I have never been to Nepal, must have been a great trip though apart from this incident. Maybe the poor villager knew exactly the value of the currency alright, a $60 dollar silver coin was certainly a good deal for him. Just from experience western tourists can easily become victims of certain scams involving cash. Not accepting cash such as Dollars, Euro's, Sterling or even Roubles and then trying to barter for high end value goods sounds like a bit of a scam to me. His face probably lit up when you pulled out your lucky silver coin, then bit in to it just to check it was real silver. Maybe a couple of cheap Rolex knock offs should be included in the inventory if I ever make to Nepal.

I was also interested in the problems you had with your boots. Making repairs in the field can be difficult as some boots begin to seperate between the sole and footbed/leather upper. I was interested in the glue you were using as a tempory fix. Was this a two part epoxy glue? I have never found anything that really works, even epoxies or super glues (cyanoacrylate), as they set to hard and crack when the boot is used again apart from Dow Cornings 3140 RTV, which is available at

https://www.ellsworth.com/display/productdetail.html?productid=225&Tab=Products

Its used mostly in the electronics industry but cures in air to form a tough rubber sealant with a high tear resistance and will even adhere to glass and leather.