My new lover and I walk together today, but we can’t hold hands or cuddle—even though it’s patently obvious to all but the seriously uninterested that we’d like to—because, culturally, it isn’t the done thing. He slows his step so that I can keep up with him and we keep our arms as close together as we can manage without touching, which I have to say is rather romantic.

‘What are the things you miss most about the States?’

Dean shrugs. ‘Not much. When I’m at home in the village I eat dhal bhaat for breakfast every day—a kind of lentil porridge. It’s taken me a long time to learn to love it.’ He smiles wryly. ‘Sometimes I crave bacon, but it’s forbidden. Also, there’s no dentist for miles—I haven’t seen one in ten years. As an American, I can’t quite get used to that. All that money my parents spent on an orthodontist when I was a kid has gone to waste.’ His lips spread in a smile, showing off a perfect set of teeth. ‘I also miss central heating in the winter. You don’t realise how cosy life is in California until you leave it. Wall-to-wall sunshine and air-conditioning. My house is as draughty as hell and it can get real cold up here. The only air-conditioning comes from the foot-wide gap between the top of my walls and the roof.’ He gives me a coy look from beneath his eyelashes. ‘Now I’m a whining Yank.’

‘Not really,’ I say. ‘It must be a very different culture. I’m just finding it hard to picture you in a house!’ Though I have a very interesting vision of him in a tent.

Dean laughs. ‘I can be quite domesticated sometimes,’ he insists. ‘The conservation project I’m working on provides a tiny place for me at a minimal rent because I don’t get a salary.’

‘No salary?’ I can’t keep the horrified look off my face.

‘Rockefeller I ain’t,’ he teases.

I have to overcome my British aversion to talking about money. ‘What do you live on?’

‘I do some teaching, a little bit of guiding in the season.’ He nods at the party ahead of us as if to prove it. ‘I take some photographs and try to sell them to Lonely Planet. A bit of this. Even less of that.’

‘Wow.’

‘I can be fairly sure that women aren’t after me for my money,’ he says. ‘Look where I do my day job, though.’ Dean gestures at the mountains that surround us. ‘It makes it a lot easier to give up the material things in life.’

I can imagine it. But would I be brave enough to try it? How many of us would? I’m feeling particularly virtuous that I’m coping without hair-styling products for a few weeks. What does that say about me?