Tourisms Predicament
So leaf; Upper Mustang tourism has meant the individual's gain and the community's loss.
Life was hectic enough before tourism came to Upper Mustang. In the eight bustling months when Lobas stayed in Lo, fields had to be prepared and sown, irrigation canals had to be repaired, sheep, goats, and dzo-pa had to be fattened and their wool collected and spun. Villagers contributed a few days' labour lo their gumba and another few days for village works. Fields had to be weeded, grass, shrub, and dung collected, rice bought. Some young men and women migrated to the two-harvest villages of lower Mustang to work for cash or grains. In the meantime, small village disputes had to be resolved, and the inter-village misunderstandings that escalated into small-time wars had to be settled peaceably. Slack periods were filled with hearty three, four, five-day picnics, parties and guff-sessions. In late August and September, fields were harvested, food grains processed and hay stored, and then the Lobas packed off to southern Nepal or India to conduct their winter trade.