese invaded and occupied Vietnam for a thousand years, and they are not well-loved, however everything is mixed in the cultures and is celebrated largely for 10 days. One Sunday I was in a fairly decent hotel because it had a restaurant underneath that served western food, I did not detach myself from the bread and eggs in the morning, I heard bustling in the street, my balcony overlooked the Plaza, I looked out, and many ethnic groups had gathered, they live in the surroundings and that day they met in the village, Sapa is the only and smallest village in the enormous expanse of the mountains. Many bring crafts to sell, and there was a show in the Plaza. What a pleasure for my eyes I was most impressed by seeing the teenage boys with their traditional costumes and some with cell phones. Few of them go to school with western clothes, but not for festivities, I didn't see any young people without their traditional clothes.

as I am always too uncomfortable taking photos of ethnic groups, the least I want to look at them like circus monkeys, I feel respect and that is why the photos are taken the wrong way, "quickly" without anyone seeing me.

Sapa and its surroundings, what they have integrated into the clothing are the parkas.

There is always the sale of handicrafts in the streets until late at night, the women always have their hands busy, they sell their wares themselves, they use miners' lamps so as not to stop due to lack of light, it is also a very popular product among locals since they do not have light.

Another impact was seeing children working, little girls in the villages selling handicrafts, flowers to tourists, but not begging. While in a restaurant, I saw a seven-year-old girl through the window carrying her 2-year-old sister on her back, she had tears in her eyes, it was zero degrees cold. What an image, how hard. The children work on the land, tending the buffalo and harvesting rice.

Because the Chinese New Year was coming, it is curious how they decorate restaurants, hotels and places with the cherry tree of a good size but without leaves, it is still winter, and they put pink or white plastic flowers imitating the cherry blossom (I think for different motifs it is equivalent to the Christmas pine tree). It has to do with waiting or hoping for the early arrival of spring and the closing of the harsh winter. The point that the amount of cherry trees of about 5 years old are cut without control, hundreds and hundreds that were transported on motorcycles from the interior to Sapa.

One day I went for a walk in the surrounding areas and I found a village with only a tiny path between the houses, very tight under an intense and cold mist, their houses were different from others I saw, they were of another ethnic group, they were they specialised in breeding pigs. I also came across a cultural-type park rescuing traditions and a place of recreation for families, as it was a holiday it was quite lively, extraordinary swings, boats and various games for children, all made of bamboo and showing some crafts and their ancestral tools that are still valid.

pig town and the path between their houses, meant I was invading their privacy, I felt  somewhat uncomfortable. In  dense fog. wet and cold.

This little girl was having fun, she enjoyed the festival with joy and being out on the town, together with a sister, brother and father, surely the mother was selling handicrafts.