Julley, Julley Spiti!

Loosely translated, ‘Spiti’ means ‘the middle country’ - a name given as a result of its location and traditional ties with both India and Tibet. The average altitude of this region is higher than 4000m. Quite often we were wondering if it’s still India we’re in...

...And not only once we should hear that the people see Spiti as a ‘little, free Tibet’. They are so hearty and easygoing, but also working hard to make it through the unforgiving winters - their favorite time of the year because there’s no work to do and lots of social life: Traditional celebrations, singings, table games, but also drinking and television (if exceptionally there’s no power outage).

It is both surprising and fascinating to see that almost the entire physical work, in the fields or at construction sites, is done by women, some of them even carry their child on their back, and there’s no ‘too old’. They mainly grow potatoes, green peas and seabuckthorn. The shapes of the fields are never the same, always fitting perfectly into the given terrain, they are so well maintained and look so accurate that the veggies have no other option than being delicious - the demand is tremendous.

The white Spiti houses with their black framed windows and flat roofs which are covered with reefs to keep the snow away are remarkable and perfectly fit into the surroundings. The little villages are just lovely and when a whole village is under sound exposure from a megaphone playing 'Om Mani Padme Hum' or speeches of the Dalai Lama, the spiritual atmosphere thrills everyone.

In Losar, the first Spiti village on our way, we soaked up the spirit and enjoyed our first accommodation since 10 days. There was still no connection, no wifi...Read more