200 steps

I moved closer to town yesterday, into a huge room with an amazing view of the mountains. Still no heat, but there's a hot shower and that makes all the difference. Being in town now, as opposed to up in the mountains, it's actually not quite as cold, as in I can't really see my breath in the morning when I wake up, so that's nice. And now instead of a 2 km walk down a mountain, I only have to walk 200 steps up into town. I don't feel so bad not doing my daily yoga with this kind of exercise. I signed up to see the Dalai Lama next week. He is teaching on the 24th and 25th for two hours each afternoon. I need to get my hands on a radio, to hear the English translation, a cushion to sit on the ground, and a cup. I'm guessing they pass out tea to the attendees. It couldn't have been easier to sign up - you give them your passport info, two passport-sized photos and 10 rupees (only like 20 cents!!) and they give you a badge. Sweet! It will be interesting to see what the place looks and feels like when H.H.D.L. is in town (His Holiness the Dalai Lama).

After signing up, I took a walk around a nice mountain loop and enjoyed the fresh air and beautiful scenery. There weren't many other people on the road. One nice man came up and introduced himself as a traveling massage therapist, at my service if I so desired. That is one case where I think "just say yes" does not apply. Other than that, it was a pretty quiet walk. On the way down I met up with two Tibetan women and we braved a huge group of monkeys together. I don't know if I would call it a fear, but let's just say I have a healthy respect for these red-faced monkeys now. I've seen them fight with each other and it's not pretty. At one point we had to climb down a rocky ledge in order to avoid passing by them as they went to town in a dumpster. Never a dull moment. :)


The view from my room. Good Morning!!

Bas!

This word means “enough” in Hindi. I’ve had enough. If I’m being honest, I probably had enough a long time ago. It is pretty well decided that I started out in the two roughest places in India, Delhi and Varanasi, and it’s true that it’s gotten better from there. Nevertheless, it’s not better enough. I am so thankful I brought my iPod with me because the only way I could deal with walking through the streets to get to this wifi café today was by listening to Rage Against the Machine at full blast. This is not normally the kind of music I listen to, but it’s good for venting frustration. If I have to refuse money to another limbless person on the side of the road, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I know that sounds harsh, but you really get immune to and fed up with it all, and there’s also something really messed up in that.

There were almost no photos with this post as well. The wifi was working like a charm at first, but then became deathly slow, making it almost impossible to upload anything. I can deal with internet issues; that is really just the icing on the cake. I’m tired, however, of trying to avoid the piles of cow shit in the road, tired of seeing men pick their noses and scratch themselves and urinate in public like it’s no big deal, tired of the stares (yes, I am white and blonde, get over it), tired of people honking their horns all the freaking time and when they're only like 3 feet away from you. I actually found this café again today by the following landmark: yes, this is the pathway where I saw a woman taking a dump yesterday, so this is the way to the café. How messed up is that? How messed up is this place? Is a lot of the world really as messed up as this?

Rather than continue with this rant and sound like a total complainer, I will just conclude by saying that India for me is like papaya; I keep trying and trying to like it, but I just don’t. In my opinion, the coolest things about this place are best viewed in an import shop. I've had a lot of great experiences and met a lot of interesting people along the way so far, but India is most definitely not near and dear to my heart. Bas.

... it's worth mentioning that despite my opinion of this country, I've taken about 1000 pictures. Here are a few from my first days in Rishikesh.


Hello Himalayas.


Two monkey siblings at play. "Hey, how does this feel?"


Henna tattooing along the side of the road.

Backyard

So here's what my backyard currently looks like:


I'm living in a valley and a short hike up the road gives this view. Not bad, hey? Along the path are all sorts of flowers I've never seen before. There are also a lot of ants. Here's a pic of a flower bud, some sort of sunflower, and if you look closely you can see the ant hanging off the bottom of it. There were actually way more around back, but I didn't linger too long as I needed to make sure I was back in time to get to my first ever acupuncture treatment, which was amazing. Pics of the jars and jars of herbs on her wall to come...

Welcome Back to Taos!

I got a very kind email with the above message from a photographer out here who I am looking forward to meeting. Welcome back, indeed. There is something truly magical about this place. Everywhere you turn there are beautiful views, mountains in nearly every direction, it seems.


Yesterday included an almost two-hour yoga class (!), errands around town, and a trip up to Taos Ski Valley, which is unbelievably steep. The town of Taos is at 7,000 feet above sea level, and the mountain ranges from 9,200 to 12,000. Whoa!