In the Mountains

 Graubunden

For the next several posts, I will share some of the photos from our week in the mountains. 

These mountains are very sharp and jutting.

Habitations are nestled into valleys between the peaks. A few hardy souls build on the precipitous slopes.

This was the morning view from our balcony.

Doesn't this look like normal food? It wasn't. Nearly all of the food was vegetarian, some was vegan, and  there was no gluten or cows' milk or sugar anywhere, and very little meat to be found the whole week of three meals a day. But we did eat mountains of vegetables of all kinds in various creations. The cook was quite excellent. This dessert was called "chocolate pudding." It wasn't. And yes, there were precisely one and half blueberries adorning the dribbles.

Every afternoon after diagnostics and treatments, we went hiking. 

Almost every day, we ended up or started on this path to the little nearby village of 

Santa Maria. The health clinic where we stayed was around a couple of sharp bends in the narrow road up the mountain, away from the the towns.

Some of my photos decided to get out of order, so you need to see context below.
This was little chapel shrine on the path to Santa Maria. Everywhere were such little shines in various states of repair, and with various qualities of interiors. Most had some frescos, or remains of them.

Looking toward Santa Maria

This is the exterior of the chapel above.

These little chapels often had a gate in front, not necessarily locked. Note the construction of this one from rebar. The roofs of chapels, houses, and most edifices were slate.

Below this chapel was a chicken coop.

Looking down the mountain into the valley (an upper valley, far above the main valley below) was the town of Castaneda. The word means chestnuts. This whole area was a chestnut growing area. Poorer people used chestnuts for everything, ground into floor, sweetened for desserts, in savoury dishes, and whole roasted. We saw chestnut trees all over.

This is the path below the road. The road is the upper left, and it was that steep.

To be continued....(I am using my computer for this again, after a few years of only posting from my iPad, so I need to relearn the systems.)