RUSSIA: Ageless in Eden

Summer snows rest eternally on the high, craggy peaks of the Russian Caucasus mountains where the loftiest pinnacle in Europe, Mt. Elbrus, reaches 18,481 feet into the sky. Yet the deep green Caucasus valleys are lush with camphor trees, tangerines, bananas and even tropical palms. There, Caucasian tradition has it, the Garden of Eden was located, and there, as in Author James Hilton's mythical Tibetan valley of Shangri-La, native tribesmen live an incredibly long time. Ages well over 100 are commonplace in the Caucasus, a land of mixed nationalities which include gypsies from India, Turks, pure-blooded Semites, Finns, Mongolians...

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