That says it all ..

Tibetan prayers in Tashi Jong

oh, you know, just some of Rustic's good deeds in Tashi Jong

Fact: Tibetans love pugs. Who knew??

just holding my own at musical chairs

tug of war got really intense ..

... really intense

a view from McLeod

Dustin making trouble in Delhi

Back to Varanasi ... a view from a rooftop cafe

Buffalo escaping the mid-day heat in the Ganga

Kushi (in the front), Sunita's daughter, and her friend in Sunita's bead shop

rowing a boat down the Ganga ... I'm not very good at it

My new friends

trying my hand at traditional rajasthani puppeteering

Sunny giving it a go

Our Rajput palace in Jaipur

where we enjoy our mid-day repast, you know

where we take our afternoon chai

the roof

ladies and gentlemen, the very best part of our palace ...

Schmidty and me in New York before departing - what a wonderful reunion!

Margaret and Me in New York - on my way to Newark!

A weird head massage on our way to McLeod Ganj, Dustin is in the foreground, Brad is receiving the massage

A view of McLeod

Sarah's crazy UV water purifyer! Makes Indian tap water drinkable in minutes! Want!

Tibetan girls playing on a motorbike!

Monks taking their daily swim

The hike to McLeod's waterfall

At the waterfall

Monks eating at the Dalai Lama's Palace

The Dalai Lama's main lecture hall

The Dalai Lama's seat - highlight of my life!!

woman praying at Dalai Lama's altar

post-lunch nap time at the Dalai Lama's Palace ... possibly the best thing I've witnessed this whole trip ..

Today we went to Akshradham Temple with our one student who arrived in Delhi a day early.

RP hired a private car for us for the day and we began with a hearty south Indian meal of dosas at Saravana Bawan, in Delhi’s Janpath market. This restaurant always has a line of hungry patrons waiting outside of it, and the savory meals do not disappoint. I really enjoyed their homemade coconut and mint chutneys.

After lunch our friendly driver Rakesh drove us to Akshradham. This enormous complex took only five years to build and was opened in 2010, just in time for the Commonwealth Games, which were hosted by India for the very first time.

Just inside the gates are vast, green courtyards and tinkling pools that harken back to the traditional Mughal architecture and design of Fatehpur Sikri. I quite nerdily pointed out the Mughal scallops on the doorways to Laura and our student. (L.M.R.A., Bahinji, if you are reading, I know you are proud of me!)

A breathtaking temple built of soft, salmon colored sandstone stands in the center of the complex. The architectural style here reflects more of a southern Indian flare, as each surface is intricately carved with more than 80 different deities.

The whole complex is dedicated to Bhagwan Swaminarayan, a Hindu saint from the 18th century. Inside the temple is a golden likeness of Swaminarayan and murals and carvings depicting his life.

After traversing the temple, the three of us took a boat ride through a museum that proceeded to – in 10 minutes – tell us about the history of India. This was the most nationalistic exhibit ever. The figures (deep in the “uncanny valley“) showed us how Indians invented peace, democracy, the concept of “0″, geometry, aerospace navigation, molecular science, and many other things before the western world could have conceived of these complicated concepts. I had to hold back my giggling – I though maybe Indians had also invented exaggerating.

After the boat ride, we got our seats in the IMAX theatre to watch a 40 minute film about Swaminarayan’s ascent to sainthood. We learned that at the age of 11, Swamiji left his childhood home and all the comforts of life to embark on a 12,000km trek across India. On his journey, he met other saints and awed them with wisdom inconsistent with his years. If I took only one thing away from Swamiji’s teachings, it is that each soul is sacred and we are all part of one global family. It’s a beautiful philosophy.

Tonight we will pick up the rest of our students, and tomorrow embark on the 8 hour drive to Jaipur. I can’t wait!!!

Finally I am able to blog!!! My sincerest apologies to those of you who have been checking this blog and bugging me to post. It’s been a really hectic few weeks.

Here’s a brief recap of what I’ve been up to:

I arrived in Delhi late on June 6th and Dustin, our country director/new best friend picked us up from the airport. We went back to the Rustic Pathways apartment in New Delhi and passed out.

In the morning, I woke up and met all of the staff. There are three country managers: Dustin is 23 and from Colorado, and he just radiates positive energy; Sunny is 26 and he’s from Jodhpur, in Rajasthan, and he’s a really goofy, fun guy; finally there’s Divya! She is bubbly and bursting with personality. Originally from Kerela, in the south, Divya moved to Delhi with her husband a few years back.

The summer staff include myself, Laura (New Mexico), Tanya (southern China), Sarah (Colorado), Brad (Orange County), Anna (Alabama), Simone (California), and Rishi (Delhi).

The day after we arrived in Delhi, we all piled in two cars and made the grueling ten hour drive to McLeod Ganj, the Tibetan refugee settlement just outside of the larger hill station of Dharamsala. When we got up into the Himalayan foot hills, the road got windy and some of us (thankfully myself not included) had to fight not to get sick.

But the ride was worth it. McLeod is a genuinely beautiful place. It is nestled in lush, verdant hills. Hills so high you think they could be mountains, but no, they are just hills, because when you strain your neck and look even higher, you see the very tops of the jagged, snowcapped mountains that lie just beyond. The mountains are magical and ominous, because I know in my heart that they are merely dwarves compared to those that lie beyond.

It’s hard to imagine, but most of the families in McLeod crosses these treacherous Himalayas by foot to seek refuge in India. What kept them going was knowing that His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama made the same trek in winter of 1959. He made it in good health, but many of his companions were not so lucky.

The HHDL still lives in McLeod, though he is often abroad giving lectures on Buddhism, peace, and a whole host of other topics.

His palace is free to visit, and every day there is free Tibetan lunch served. I was lucky enough to eat there one day, and my heart swelled with joy when I noticed that when people were done eating (mostly the older Tibetans) they lied down and took a nap. Sarah and I stepped around the quiet and trusting snoozers and went to lay a humble hand on the HHDL’s raised seat in the main lecture hall. It goes without saying that the afternoon we spent in the HHDL’s palace was incredibly moving. The shadow of 10 year old Helen was jumping up and down the whole time.

One day we drove a couple hours outside of McLeod to a small village called Tashi Jang. The kids on the “Service In The Clouds” trip will spend one week in McLeod and one week in Tashi Jang. This village is centered around a Buddhist temple and monastery. It is quiet and calm – even the cows look at peace as they humbly graze below lines upon lines of prayer flags. We were lucky enough to have come on the day that the town was celebrating a local boy who received the highest possible marks in school. It was truly heartwarming. The whole town assembled to honor him and afterwards they partook in ice cream, samosas, and a hearty round of musical chairs and tug of war, in all of which we were obliged to participate. I don’t want to brag or anything, but my team won tug of war each time we played. I think ifni picked up and moved to Tashi, the rest of my life would be very happy and peaceful.

We spent the rest of our time in McLeod getting to know one another and going over paperwork for Rustic Pathways.

Laura and I were not scheduled to work during the first week of the RP summer, so we were free to go wherever we wanted, provided we return to Delhi the day before the kids for our trip were set to arrive.

The day after returning from McLeod, Laura and I set off for Varanasi. This was Laura’s first experience on the Indian railway, so the whole trip was a little tense for her. To make things worse, the train was late by six hours, which made it about 18 hours long. But once we got to Varanasi, we found our guest house, took showers and left to meet our new French friends for dinner.

We met these guys on the train and they were very kind and hospitable. They told us about their plans to rent motorcycles and have an Indian-style Easy Rider holiday in north India.

The next day, Laura and I wandered around and explored Varanasi. We made friends with lots of goats and cows. Later in the afternoon, we headed toward the Main Ghat, where we found my good friend and bead shop owner, Sunita. She recognized me as soon as she saw me and showered me with gifts – after almost two years, she is just as kind and generous. All that has changed is that her English has improved, and her children have grown. Kushi is now five and is old enough to go to school. Sudrash has graduated high school and plans to attend Banares Hindu University this fall (and he also tried in vain to be Laura’s boyfriend), and Sunita’s oldest son, Kuydan (20), whom I had never met before, led Laura and me on an evening boat ride down the Ganga.

The boat ride was lovely. We embarked just as the sun was setting and thousands of people were gathering along the river for the evening aarti (prayer service). We rowed down to he burning ghat, where about 100 bodies are cremated daily. We got so close that I could feel the heat from the eternal flame on my face. This flame, it is said, has been burning for five thousand years, and has been tended by the same untouchable family that whole time. Feeling the wind blow that heat onto my body was an eerie, out of body experience.

When we were done watching the ornate and complicated funeral rituals, we rowed down to Assisi Ghat to meet our French friends for dinner. We couldn’t find them though, and instead we got DELICIOUS pizza on our own.

That night I couldn’t sleep. Something was wrong, and it wasn’t just the sweltering heat. Around 4am, I looked at our train ticket and realized it had been booked a day earlier than we fought. So I woke up Laura, we showered, packed, and were on our way to the railway station by 6am. Unfortunately, that meant we ha to leave a note at Sunita’s store to let her know why we didn’t say goodbye.

Besides making two new French friends, the train was mundane. It was hot and there were times the fan decided not to work. We ate pakoras (fried snacks) and fresh cucumbers with seasoned salt from vendors who sold it to us through the barred windows while the train was stopped at a station. Come bedtime, I curled up on the top bunk and tried to sleep. Usually, the gentle undulation of the train will loll me to sleep, like a baby in her mothers arms, but I felt queezy. I never get motion sickness, I thought. So I climbed down and went to the end of the car and leaned out the door, thinking maybe some fresh air would do me good. And then it started. I threw up out of the train. I threw up inside the train. I through up outside the train and then the wind flung it back inside the train again. This continued for five hours. I became dehydrated to the point of hallucinating, and thank God Laura was there to arrange for a doctor to see me on the train. He gave me an injection and some pills and we were able to get off in Haridwar around 4am.

Laura and I got a room at the closest hotel we could find near the railway station and we slept like weary children.

But I was still not healthy and the vomiting was not yet over. I’ll spare you the details, but we never made it to our destination of Rishikesh, and we stayed three nights in that hotel – eating crackers and drinking sprite – no proper meals – and took the train back to Delhi as soon as I felt able.

Now, Laura and I are staying in the cushy Hotel Singh Sons in Karol Bagh, New Delhi. Our beds are soft, the pillows fluffy, and the toilet is sit-down, not squat.

Tonight we picked up our first student and tomorrow we get the rest of the group. This go-around all 15 students are girls.

We head to Jaipur on Friday, where we stay in a refurbished palace with AC and pool on the roof. These luxuries will not go unappreciated in the 120 degree Rajasthani weather.

So, keep checking back my friends! I am eager to tell you of our first trip to Jaipur!

I’ve been trying to get on wordpress, but I forgot my log-in information.

I’ve been trying to post, but the connection is so slow that the words are lost in the confusing milieu of the internet before they can be published.

Furthermore, I’ve been immobilized by Montezuma’s Curse (or Delhi Belly, if you want to call it that), and haven’t been able to dedicate a lot of time …. ahem …. away from a bathroom.

I’m going to Jaipur on Friday and should be healthier by then. The place where we are staying will have AC, Wifi, and a rooftop pool. Awesome. So expect longer posts very soon!!

Some friends I made

A young face at the workers union meeting

More workers and their families

Almost all of the able bodied members of this small community work or are trying to get work. Most work fewer than 100 days a year for less than $2 a day.

Our beautiful country abode, lovingly filled with bugs.

Some garden shots for Mom

A 15th (?) century temple – Ganesh

An ornate pillar in aforementioned temple

The location of our quaint little early afternoon picnic

After a morning of hard labour in the sun – we aimed to see just how hard Indians work for what little they are paid.

My very best friend Ferdinand

Chickens in town

A local primary school

Little Rohan playing with the cows!

The best (excuse me) fucking thali in the whole wide world!

So happy to find pistachio AND coffee ice cream!!!

Out clubbing with Kiran, Emily, and Keletso

Try to avoid the the touchiest feeliest man at the club

A shot of the dance floor