Live Like a Local

Rather than camp (it gets down to nearly zero at night) I stayed with local farmers on my hike. There is no road to get here.  The nearest road (which is 14km away from the nearest town) is a full day's walk from the farm. 

The house has no windows (to preserve heat) and no electricity.  The only light came from one gas lamp in the kitchen and everything (including people) is washed from the cold water trough outside. From 6pm when the sun goes down, everyone huddles around the stove, then bed at around 8.30pm before getting up with the sun at 5pm. 

But in spite of the basic conditions, Christmas starts early here, the radio was tuned to a special Christmas channel and the tree was up (in mid-November). They thought it very sad that we only get the decorations out in late December in the UK.