India

After over a month in Nepal, it was time to return to India. We headed back to Varanasi, noticing the significantly cheaper food available in India as compared to Nepal. Even after those few weeks, India was once again a shock to the senses. We spent another day in Varanasi relaxing before taking a night train to Rishikesh.

Rishikesh is another very spiritual city of India (translation: can't buy alcohol). It seems that spiritual cities have lots of monkeys. Fortunately the monkeys at Rishikesh were so overfed they were rarely aggressive. Though if you had food they'd bare their teeth at you to get some (actually a show of aggression, though it looks like a giant grin). And for some reason they frequently tried to attack people riding motorbikes on the pedestrian bridge. (They likely thought it was as annoying as we did.)

We found a nice hotel with a balcony to view the Rishikesh sunsets. It was also right next to a tree the monkeys seemed to love hanging out in. Fortunately the hotel had a cage around the doors and windows to keep the monkeys at bay (though they'd hang out on the cage begging if you had any food). Just below the balcony were all the jeeps. This made for excellent people-watching as people haggled for an acceptable price. It was nice to see that the Indian tourists (of which there were many) had to haggle just as hard as we did. They also were not above getting angry and fighting with each other.

Rishikesh is unofficially known as the yoga capital of the world. We sampled the Yoga at a couple of places, noting the more militant style of instruction given by the Indian Yogi Masters. I got a bit sick for a few days and so missed out on the salt-water cleaning of the nasal passages and the unusual Yoga Laura took part in (sticking out the tongue and growling ferociously was one posture--called Lion Pose).

When the sickness passed we decided to do some kayaking along the Ganges. Laura displayed a clear superiority of natural talent in the fine art of not flipping over in the kayak. I seemed to prefer breathing underwater, given my apparent inability to keep the kayak right-side up. After practicing paddling for a few hours our instructer asked if we wanted to attempt an eskimo roll. He informed us it took him three days to successfully do it. I told him (jokingly) I'd get it the first attempt. Somehow I did! Laura was unsuccessful in her attempt. All further attempts I made failed miserably. Next it was time to run our first rapid. We were told it was class II. We managed to get through without flipping! It was quite a rush so we decided to make another day of it. But first we would take a couple of days off.

We used this time to take a Reiki level 1 course. We found an extremely friendly older German woman who was a Reiki Master teaching in Rishikesh. She charged less than the bigger schools and donated half the fee to a cheritable Ashram across the street. We began with an hour of meditation each day, and though it was quite mentally demanding, it was also increadibly relaxing! We slept well after each of the two days in the course. Quite an interesting experience.

After Reiki we were ready for some more extreme times. We wanted action! We got it. We began in a different area this time. As we approached the launch area we saw a group of rafters flip on the rapid in front of us (always a good omen). We were told it was "almost class I." It was also our practice rapid. I did better this time, though I still flipped more often than Laura. After feeling pretty comfortable on this rapid we were told it was time to go down a class II rapid. While this rapid was rated as the same difficulty as the one we went down our first day, it was way tougher! The rapids seemed to be in all directions, taking all our limited abilities not to flip. We made it through the tough part without incident. Laura relaxed a bit too soon a succumbed to a smaller rapid that was not easily detected. The next rapid we were told to approach sideways without being told why. We were also warned about a whirlpool after the main rapid. The current seemed to head straight to an enormous rock and try as we might we could not alter our course sufficiently to miss it! Then we understood why we were supposed to approach it sideways, the current suddenly changed courses and travelled parallel to the rock. It was awesome! After the excitement seemed to be over I suddenly flipped over seemingly without reason. The whirlpool got me. Laura made it through unscathed. Next there was a pretty flat portion perfect for practicing eskimo rolls. Laura couldn't quite get it, though she did master the T-rescue (flipping herself upright with the help of a neighboring kayak). I was able to get three more successful eskimo rolls before deciding I'd drunk enough water with my failed attempts for one day. We ended with the same rapid as the day prior. It seemed much easier this time. We were now expert kayakers!!!!

On our final day in Rishikesh we got a reading from a famous astrologer, whose family had practiced astrology since around the 6th century. Determined to not give anything away to him, we were surprised at his amazingly accurate readings of our past and present. To my delight he explained that any problems within our relationship were caused by Laura's anger. I felt inclined to agree . . . ; ) He said that she could curb her anger by fasting on Tuesdays, the day of Mars (and anger). She has yet to try it. New to us, he told us of our past lives: I was a massive environmental polluter, working near the sea and cutting trees (or some such activity). Laura was an architect along the coast in southern Europe and had problems with marriage (getting divorced twice). Hence, I want to repair my ills to the environment by becoming an environmental engineer, and Laura wants to work hard for a happy marriage in this life. In other news he predicted our futures. Laura is supposed to become rich after age 38. Shortly thereafter I proposed to her (j/k).

After much relaxation we took a train to Delhi to await our flight to Istanbul. On the way there Laura fell asleep with her day-pack at her feet (because it was infested with bed bugs). When she woke up it was gone. That was the end of most of our remaining electronics. Lame!!!! For this reason there will be no more pictures in our blogs (though we did purchase a cheap film camera in Delhi). Fortunately we had copied most of our pictures onto CD (except those of Chitwan and Rishikesh). Oh well, no sense dwelling on it!

We made a day trip from Delhi to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. It would be hard to explain a visit to India without seeing its signature sight! Though the price is US$15 for foreigners to see (only twenty cents for locals), it is well worth it and way better in person! It's beauty is breathtaking and we took many pictures.

The next day we flew to Istanbul. Until next time, India!

--Jason

After spending three and a half months in India, Nepal was quite a treat! Though there were at least as many people trying to sell you their goods at a significant mark-up from the local price, haggling with Nepali's is a much more friendly, enjoyable experience. In India one must always portray a slightly angry, jaded disposition in order to get a fair price. Almost always we would have to walk away in order to be stopped on the way out and offered a fair price. When we walked out on Nepalis they just let us go. After much confusion we eventually figured out that the way to haggle in Nepal is to calmly argue with sound logic. It was frequently a very pleasant experience. We used these newly discovered skills to purchase sunglasses, a water filter, boots, trekking clothes, and all the other necessities for the trekking we planned to undertake.

While the guidebook and all the local trekking agencies will insist that it is dangerous to attempt any of the treks without a guide, everyone we met that had done any of the more popular treks told us they were completely doable without. We thought we'd be able to figure it out with a map and compass. Nepal is quite convenient for trekking because the trail has tea houses at various villages along the way to enable trekkers to sit down for all meals and sleep in a bed at night!!

And then it was off to begin trekking on the Annapurna Circuit! We took a bus to Besi Sahar (two actually) for the starting point of the Annapurna circuit trek. At the hotel we stayed at we met a couple of nice Brits, Allen and Grace, that would be our traveling companions for the next few weeks. The first bit of the trek is a little drab and has a road, so we took a jeep a short ways and cut out a couple of hours of the first day. And so began our epic journey!!

We took it slow, taking in the ever-changing views. It was rather incredible how different the surroundings would be from one day to the next:

And some interesting local plants. Some of you may recognize this one, though it doesn't usually grow wild in the U.S.:

And every day we stopped for tea!

Fortunately our trekking buddies were avid card players, so our evenings were filled with Hearts, Casino, Shithead, Pinochle, and the like. That, and of course more tea!!!

We tried to get as much of the beauty we saw on film as we could. Here's a few choice pictures:

Besides its diverse landscapes, the Annapurna Circuit was unique in that we passed many remote Nepali villages.

People here receive supplies only by donkey train or on their own backs, and we passed many porters (or rather, they passed us, in flip-flops, no less!). We also passed many friendly dogs, water buffalo . . .

. . . cows . . .

. . . lızards . . .

. . . and herds of goats!

Since the trek climbed to a considerable altitude, it was necessary to take a rest day in the village of Manang (altitude of 11,483 ft.) to acclimatize. It aids in acclimatization to hike up to a higher point and then come back down to sleep. Laura and I hiked up to a lookout point to get a good view of a nearby glacier. This got me really excited!

We spent the rest of the day eating delicious yak cheese and bread. Our evenings in Manang were kept busy consuming chyang, a local beer made from fermented wheat:

And talking with locals, some of which had climbed Everest!

With a jacket like that, there's no question he's telling the truth!!!

From here the trek started to get a bit steep. But we did get to see yaks!

After two days we stopped for the night at High Camp (16240 ft). We had to cross a rather dangerous avalanche area to get there that gave another trekker a big gash on the head and claimed the life of a horse that same day! From this height we could really feel the altitude. Just turning over in bed would cause one to lose one's breath! The following day we made the final push up to the top of Thorung La pass, a height of 17,769 ft. With the super thin air, it was slow going. It was so cold at the top of the pass we stopped for a quick cup of tea and some pictures and pushed on down the other side.

Then a knee-destroying descent of 5,597 ft to Muktinath for the night.

Recently, a road was built on this side of the pass to facilitate supply shipments. Our first day walking with a road nearby was awful. Much of the time we had no option but to walk along the road, and it was so dusty and windy that even covering up with scarves and sunglasses barely made the day tolerable! We did pass by a Yak Donald's though (and a 7-eleven):

Since Laura and I were planning on diverting from the Annapurna Circuit Trek to tackle the Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) Trek as well, we decided to part ways with Allen and Grace and take a jeep to Tatopani, cutting out about two days of trekking. We soaked our sore muscles in the hot springs there and continued on our way the following day.

We ended up trekking with some Israelis (they're EVERYWHERE in Nepal) we'd seen during the trek a few days before. We didn't travel with them long. They continued on the additional couple of hours to Ghorapani, while we stopped in Chitre, one town prior. This turned out to be a very wise decision because as soon as we had taken a room in a small tea house, a fierce downpour began. It then turned into hail. Poor Israelis . . .

The next day we took a short cut, cutting diagonal through a thick rain forest to get to the ABC. It wasn't on the map. But ıt had some crazy lookıng trees!

Now, we were well past the ideal trekking season for Nepal, so sometimes there was a bit of haziness or dustiness, or a bit of rain, but we were very fortunate as well. There were an incredibly small number of trekkers compared to the peak season. Even still we passed by a number people every day. Until this short cut. For two hours we walked without seeing a single other foreigner.

We only saw two Nepalis. But we saw hordes of water buffalo! And we sampled the local fruit: seabuckthorn berries!!

And we got to use our compass for the first (and only) time yet! It wasn't all berries and buffalo though. At one point I was standing on a slightly mossy rock, taking a photo of a stream, when I slipped on the moss, taking a couple of steps in the water. I sat down on a log nearby, cursing my clumsiness, for now I'd have to finish the day in my flip-flops. When my shoes came off I noticed a fat leech on my sock, an inch and a half long and thick as a pencil. Thank goodness I was wearing my thick snowboarding socks and he didn't get through. Or so I thought. When I took off my sock he was still there! Somehow I pulled him through my sock!!! After Laura pulled the leech off me we noticed there were a lot more on the moist path, on our shoes, trying to latch on to my heel. We got rid of the ones we saw and retreated further from the river to dress my wound properly. Though it was quite small it took a great deal to stop the bleeding. But for the day of unhindered serenity, it was easily worth it.

From here we were back on the travellers circuit. Afternoon showers were a daily occurance, so we started getting up with the sun in order to get far enough by the time they started. With only two people in our party now, we naturally settled into a much swifter pace, so it was easy to make good time in spite of the rain. But we never lost sight of our main goal in undertaking the ABC trek: to catch a glimpse of Himalayan thar! Sadly, we arrived at Annapurna Base Camp without thar pictures. : ( Fortunately we had breathtaking mountain views encircling the tea house we stayed at:

And if nothing else, they gave us a lovely new recipe!

Then it was back on down. We walked less than an hour, when what should we see along the ridge of the mountain in front of us? Himalayan thar!! YAY!!

We stopped in a town further on (Jhinu) for a second sample of the Annapurna region's hot springs. While this one was smaller than in Tatopani, it was also along the river instead of the road. In addition to wonderful scenery for a soothing hot dip, we could jump in the freezing cold river when we felt overheated. And we met a couple from Oregon, Jason and Kim, an Irishman named Steve (he's not in the picture, but his drink is!), and a Mexican named Guillermo to share the evening soak with:

Guillermo and Steve took on the role of the evening's entertainment. Steve spent half an hour rolling a superjoint using four rolling papers and equipped with wings! Meanwhile Guillermo enthralled us with stories of their trekking mishaps and justification for their countless smoke breaks!

The next day we left prior to our crunk friends. After 20 days of trekking Laura insısted I take a sexy picture of her ın her trekkıng outfıt:

Though we left separately for our final day of trekking, we spotted them arriving in Pokhara (the nearest city to the trek's termination). Jason and Kim even stayed in the same hotel as us. So we spent a few days lounging with fellow Americans, eating steak and socializing with our stoner foreign friends in the evenings. It was rough.

But it was time to move on. We headed back to Kathmandu to set up a trip to Royal Chitwan National Park. We decided to see if there was any merit to all-inclusive packages and signed on for one to Chitwan. It definitely cost more than if we had organized it all ourselves, but the convenience was quite a treat, and we celebrated by overeating every meal and taking full advantage of the all-you-can-drink-tea included in the price. The first day we went for a short hike, saw the elephants, watched the sunset, and went to a presentation of the locals' various dances. The next day we began with a visit to the elephant breeding center to play with the baby elephants. So cute!!! This was followed with a canoe trip to spot all the park's bird life and crocodiles (two crocodiles and a gharial). This left just enough time before lunch to bathe with an elephant! This consisted of hopping on the elephant's back and having him blast us repeatedly with trunkfuls of water to wash us (quite a powerful blast!). Then the elephant dropped down into the water and we washed him. Here's a picture of us in between trunkfuls of water:

After a change of clothes and a plateful of food it was time for a safari on elephant back! We saw Indian rhino, wild boar, musk deer, sambar deer, monkeys, wild chickens, and a wide variety of bird life. Unfortunately we had a camera mishap that left us with only one picture of Chitwan (above). Lame! But we had a blast so who cares?!

Yeah, Nepal is so sweet it could make a wolverine purr!!!

--Jason

Pondicherry
After having traveled for some time in India, this French influenced city seemed more like we took a train to Europe! Locals played boccie ball, the lunch menu had European Thali's (a green salad and a bean salad with hummus, cheese, and bread), and the primary language is French. Apparently Indians from this city alone can work and live in France as long as they want! We filled our bellies as full as possible with European delicacies!! We went to one restaurant called "Golden Showers." As amusing as the title is they topped it with the dinner item second from the bottom in this photo:

There was also the marching band of the Indian army there performing one day:

And Laura got stuck in a dolphin!

But, fortunately, there were still some oddities one finds only in India:

Only 10 kilometers away is the city of Auroville, an international community of an unusual nature. It was founded by the local ashram in Pondicherry. From their website: "Auroville wants to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realise human unity." For more information visit their website:

www.auroville.org

At any rate, we decided to rent bicycles and ride there since it wasn't that far. This turned out to be quite an experience. As a biker on busy Indian roads, one doesn't get much respect. In fact, one is at the very bottom of the highway food chain. Buses ran us off the road regularly. Cars sped by us, allotting the respectful half inch of space between us as was the custom! And after we'd braved the roads for what seemed like quite some time, we discovered we had overshot our turn by 10 kilometers! Now if we had top notch road bikes this would be a short bike ride, but with the top notch, rusty, badly sized hundred year old bikes WE rented, this took some time. We eventually found the right turn. The sign was so well marked I don't know how we missed it:

The highlight attraction, the Matrimandir, is for those of Auroville to meditate in silence and with AC:

Chennai to Calcutta
In Chennai, we met Brian, one of Jason's old Air Force buddies, for some fun. There's not much to say about the city, but we (finally!) had some good wine thanks to Brian:

We also were able to play some pool on a good table.

After a few days, we took a long train ride to Calcutta. We only spent a couple days there, but it was enough. The poverty was apparent even in the small area we visited. But we did manage to get in some bowling:

Bodhgaya
Bodhgaya is the site where Prince Siddhartha attained enlightenment while meditating under a bodhi tree, thus becoming the Buddha. The town is filled with beautiful Buddhist temples, all of which allow visitors. We visited the main temple, which surrounds the sacred tree and is the heart of the Buddhist community here:

There's also a giant statue of Buddha:

The big downside to the area, though, is that Bihar is the poorest state in India. It being the slow season, we were mobbed by beggars and scamming children wherever we went. One group of youths invited us to their school to teach English for a bit, which we agreed to investigate. But our visit was followed by repeated requests for money. And every kid had a story to tell about his father drinking away the family's money. (While this may be true, we were usually made pretty uncomfortable about not giving money.) So we found reprieve in the monasteries. We were invited to have tea at the Bangladeshi monastery, and discovered that that was the Bangladesh new year. They invited us to join them for ceremony that evening. As these monks were big partiers, only the large candles would suffice:

Every action we were instructed to take had a meaning--we walked single file around the main temple to show discipline, and we lit candles and placed them in rows to signify unity. We meditated, and then the monks bought us a lassi. Nobody bothered us when we were with them.

One of the locals was kind enough to escort us to the monasteries and play cage tag with laura.

Varanasi
Our last stop in India before going to Nepal was Varanasi.

This sacred city is located along the Ganges and is famous for its burning ghats where Indians come to die a holy death. It is believed that one moves beyond the cycle of reincarnation when one's body is placed in the river and then set fire to. So bodies are burned round the clock and the remains are thrown into the waters. Pregnant women, children, those killed by animals, and holy men are dumped into the river while attached to a stone because they are already pure and therefore do not require burning. Lepers are also not burned because of the health risk. As usual, scams abound. It is illegal (or at least in poor taste) to take pictures of the burning ghats. We declined an offer from one man to take photos, which we later found out was the right move. Supposedly another person had taken someone up on the offer and was then escorted to the police, where he had to pay a large sum to avoid incarceration.

One morning we got up early for a sunrise boat ride.

After dark, we hired a boat to see the nightly ceremony.

At the end, people light floating candles and release them onto the river.

Death here is a celebration, and Varanasi was another favorite in our Indian travels.

The long road to Nepal . . . .
We thought it'd be a simple matter to cross the border to Nepal, but we ended up on quite an adventure. Our first leg was to hop on a train to Gorakpur. After asking a number of people if we were on the correct train, we dozed off. When we awoke, however, we had ended up in Patna (a city much farther east), because apparently only certain CARS went to our destination. After inquiry, we found out that no trains were running out of Patna due to elections! It was difficult to find a room because only certain hotels have a permit to host tourists, and Patna is in no way a tourist destination. The next day, we caught a rickshaw to a nearby town where trains WERE supposed to run. Our fare was the reasonable sum of 30 Indian rupees. When we arrived, however, the driver stated that the price was 30 HUNDRED rupees. What a crock! Jason and the driver almost came to fisticuffs before we tracked down a policeman, who saw to it we didn't overpay. Then we were on a train to the border, knowing we were home free. But what sort of adventure ends so easily? We didn't want anything to do with easy travelling! Fortunately, when we arrived in the border town of Raxaul at 12:30 a.m, all the hotels were closed, and those that were open closed their gates on us (literally)! Finally, we called the single hotel listed in our guide book and were admitted. The next morning, we were told that the border was closed due to NEPALI elections. But anything is possible in India. With a simple bribe to the border patrol, we were allowed through. The baggage check consisted of a guard putting his hand a few inches into our packs and serving us tea! We could have been carrying anything! But finally, we were through.

Before we'd walked half a kilometer we noticed something very different about Nepal -- there was not the comforting smell of sewage that we had grown accustom to in India. This might take some getting used to . . . Fortunately it still offered some travelling obstacles. There were no day buses because of strikes along the roads. So we spent the day in Birganj sampling the local brews before catching a night bus to Kathmandu. Some people take twenty hours to get from Varanasi to Kathmandu. We prefer four days.

--Jason and Laura

Sattankulam
At the beginning of April, we began our volunteer work with AID India. We met up with the organization in Sattankulam, a small village near the southernmost tip of India. The very friendly members provided us with cozy accommodation and a laughing cook named Kalyani.

We were told the story of how AID India got started:

Throughout rural areas in India, poor families struggle to send their children to school. Around Sattankulam, families had taken out loans from rich landowners to pay for their children to attend private school (because the public school was not adequate). The landowners set such high interest rates that the poor families soon became indebted. In return for payment, the rural families had to send their children to work in the landowners' hotels instead of allowing them to finish school. Thus there was great need for an alternative, and the families approached Peter Raj, an acclaimed local school teacher. He started a new private school that gave the children clothes, lunch, and a good education. He organized a huge party to celebrate the opening of the new school and even invited the wealthy child exploiters. He then proceeded to tell all attendees that all he had done was the work of the rich landowners. With undue flattery Peter tricked the landowners into ending child labor in their establishments and offer a large piece of land for the school's expantion nearly free of charge. With further support, he helped to get families out of debt. On the basis of this success and the hard work of many people in the local community, Humanist AID India was started. Since then, it has expanded to include newer programs that empower underprivileged groups including women, children, and the disabled. Its Microcredit Program helps women build a savings and start businesses in handicrafts, food, etc. AID India has a farm that produces rice, coconuts, and other vegetables to raise money. It started an orphanage in Virudhunagar that supports 100 children, and a second is currently being built in Sattankulam.

We weren't really sure where we would fit in, but we wanted to help. Peter told us that the school (Ave Maria Grace) needed help with teaching students English. When we visited, we were immediately introduced as English teachers, put at the front of a classroom without any material, and told "teach!"

The teachers' English was only marginally superior to that of the students, so there was a huge communication problem. They expected us to provide some miracle of teaching, and we were rather overwhelmed. After some research into their syllabi and school books, we slowly started to find our groove. One huge problem was that the students were taught English by memorization only, without any critical thinking. The second was that we hardly spoke any Tamil, the local language, so we had to explain things by motioning, pointing, and drawing. We did a lot of experimenting in what did and did not work.

Throughout this time, Jason had been developing an earache. Clearly his gimpiness-inclined body realized his ankle had fully recovered and another ailment was in order. He visited the only doctor in Sattankulam, who didn't even look in his ear, but gave him SEVEN different medications. Not surprisingly, Jason's ear got worse. So Jason was taken to another doctor in a bigger city two hours away. A shot in the ass and four more medications later, Jason was sent home. The following night, I was awoken to the sound of Jason whimpering in pain. One look at his ear showed that it was swollen completely shut!!! I pictured brain swelling, an ear drum rupture, death! I woke up the cook and told her it was an emergency--we had to get to a hospital. She sprang into action and called someone, who rushed us to . . . . the local doctor. He came from behind the curtain with a syringe and needle, and I would not let him administer it until he told me what was in it. After I'd harrassed the doctor and was ready to take Jason four hours to the nearest 24-hour hospital, Jason said that he could sleep from the shot. The next day, we visited a third doctor (2 hours away), a specialist, who diagnosed Jason with a boil (abcess) in his ear. Ewww. He niftily popped the boil and released a sea of white chunkies from Jason's ear canal. With some antibiotics Jason soon felt better and was on the road to recovery.

With Jason back on track, we decided to take a new approach with the teaching. We researched songs and games, like Pictionary and the Hokey Pokey (which they called the "Hockey Pockey"). We brought in a laptop that we had donated. Most of the kids had never seen a computer and were thrilled when we showed them Dr. Seuss, Sesame Street clips, and sing-a-longs. We also invented a game where the students competed against each other to type in the correct words for sentences. Thank goodness for the internet and technology! Finally, we purchased children's English books and dictionaries, and read them stories with voices and lots of expression. These were tiring days, but well worth it. The children were really fun and eager to learn.

Our other project was to help AID India design an emu enclosure for their farm. We visited the site and learned all we could about emus, then turned in a report. Unfortunately, we had to leave before the emus were purchased.

Not all our stay was hard work, though. I managed to purchase a silk sari, which required the help of four women to put it on the first time.

I got it just in time, because we were invited to attend the wedding of a rich family: the bride's mother was the former prime minister of Tamil Nadu--her face is plastered everywhere in the district. Check out the size of this wedding invitation!! (It's held by Peter.)

The wedding was quite decadent, with more food than you could stand, live music, and beautiful outfits. We met a famous Indian comedian (but we have no idea who he is).

The funny thing was, the bride did not look happy. It was an arranged marriage, and the couple had just met for the first time that day.

Our final work with AID India was to visit the orphanage in Virudhunugar. The children's lives completely revolved around studying--for 2 hours before school and 3 hours after. And these were some of the highest ranking kids in Tamil Nadu. We hung out and helped them with English pronunciation. Actually, they preferred to teach us Tamil, even quizzing us on words and their names the second day! Here Jason learns how to write "America" and "India" in Tamil:

But I think they most enjoyed playing with us. They only got half an hour a day to play, and we engaged them in ball games and duck duck goose. The youngest orphan was four, and we danced with her and other little ones. They especially enjoyed the chicken dance! We came away from there with gifts and drawings, and we will really miss them.

The littlest one, Diana:

I had a lot of arm wrestling competitors:

Kanyakumari

Toward the end of our AID India month we took a trip down to the southern tip of India, called Kanyakumari, with fellow volunteers Patrick and Marloes. This is where the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean, and Bay of Bengal meet, and affords excellent views of the sun setting and rising (though we were too lazy to observe the latter). It also boasts having a waterpark "on par with western waterparks." While this statement is debatable, it was certainly better than we anticipated. Since this was an Indian water park, Patrick and Jason had to wear shirts with their shorts, while Marloes and myself wore long pants and shirts. There was a cricket batting cage, bumper cars, a mechanical bull and haunted house (not scary, though jason was spooked by a kid he ran into) before entering the wet area. The water rides were excellent (though there were only four). The most popular ride in the park consisted of a dancefloor with a shower overhead. It was packed with dancing Indians! In the wave pool Jason was bombarded with young Indian men coaxing him into performing feats of strength and acrobatics, then took pictures of him while they gave him kisses on the cheek. What a lush!! The wavepool (which rocked water from side to side when operating) was separated by a rope marking the men and women's side, and it was forbidden to tresspass into the improper side. The lifeguards would whistle to the best of their ability if you crossed the line in the wave pool, took too long to get out of the water after going down the slide, or if they were bored. It was an action packed 24 hour trip!

Sorry for the delay in the posting of this blog!

--Laura

(Pictures to be filled in soon . . . .)

Wayanad

Our plan was to do a multi-day trek around the national park. When we informed the state tourist office representative of this he said, "it is not possible." It turns out the dry season puts the park at high risk for fires, so nobody is allowed to stay overnight in the park. He showed us numerous day treks we could go on instead. The first one we barely made it back alive! The "suitable for beginners" trek of the highest peak in Wayanad was very humbling indeed. Chembra Peak was a three-hour walk up a 45 degree incline, which we foolishly attempted mid-day. We took our first break after about 10 minutes. On our trek, we passed lower peaks that had been recently burned by careless smokers, showing us the reason for the camping ban. We also stopped at a heart-shaped lake where our guide showed us a baby turtle and some mountain fish.

Finally, beyond our expectations, we made it to the top!

Afterwards, our hospitable guide risked serious reprimand by taking us a short ways beyond the peak to see the edge of the jungle.

Unfortunately, we saw no sign of tigers. We later found a guide that more accurately referred to our trek as "mountaineering." Perhaps someone wrote it to keep our dignity in tact.

Our second trek was much shorter. It took us to a three-tiered waterfall, where Laura was almost eaten by a rock monster. Aaaaggghhhh!!!

Fortunately, Jason staved it off with his charming wit and gimpy moves.

Finally, our third outing took us to an island where Indians gather for leisurely rock-hopping and river-wading. Here's a photo of some of the locals crossing:

Though it wasn't as peaceful and remote as we had hoped, we had a good time with the locals. We came upon groups of Indian men singing together, and high school students squealing as they crossed the river fully clothed. Laura did NOT have as much fun trying to find a place to use the bathroom discreetly. Any sign of a white person moving in the forest, and people had to look!!!

Kochi

Perhaps the most memorable part of Kochi was the train ride over. It was a little tight:

We made the mistake of catching a train without reservations on a Sunday afternoon following a weekend of political rallies. Even when we thought we could fit no more in our car, five more people would try to shove in as they hung off the train. We were "lucky" enough to get a seat atop our packs five inches from the toilet. Three hours later, we got a seat. Fifteen minutes after that, we had arrived. Whew!

From Kochi, we took a 7-hour tour of the Keralan backwaters. The first half of the day was spent on a traditional rice barge that had been converted into a houseboat. We perused the larger waterways where men dug for mussels, and locals generally ignored us. We stopped at a local village to see some toddy (palm beer) tapping and various plants used to make ayurvedic medicines. It turns out ground-up mussel shells can be used for anything from paint to treatment for osteoporosis. The latter part of the tour took us by canoe through the narrower backwaters. We saw women spin coir matting from coconut fibers and men climb palm trees to knock down coconuts for us to drink from.

In our last days at Kochi, we managed to buy a computer to donate to AID India and a mobile phone. Ah, the luxury of electronics!

Varkala
Our tour of Kerala ended at one of our favorite places: Varkala. A small but touristy beach town, it was much quieter than Goa. By day, we sat on the beach gettin' our tans on and making use of the only waves we've seen in India by partaking in some totally extreme boogie-boarding. To set the tone of our stay, on the first day Jason pranced into the ocean with our new mobile phone in his pocket. (And we call our bearded dragon retarded!) Fortunately, our very good English friend (from Hampi Children's Trust) gave us her phone as a replacement since she was leaving soon. (Thanks, Katharine! You're the keenest gal in all of India!!!)

By night, it was on like Donkey Kong! We started by perusing the daily fish selections, which were displayed on ice in front of each restaurant.

For the outrageous sum of Rs 150 (about US $3), we ate grilled blue marlin, barracuda, or tuna with rice and salad. Sometime thereafter, we made our way to the Funky Art Cafe, to discover the night's entertainment. At times, we saw Bollywood dancers, a live band, or some hula-hooping, and if nothing else, the lively waiters danced to entice the crowd. Some Bollywood dancers:

According to one (rather sleazy) DJ, the music was spun from a mobile phone! It got so crazy one night that people were swinging from the bamboo beams above. One lunatic even sprained his ankle. (This person, of course, was Jason.) Not to be outdone, one of the waiters followed suit two days later.

After a rickshaw drive into town, two X-rays (for US $2 each!), and a new nickname of "Michael Jackson," Jason was happily hobbling around on crutches. This made him the most recognized person in Varkala.

One day Laura decided to check out the nearby Black Beach. It turned out to be a small strip of sand cluttered with beached fishing boats. On the upside she was invited to lunch by a nice Muslim family. They turned out to be such nice people that she drug Jason and his new crutches out to meet them. We were fed rice with a very small fish they caught and dried in the sun. Since the family's English was not particularly fluent, and we knew about three works in Malayalam, the girls decided to dress Laura appropriately Indian:

Given the language barrier the rest of our stay consisted of us taking pictures of them and being photographed ourselves. The ladies:

They proudly showed us their rickshaw and insisted we take a picture:

Then they wanted to take pictures of us, so we struck a pose:

In light of Jason's many recent mishaps, Laura was feeling a little left out in the pity department. So as we were awaiting the train to leave Varkala, she said, "Where's my camera?" We never got an answer to that question. Insult was added to injury when she went to file a police report--the police thought it was pretty funny that a little white girl was so upset about losing her property. Though the police were unsympathetic, our hotel managers gave us a free night's stay to search for the camera, and as many rickshaw drivers as we came across helped us look. Oh, well. Less stuff to carry! Jason's camera carried most of the photo gems anyway.

After much fun and debauchery, it was finally time to begin our volunteering with AID India.

--Laura and Jason