Good day in Pokara

Most of today was devoted to planning this part of the trip. It was a bit of a hassle for a while, but it all worked out fine. I'll include details later.
We didn't like Pokara much at first - too big and touristy, but we have found some interesting sections and have come to like it a lot more. We saw an interesting Christmas pageant in town earlier; it kind of reminded us of the posadas we've seen in Mexico and Costa Rica. There is a big lake here and we took a boat ride on it to get from one part of town to another. A woman who was in her 50s or 60s rowed the boat, and she was definitely a tough person with a sense of humor. The lake is lovely, with forests and hills around it, I hope we get to explore it. We hope to kayak one day. And yes we did get our first glance at the Annapurnas, AWESOME! We'll see more of them soon.

When we were eating dinner tonight a demonstration passed by. Our Tibetan waiter, who we'd been chatting with said it was a Maoist union demanding implementation of the minimum wage. He said this had already happened so he wasn't sure of what the issue was. It was actually a rather jolly demonstration, people were chatting and laughing and one person had a balloon.
The cops seemed to be taking it in stride; it didn't look like a confrontation was coming.

We are going to Sarangkot in the highlands near here tomorrow for some hikes and better views of the Annapurnas. We've booked two nights but are considering staying for three, we'll decide when we are there. I am not sure if we'll have access to the Internet there; we'll know tomorrow.
If not our next post will be either Sunday or Monday (our time); I think that is Saturday or Sunday (USA time). Give us a bit of leeway, we'll be back in touch soon.

After Sarangkot we will stay in Pokara for a few more days and visit some mountainous areas around here. There will also be a street festival here which could be interesting.

Oh yeah, people are telling me that it is definitely too cold in the higher mountains for real trekking, this is what I expected. Some people are doing it; I guess they are more rugged and crazier than we are and we are fairly rugged and crazy. Maybe we'll come back another day and do it.
Happy holidays and namaste, PG
ps. What is going on in the US anyhow? We do hear some things, but would like to know more.