Once again, after a long time away from the net I become exhausted and overwhelmed with this world that doesn't really exist, I don't even understand how the internet works. There's emails to respond to, a million things to write about, stories to tell and life to figure out. But I'm back in Kathmandu!
I never would have guessed at all the twists and turns that my adventure took. But one thing I've learned throughout my wanders: don't make plans, but never run out of ideas.
Since I managed to post in Thulo Syaphru along the trail I've had a novels worth of adventures: I had a Nepali boy follow me and think he was going to come back to the U.S. with me, I milked Chowry (Yak/Cow mix), traded my backpack for a Bamboo pack basket worked in a cheese factory and learned to make cheese and butter, performed pooja with a Nepali family 4500 meters up at a holy lake, got invited to leave the "trekking route" and see real Nepali life, and ended up harvesting rice, rebuilding the paddies, and planting new rice... So many stories and where to begin.
At the moment though, I'm overwhelmed, can't seem to function or respond to emails and I think I'll do better wandering the streets of Kathmandu than sitting on the computer.
I'm going to do my best to get on the computer and write. I feel so inspired after wandering the hills and mountains, I want to share that inspiration with everyone.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Still... Trekking!
Here's a quicky for everyone :D I've been having an amazing time wandering across the mountains. I'm in Thulu Syaphru and I'm on my way back to Kathmandu over Larabina La pass. I'm as close to civilization as I've been in a while and since my trip took one of the many unexpected twists that my journey takes I'm writing to let people know life is grand!
The mountains are amazing, I hope my photos will give people an idea once they're uploaded. The connection is slow and I'm paying an arm and a leg for internet at the moment.
Anyways, as the adventure continues I found myself painting windows at a guest house in Kyanjin Gompa at 3,800 meters. I painted for free room and board. When I was hanging outside of the second story window,breathing in paint fumes and wondering why I was painting 8 hours a day to save $7 I would switch my focus to the windows and see 7,000 meter mountains framed by the fresh paint.
I'm finally starting to appreciate "tea house" trekking. I get to take my time, wander through beautiful landscapes. And then get food, room and a hot shower at the end of the day! It's a shift from wandering the backcountry of the northwest but it has it's merits as well.
I've had so many experiences: trying to carry a porters load, and almost breaking my neck after 100 meters, spending two nights dancing at a gompa with Tibetans, getting charged by a Yak, getting above 5,000 meters, and sawing through a log with the local lumberjacks. So many stories to tell. I sent my blessings across the world from the top of the world, maybe you heard?
Namaste
The mountains are amazing, I hope my photos will give people an idea once they're uploaded. The connection is slow and I'm paying an arm and a leg for internet at the moment.
Anyways, as the adventure continues I found myself painting windows at a guest house in Kyanjin Gompa at 3,800 meters. I painted for free room and board. When I was hanging outside of the second story window,breathing in paint fumes and wondering why I was painting 8 hours a day to save $7 I would switch my focus to the windows and see 7,000 meter mountains framed by the fresh paint.
I'm finally starting to appreciate "tea house" trekking. I get to take my time, wander through beautiful landscapes. And then get food, room and a hot shower at the end of the day! It's a shift from wandering the backcountry of the northwest but it has it's merits as well.
I've had so many experiences: trying to carry a porters load, and almost breaking my neck after 100 meters, spending two nights dancing at a gompa with Tibetans, getting charged by a Yak, getting above 5,000 meters, and sawing through a log with the local lumberjacks. So many stories to tell. I sent my blessings across the world from the top of the world, maybe you heard?
Namaste
Friday, May 27, 2011
Trekking!
After climbing back up the mountain to retrieve my camera I was stokin' on life!
Today was a national strike and everything was closed... fancy that :D Tomorrow things look like they will be opening up so I'm off to go trekking. I've got to catch a 9 hour bus ride that covers 120 KM... I'm used to buses that move as fast as I can jog so it's ok.
The itinerary it stands is to hop on a bus tomorrow at 6 AM bus it out to a place called Dunche almost directly north of Kathmandu on the edge of Langtang national park. I'll do the popular "Langtang Trek," then the idea is to connect via a 14,000 foot pass to another area known as the Helambu and walk back to Kathmandu. This should take me about 14 days give or take a few. I'll be out of contact entirely until I get back. This kind of trekking is known as "tea house" trekking. There are lodges and tea houses along the more popular sections. I have a tarp with me and we'll see how realistic it is for me to camp as much as possible. Wood can't be used for fires in these areas because they are heavily traveled and I'm not going to bother with a stove so I'll be eating out while wandering around mountains. It's quite a new concept to me, I'm used to just going out and fending for myself. I'm excited to do what "70% of all tourists who come to Nepal want to do." Haha.
Some highlights of volunteering on the farm were spending time with Ramu's older brother's son, who is two and a half and at the age when he's curious about everything. One night, when we had electricity, and all the geckos we're eating insects that flew around the light I was lifting him up so he could try and grab them. It was a repeated, "Lizard" and then me hoisting him up as high as I could so he could try and grab one. He came very close.
Another moment that is making me smile is learning and singing Kirtan (Devotional songs) with "Ama" (Ramu's mother, and another one of my many adopted mothers :) We were working out in the field side by side and she was slowly teaching me the songs of Lord Krishna (One of the manifestations of Vishnu and known for his flute playing, his naughty nature as a child, stealing milk and cream from the milkmaids) We sang together as the sun was setting and it gave me energy after a long day's work in the sun. it was so much fun to sing as the parrots flew back to their roosts in large flocks and the sun turned red, setting over India.
While I was sick I had a couple brief moments of literary inspiration, here's a poem that I wrote.
I long to find the end of the earth
Take the leap into the unknown.
Falling with giddy glee
and a smile on my face
I will plummet into stormy clouds.
Amongst these ethereal giants
I will have tea with my fears
Dance with my joys
Hug my sorrows,
and paint them all with my dreams.
When I am hungry I will eat chubby cumulus clouds
and suck the cirrus clouds dry.
I will learn to speak with the wind,
Learning ancient secrets
from the her eons of wandering,
whispered into my eager ears.
I will make friends with the sun and moon
Share with them my heart
and chase them in circles around the globe.
When the cloud has tired of it's burden,
and spits me upon the earth
as a human hailstone.
I'll look up and smile because it was all worthwhile.
It's quite crude but the sentiment is there. I remember the inspiration of this. Everyday almost clouds would roll in and we'd get thunder, lightning and sometimes full on tropical storms. I've never seen a hailstone so big. They were seriously the diameter of quarters. They came with 40-50 mile an hour winds which knocked down trees and ripped off the neighbors roof. Quarter sized hailstones coming almost horizontal is quite scary, take it from me.
New pictures are up on flicker, sadly it's taking forever to load so only about 150 new ones are up and they're quite old. I'll be sure to keep my camera handy wandering about in the mountains.
Namaste
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Over a month...
and so much to say.
I'm sitting in an internet cafe in Kathmandu Nepal situated across the street from my "Didi's" house. Didi is the Nepali (and Hindi) word for older sister. My ideas when came to Nepal were to get out of the cities and make it into the mountains and find out what big mountains really mean. I completed one of the requirements and I plan to leave for trekking in 2 days! I worked on a farm for about a month in a small village called Megauli in the Chitwan district of Nepal. Megauli's claim to fame is that it hosts the elephant polo championships every December! It is a rural area bordering Chitwan National Park in lowland Nepal.
I crossed the border without any difficulties (I walked across without getting my Indian visa stamped without even realizing it) and went to Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha. Through the website workaway.info I was in email contact with a man named Bishnu who has a volunteer organization out of Kathmandu, he saw my profile and said, "I have a place for you." From Lumbini, i hopped on local transportation and with a little difficulty arrived in Megauli and met Ramu. Ramu is a second generation farmer (There has been a little unrest in Kathmandu lately, strikes and such, a march is walking by the cafe at the moment...) His family migrated to the fertile lowlands, known as the Terai, from the mountains after DDT was used to eradicate Malaria in the 1950's and 60's. Southern Nepal is under 1,000 feet elevation on the Gangetic plain. This area has much of the arable land and almost all of the industry. It is also hot. It was between 80 and 100 degrees with almost 100% humidity.
Ramu and his family took me in without any questions, Bishnu asked Ramu if I could come only 3 days before, and we got to work on the farm. I joined in the daily ritual of: wake up at 5:30, out in the fields by 6 or 6:30, depending on whether we had tea or not. Work until about 9 or 10 when the sun was scorching and then breakfast of "Dal Baat Tarkari." Lentils Rice and Curried veggies. We ate entirely food that was grown on the farm! Then we'd do odd jobs near the house, feeding the cows, etc. or rest until about 4 PM when we'd go back out in the field until dark. Then we'd eat Dal Baat again, or roti's and then sleep. It was a wonderful and wholesome routine.
During my stay I attempted to reach an internet connection in Narangarh (24 kilometers and almost 2 hours by bus...) there wasn't electricity and I got heat stroke, which proceeded to become a fever and diarrhea, I was knocked out cold for a couple of days. My immune system was out of whack big time, consequently I got 2 staff infections on one foot. This put me down for another week. Luckily there's a rural clinic no more that 200 meters down the "road" from Ramu's house. I became a regular there for about a week and a half. For the infections I got shots of local anesthesia and then they popped the suckers like giant mutant zits and packed the holes with iodine soaked bandages. I spent a week with nothing to do but stare at the ceiling and hope that there was electricity so that the fan would run. I survived the ordeal and it's just another lesson of how important our bodies are and how much I take my healthy body for granted.
While I was bed ridden Ramu's older sister came to visit and she told me that when I come to Kathmandu to come and stay with her. So that's how I'm living like the locals again. I am so astounded at how open people have been to me, inviting me into their lives. Ramu's family has become my Nepali family. Bishnu's husband works as a chef and she's a stay at home mom until she can find work as a teacher. I've been helping her three year old son practice his ABC's, walk him and the neighbor's daughter to school and cooking dinner. My Hindi has morphed into a Hindi/Nepali mix that allows me to communicate adequately here. I plan to leave for trekking in two days! I'm determined to get some mountain time!
Excuse the scatteredness, it's reflecting my state of mind, trying to organize everything for trekking and opening up the cyber world after a month of not looking at it has sent my mind spinning.
Love to everyone and sorry if anyone was worried :D
I'm sitting in an internet cafe in Kathmandu Nepal situated across the street from my "Didi's" house. Didi is the Nepali (and Hindi) word for older sister. My ideas when came to Nepal were to get out of the cities and make it into the mountains and find out what big mountains really mean. I completed one of the requirements and I plan to leave for trekking in 2 days! I worked on a farm for about a month in a small village called Megauli in the Chitwan district of Nepal. Megauli's claim to fame is that it hosts the elephant polo championships every December! It is a rural area bordering Chitwan National Park in lowland Nepal.
I crossed the border without any difficulties (I walked across without getting my Indian visa stamped without even realizing it) and went to Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha. Through the website workaway.info I was in email contact with a man named Bishnu who has a volunteer organization out of Kathmandu, he saw my profile and said, "I have a place for you." From Lumbini, i hopped on local transportation and with a little difficulty arrived in Megauli and met Ramu. Ramu is a second generation farmer (There has been a little unrest in Kathmandu lately, strikes and such, a march is walking by the cafe at the moment...) His family migrated to the fertile lowlands, known as the Terai, from the mountains after DDT was used to eradicate Malaria in the 1950's and 60's. Southern Nepal is under 1,000 feet elevation on the Gangetic plain. This area has much of the arable land and almost all of the industry. It is also hot. It was between 80 and 100 degrees with almost 100% humidity.
Ramu and his family took me in without any questions, Bishnu asked Ramu if I could come only 3 days before, and we got to work on the farm. I joined in the daily ritual of: wake up at 5:30, out in the fields by 6 or 6:30, depending on whether we had tea or not. Work until about 9 or 10 when the sun was scorching and then breakfast of "Dal Baat Tarkari." Lentils Rice and Curried veggies. We ate entirely food that was grown on the farm! Then we'd do odd jobs near the house, feeding the cows, etc. or rest until about 4 PM when we'd go back out in the field until dark. Then we'd eat Dal Baat again, or roti's and then sleep. It was a wonderful and wholesome routine.
During my stay I attempted to reach an internet connection in Narangarh (24 kilometers and almost 2 hours by bus...) there wasn't electricity and I got heat stroke, which proceeded to become a fever and diarrhea, I was knocked out cold for a couple of days. My immune system was out of whack big time, consequently I got 2 staff infections on one foot. This put me down for another week. Luckily there's a rural clinic no more that 200 meters down the "road" from Ramu's house. I became a regular there for about a week and a half. For the infections I got shots of local anesthesia and then they popped the suckers like giant mutant zits and packed the holes with iodine soaked bandages. I spent a week with nothing to do but stare at the ceiling and hope that there was electricity so that the fan would run. I survived the ordeal and it's just another lesson of how important our bodies are and how much I take my healthy body for granted.
While I was bed ridden Ramu's older sister came to visit and she told me that when I come to Kathmandu to come and stay with her. So that's how I'm living like the locals again. I am so astounded at how open people have been to me, inviting me into their lives. Ramu's family has become my Nepali family. Bishnu's husband works as a chef and she's a stay at home mom until she can find work as a teacher. I've been helping her three year old son practice his ABC's, walk him and the neighbor's daughter to school and cooking dinner. My Hindi has morphed into a Hindi/Nepali mix that allows me to communicate adequately here. I plan to leave for trekking in two days! I'm determined to get some mountain time!
Excuse the scatteredness, it's reflecting my state of mind, trying to organize everything for trekking and opening up the cyber world after a month of not looking at it has sent my mind spinning.
Love to everyone and sorry if anyone was worried :D
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Life is...
an adventure, wild, stupendous, interesting, magical, school, challenging, epic.
Tomorrow I leave India for Nepal... there is so much to be said at this point. But life has taken me and won't let me even go to the internet, it's dragging me along and I have to run to keep from being pulled off my feet.
I'm different, I can feel it, almost six months in the famous subcontinent and I've grown a little bit more. The Alex staring into the screen is a different Alex who sat and wrote this last October:
Many people have asked me, "Why India?" To be honest, I have answered this question a hundred different ways. But, I have boiled it all down to a few reasons.
1. Why not!? My goal is to go on the wildest adventure possible, and well India is pretty wild if all the tales hold true.
2. After taking Tom Ward's Permaculture Course I want to go to a place that needs it most. India has been devastated by the use of agrochemicals and much of their water is dependent on snow melt from the Himalayas. With climate change, depletion of their aquifers and loss of topsoil combined with one of the fastest growing populations India is in need of another agricultural revolution.
3. I've decided that I want to be a an Adventurer as my profession. So this will be my introduction into a new way of living :D
4. My knowledge of India is extremely polarized. I know of the Taj Mahal, and I also know about the slums, it is also a place that I is romanticized in my mind. I am going there to make my own conclusions and see the world in a totally new light.
Really, when I wrote this I had no Idea why I chose India, my rational mind was looking for an answer to satisfy it and all the people who had asked me. The truth, as I remember it came randomly one night in Permaculture class. Larry Korn was giving a presentation and I just decided that I had to go to India. I had been looking all over the world and India was one of the options but that night it hit me that India was where I was gong to go. Once I set my mind to it there was no stopping me, even after I crashed my parents car and had to pay $1,500 to get it fixed. Now, I know why I came to India, because only India could have taught me these lessons. I haven't been to many places in the world, but I'm pretty sure that there is no place like this in the world.
The lessons have been numerous, and too many to count, but they've been coming in all forms and they have been shaping me as I traveled through India. I changed with the journey
I left Ashland, exhuberant, without any expectations and totally naive to the reality of India. I arrived without my stuff, I spent a week in Goa, 5 of the days without my bag. I tried to enjoy the beach, sun, parties and travelers with a mindset for partying and sleeping the day away on the sand. I was in a very unhappy place, my girlfriend and I broke up, my grandmother passed on and I was alone in the most densely populated country in the world.
Then I got the invite from Chris Boone, a fellow permaculture student, to head to the deserts of Rajastan and go to the Pushkar Mela (most dense concentration of camels in the world... haha), we city hopped for two weeks, surviving horrible bus rides and paying way to much for everything. I was able to cruise around at top speed and get the feel for "traveling" by many people's descriptions, (Staying on the well trodden footpath, touristy parts of cities, going and looking at sights, etc.) Chris left to meet up with his girlfriend who was in a two week yoga course, and I packed my bags, not sure what to do next. Somehow I met Tara who invited me to live in his home. I was stoked, excited for the opportunity to experience Indian life, but still totally naive, I am a foreigner and I=$$$$, sadly money became an issue, I left after two weeks with Tara not talking to me and wondering what the hell happened? While I was there I had amazing experiences though, like eating lizard, a real desert wedding and acting in a French film as a British Soldier (It almost got me killed, but it's a story for when I get back) I got on the next bus to Amritstar, everyone was heading South to Goa and Karnataka for Christmas, but I was determined to get off the tourist circuit.
Amritstar, the Golden Temple gave me hope, it filled me up in a way that I didn't know that was empty. Here was an example of Humanity working entirely for one another and succeeding. What was the glue? Faith, in Guru Nanak, the Sikh Guru, most importantly in the Universe and God. I stayed for three days and in a passionate joy I volunteered non-stop in as many parts of the things that make the place work as possible. All the will lifting my head to a Golden plated Temple, nestled withing a lake ringed by a white marble walkway and buildings. Here was Religion in the most tangible positive form I've ever seen. Run entirely by volunteers. I left, the three day stay limit pushed me onward.
I went to McLeod Ganj, the Tibetan lifebloods stronghold, nestled on the first slopes of the Himalaya. I spent over a week helping in conversation classes at two different volunteer centers. I went to hear some ancient Tibetan Lama teach on Tibetan Buddism, in the course met Laura Haley and Ana. They told me about the Dalai Lama's teaching and invited me along. I had a bizarre Christmas night there, climbed the mountains with a monk, and spent the Solstice in a lodge on one of the ridges over the town.
I went to Rishikesh next, or I planned too, but I met a couple on the bus there who convinced me to go to Navdana, Vandana Shiva's seed saving projects volunteer farm, there was no work and I was recovering from Giardia so I rested for three days and had an equally unique New Years. When I got to Rishikesh I stayed in an Ashram and practiced yoga everyday. I took my first dip in the Holy Ganges, and hiked around the hills.
Laura, Haley and I went through all the misery's of the world ( Tibetan concept, basically hell), to get to the Dalai Lama's teachings, at least that is how we justified our carelessness in missing our train and the amazingly difficult 22 hour train ride in general class, it also included my second ( or reocurrent) bout of Giardia.
Saranath was amazing, Ana had gone ahead and gotten one of the coveted houses to rent in Saranath for the week, with her big heart she couldn't say no to the monks and lama who were looking for a room as well. 2 rooms and one bathroom slept 13, 7 foreigners and 6 monks, we slept 7 on the bead, head to toe, longways on the bed. I was really cold and it was like making a puzzle with our bodies but we managed to make it work. We all cooked together and I learned to make the fatty and warming foods of the Tibetans. The teaching we're powerful, if not extremely hard to stay attentive, so much information was being given and I'm still unearthing what was taught. His teachings were basically on Shantideva's book "The Bodisatva Way of Life." Directly after the teachings I walked out into the country side using my minimal Hindi to find one of the many Vipassana Meditation Centers that are aparently all over the world but especially in India. In Rishikesh I flipped a coin to decide whether or not to go I did a 10 day silent Meditation course, needless to say I spent 90% of the time thinking. One thought that did come to mind was that my place is to wander and learn from the world, not to go back to the U.S. When out of curiosity I still flipped the coin to try leaving it up to chance it fell into my rolled up pant leg vertically.
One of the other meditators, Joakim from Sweden, told me that he was going to Varanassi to learn Hindi from an amazing teacher. I was all ears, I tried in Rishikesh and really wanted to learn as my wander continued. I landed in Munna house, as unique as the city it belongs too and started taking Hindi classes every day. I would walk to and from my classes talking to as many of the friendly, curious, bothersome, and of course expert sales men that would stop talking long enough to allow me to throw in a few Hindi words. Slowly my wanders expanded and the track two and from class made me a regular. Both made me many friends who I would get to repeat the same questions and answers to all day and every day, I tried to give myself and extra half hour to an hour to get there. I practiced Hindi everyday, I tried to volunteer, it was a bust, but I spent two fruitless weeks struggling to move a boulder uphill and in the dark. Finally I relented and learned another lesson from the City of Light and Knowledge. I finished my mindblowing time here with another leap into the unknown, the Panchkroshi Yatra. A pilgrimage of 75-88 Kilometers, started at midnight on March first (Started writing it twice, and twice pooja's computer crashed to an all time low that it had to be entirely reconfigured and all the information was lost), it is done barefoot, it took me about 13 hours to complete, the physical journey is only the silhouette of what went on inside during the walk. It's an adventure for the books, the wildest thing I've done in India.
Then I went back to Dehradun to try my first workaway experience, it was amazing, I spent the first two weeks going up and down the mountain every day, in the evenings I managed to finally finish my Teaching English as a Second Language course, which put my mind at ease when the kids called me "sir." Holy was a maelstrom of color and food. Then I moved up to the village for the two weeks of intense preparation for the first Annual function. It was stupendous (I'm having fun with the adjectives :D), the other volunteers and I painted the classroom, and assisted in everything involved as much as we can. We spent the evenings dancing around fires and I would run off on my own to hike up the mountains and lose my camera. I stayed up at the village an extra day, the villagers killed a deer, which I recieved a little and cooked up for the last meal on the mountains, as well as Aloo Gobi and Kashmiri Pulou that Temuz made. Vinod one of the local teachers told me, a foreigner, that I liked my food spicy, I was ecstatic, it was the best compliment I've ever received about my cooking! (I outspiced an Indian! haha)
I spent the day saying goodbye to everyone and drinking enough chai to have my stomach explode, I promised half the village that I'd come back. There's a piece of my heart there. Temuz and I got to see a local ceremony done for Kali (The divine feminine in her dark form), it was totally unexpected and new.
I left Derhadun after spending a say with Pooja and the family, she's my Indian mother, I'll admit to having at least 3 if not many more ;) Then I went to Rishikesh, a week back practicing Yoga and swimming in the Ganges. I left a day early, nothing planned, but wielding a new tool, Hindi. I breezed through travel like never before. The day was amazing from start to finish, Hanuman's birthday, and I received his blessing. A monkey stole my fruit, then I traded my too large of a backpack for a smaller one, a yoga mat and croc shoes (my third pair since the start), I had some real luck that day. I went to Hardiwar, enjoyed the festival, bathed in the Ganges and got the train at Midight for Varanassi, I was no worse for the ware on my repeat of my first experience. This time I was able to sleep in every contorted position possible, almost as comfortably as the indians that shared the crowded compartment, I slept on the luggage rack.
Varanasssi, round two, here I am again, another level of the city has been opened to mee since I've left. Language is the key to the culture, I've just begun to crack the door open and see the beauty that lies beneath the shit, dirt and trash. I'm now a chela of a Baba on the Ghat's basically I'm part of the Temple family who takes care of the Baba, who doesn't deal in money. I've cooked, washed the temple and shopped for food. Last night he called me his chela for the first time, it basically means student, but with many underlying connotations and culture attached, I can't wait till I can sit and really talk to him about some real stuff, now my language is limited to everyday life. I have fallen in love with this city, there is a power here that runs deep through every layer of this place. Haunted in history, faith and magic. A little bit of my soul will still be here, wandering, when I leave. Tomorrow I leave for Nepal, my Indian visa expires on the 25th, if all goes as I imagine, I'll be crossing the border that very day.
Wow, not quite sure how I got here, I hope it makes sense. I didn't know where that was going to lead. I'm off to do my rounds see, my Hindi Guru and Baba Jee as I call them before going to listen and probably sleep at the Indian music concert that started yesterday. The concerts go all night, I had wonderful sleep to classical Indian music last night. The best acts don't start until 3 or so in the morning.
Thank you India, thank you everyone who has been supporting me with their love and thoughts through my journey here. I really would not have been able to do this if I didn't know that I was being fully supported by my parents, family, friends and community. I am so blessed.
One Chapter is coming to a close, now only the Universe knows what is going to be written in this "choose-your-own-adventure" novel next :D
Kush Raho (Be happy)
Tomorrow I leave India for Nepal... there is so much to be said at this point. But life has taken me and won't let me even go to the internet, it's dragging me along and I have to run to keep from being pulled off my feet.
I'm different, I can feel it, almost six months in the famous subcontinent and I've grown a little bit more. The Alex staring into the screen is a different Alex who sat and wrote this last October:
Many people have asked me, "Why India?" To be honest, I have answered this question a hundred different ways. But, I have boiled it all down to a few reasons.
1. Why not!? My goal is to go on the wildest adventure possible, and well India is pretty wild if all the tales hold true.
2. After taking Tom Ward's Permaculture Course I want to go to a place that needs it most. India has been devastated by the use of agrochemicals and much of their water is dependent on snow melt from the Himalayas. With climate change, depletion of their aquifers and loss of topsoil combined with one of the fastest growing populations India is in need of another agricultural revolution.
3. I've decided that I want to be a an Adventurer as my profession. So this will be my introduction into a new way of living :D
4. My knowledge of India is extremely polarized. I know of the Taj Mahal, and I also know about the slums, it is also a place that I is romanticized in my mind. I am going there to make my own conclusions and see the world in a totally new light.
Really, when I wrote this I had no Idea why I chose India, my rational mind was looking for an answer to satisfy it and all the people who had asked me. The truth, as I remember it came randomly one night in Permaculture class. Larry Korn was giving a presentation and I just decided that I had to go to India. I had been looking all over the world and India was one of the options but that night it hit me that India was where I was gong to go. Once I set my mind to it there was no stopping me, even after I crashed my parents car and had to pay $1,500 to get it fixed. Now, I know why I came to India, because only India could have taught me these lessons. I haven't been to many places in the world, but I'm pretty sure that there is no place like this in the world.
The lessons have been numerous, and too many to count, but they've been coming in all forms and they have been shaping me as I traveled through India. I changed with the journey
I left Ashland, exhuberant, without any expectations and totally naive to the reality of India. I arrived without my stuff, I spent a week in Goa, 5 of the days without my bag. I tried to enjoy the beach, sun, parties and travelers with a mindset for partying and sleeping the day away on the sand. I was in a very unhappy place, my girlfriend and I broke up, my grandmother passed on and I was alone in the most densely populated country in the world.
Then I got the invite from Chris Boone, a fellow permaculture student, to head to the deserts of Rajastan and go to the Pushkar Mela (most dense concentration of camels in the world... haha), we city hopped for two weeks, surviving horrible bus rides and paying way to much for everything. I was able to cruise around at top speed and get the feel for "traveling" by many people's descriptions, (Staying on the well trodden footpath, touristy parts of cities, going and looking at sights, etc.) Chris left to meet up with his girlfriend who was in a two week yoga course, and I packed my bags, not sure what to do next. Somehow I met Tara who invited me to live in his home. I was stoked, excited for the opportunity to experience Indian life, but still totally naive, I am a foreigner and I=$$$$, sadly money became an issue, I left after two weeks with Tara not talking to me and wondering what the hell happened? While I was there I had amazing experiences though, like eating lizard, a real desert wedding and acting in a French film as a British Soldier (It almost got me killed, but it's a story for when I get back) I got on the next bus to Amritstar, everyone was heading South to Goa and Karnataka for Christmas, but I was determined to get off the tourist circuit.
Amritstar, the Golden Temple gave me hope, it filled me up in a way that I didn't know that was empty. Here was an example of Humanity working entirely for one another and succeeding. What was the glue? Faith, in Guru Nanak, the Sikh Guru, most importantly in the Universe and God. I stayed for three days and in a passionate joy I volunteered non-stop in as many parts of the things that make the place work as possible. All the will lifting my head to a Golden plated Temple, nestled withing a lake ringed by a white marble walkway and buildings. Here was Religion in the most tangible positive form I've ever seen. Run entirely by volunteers. I left, the three day stay limit pushed me onward.
I went to McLeod Ganj, the Tibetan lifebloods stronghold, nestled on the first slopes of the Himalaya. I spent over a week helping in conversation classes at two different volunteer centers. I went to hear some ancient Tibetan Lama teach on Tibetan Buddism, in the course met Laura Haley and Ana. They told me about the Dalai Lama's teaching and invited me along. I had a bizarre Christmas night there, climbed the mountains with a monk, and spent the Solstice in a lodge on one of the ridges over the town.
I went to Rishikesh next, or I planned too, but I met a couple on the bus there who convinced me to go to Navdana, Vandana Shiva's seed saving projects volunteer farm, there was no work and I was recovering from Giardia so I rested for three days and had an equally unique New Years. When I got to Rishikesh I stayed in an Ashram and practiced yoga everyday. I took my first dip in the Holy Ganges, and hiked around the hills.
Laura, Haley and I went through all the misery's of the world ( Tibetan concept, basically hell), to get to the Dalai Lama's teachings, at least that is how we justified our carelessness in missing our train and the amazingly difficult 22 hour train ride in general class, it also included my second ( or reocurrent) bout of Giardia.
Saranath was amazing, Ana had gone ahead and gotten one of the coveted houses to rent in Saranath for the week, with her big heart she couldn't say no to the monks and lama who were looking for a room as well. 2 rooms and one bathroom slept 13, 7 foreigners and 6 monks, we slept 7 on the bead, head to toe, longways on the bed. I was really cold and it was like making a puzzle with our bodies but we managed to make it work. We all cooked together and I learned to make the fatty and warming foods of the Tibetans. The teaching we're powerful, if not extremely hard to stay attentive, so much information was being given and I'm still unearthing what was taught. His teachings were basically on Shantideva's book "The Bodisatva Way of Life." Directly after the teachings I walked out into the country side using my minimal Hindi to find one of the many Vipassana Meditation Centers that are aparently all over the world but especially in India. In Rishikesh I flipped a coin to decide whether or not to go I did a 10 day silent Meditation course, needless to say I spent 90% of the time thinking. One thought that did come to mind was that my place is to wander and learn from the world, not to go back to the U.S. When out of curiosity I still flipped the coin to try leaving it up to chance it fell into my rolled up pant leg vertically.
One of the other meditators, Joakim from Sweden, told me that he was going to Varanassi to learn Hindi from an amazing teacher. I was all ears, I tried in Rishikesh and really wanted to learn as my wander continued. I landed in Munna house, as unique as the city it belongs too and started taking Hindi classes every day. I would walk to and from my classes talking to as many of the friendly, curious, bothersome, and of course expert sales men that would stop talking long enough to allow me to throw in a few Hindi words. Slowly my wanders expanded and the track two and from class made me a regular. Both made me many friends who I would get to repeat the same questions and answers to all day and every day, I tried to give myself and extra half hour to an hour to get there. I practiced Hindi everyday, I tried to volunteer, it was a bust, but I spent two fruitless weeks struggling to move a boulder uphill and in the dark. Finally I relented and learned another lesson from the City of Light and Knowledge. I finished my mindblowing time here with another leap into the unknown, the Panchkroshi Yatra. A pilgrimage of 75-88 Kilometers, started at midnight on March first (Started writing it twice, and twice pooja's computer crashed to an all time low that it had to be entirely reconfigured and all the information was lost), it is done barefoot, it took me about 13 hours to complete, the physical journey is only the silhouette of what went on inside during the walk. It's an adventure for the books, the wildest thing I've done in India.
Then I went back to Dehradun to try my first workaway experience, it was amazing, I spent the first two weeks going up and down the mountain every day, in the evenings I managed to finally finish my Teaching English as a Second Language course, which put my mind at ease when the kids called me "sir." Holy was a maelstrom of color and food. Then I moved up to the village for the two weeks of intense preparation for the first Annual function. It was stupendous (I'm having fun with the adjectives :D), the other volunteers and I painted the classroom, and assisted in everything involved as much as we can. We spent the evenings dancing around fires and I would run off on my own to hike up the mountains and lose my camera. I stayed up at the village an extra day, the villagers killed a deer, which I recieved a little and cooked up for the last meal on the mountains, as well as Aloo Gobi and Kashmiri Pulou that Temuz made. Vinod one of the local teachers told me, a foreigner, that I liked my food spicy, I was ecstatic, it was the best compliment I've ever received about my cooking! (I outspiced an Indian! haha)
I spent the day saying goodbye to everyone and drinking enough chai to have my stomach explode, I promised half the village that I'd come back. There's a piece of my heart there. Temuz and I got to see a local ceremony done for Kali (The divine feminine in her dark form), it was totally unexpected and new.
I left Derhadun after spending a say with Pooja and the family, she's my Indian mother, I'll admit to having at least 3 if not many more ;) Then I went to Rishikesh, a week back practicing Yoga and swimming in the Ganges. I left a day early, nothing planned, but wielding a new tool, Hindi. I breezed through travel like never before. The day was amazing from start to finish, Hanuman's birthday, and I received his blessing. A monkey stole my fruit, then I traded my too large of a backpack for a smaller one, a yoga mat and croc shoes (my third pair since the start), I had some real luck that day. I went to Hardiwar, enjoyed the festival, bathed in the Ganges and got the train at Midight for Varanassi, I was no worse for the ware on my repeat of my first experience. This time I was able to sleep in every contorted position possible, almost as comfortably as the indians that shared the crowded compartment, I slept on the luggage rack.
Varanasssi, round two, here I am again, another level of the city has been opened to mee since I've left. Language is the key to the culture, I've just begun to crack the door open and see the beauty that lies beneath the shit, dirt and trash. I'm now a chela of a Baba on the Ghat's basically I'm part of the Temple family who takes care of the Baba, who doesn't deal in money. I've cooked, washed the temple and shopped for food. Last night he called me his chela for the first time, it basically means student, but with many underlying connotations and culture attached, I can't wait till I can sit and really talk to him about some real stuff, now my language is limited to everyday life. I have fallen in love with this city, there is a power here that runs deep through every layer of this place. Haunted in history, faith and magic. A little bit of my soul will still be here, wandering, when I leave. Tomorrow I leave for Nepal, my Indian visa expires on the 25th, if all goes as I imagine, I'll be crossing the border that very day.
Wow, not quite sure how I got here, I hope it makes sense. I didn't know where that was going to lead. I'm off to do my rounds see, my Hindi Guru and Baba Jee as I call them before going to listen and probably sleep at the Indian music concert that started yesterday. The concerts go all night, I had wonderful sleep to classical Indian music last night. The best acts don't start until 3 or so in the morning.
Thank you India, thank you everyone who has been supporting me with their love and thoughts through my journey here. I really would not have been able to do this if I didn't know that I was being fully supported by my parents, family, friends and community. I am so blessed.
One Chapter is coming to a close, now only the Universe knows what is going to be written in this "choose-your-own-adventure" novel next :D
Kush Raho (Be happy)
Monday, April 18, 2011
Exhausted...
I'm exhausted, I really shouldn't be writing. I've got nothing else to do while I wait to bord my train back to Varanassi, I'm pushing down the memories of my last journey, 22 hours of being ver sick on a very crowded train :D This time I'm on the superfast train. Although I'm back in General class, which means I'm going to be human cattle! I read Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography and he used to travel entirely on third class. It's a quarter of the price as sleeper class, with accordingly as little space. I hope to get a luggage rack and claim it as my own. Bedtime has been early lately so that I can wake up for yoga at 6:00 or 7:00 AM. I was practicing with a 103 year old Swami that was teaching free classes, pretty awesome in my opinion. So many stories to tell... Gaah!
Today was pretty special, in case you didn't know it's Hanuman's birthday! He's the monkey god who swore his allegiance to Rama, Krishna's earthly embodyment, and helped him rescue his wife from the demon king Ravana, anyways Hanuman represents duty, strength, humility and service. He's a very special god, there isn't a Rickshaw walla without his little orange hanuman.
The day began with a monkey getting into my room at the Ashram where I was in Rishikesh (the same one I stayed in before) and stealing my bananas and oranges. I was in the bathroom, and when I came out a friend down the hall calmly told me that a monkey was in my room. He said, "It's OK though, 'cause it's Hanuman's birthday." I went into the the room and the monkey had only taken the fruit and left. No damage done! i was happy to have fed the monkey :D
Ok, I'm getting off, I'm going to fall face first into the keyboard and I'm going to need my energy for my train in an hour. More to come when I get to Varanassi!
Today was pretty special, in case you didn't know it's Hanuman's birthday! He's the monkey god who swore his allegiance to Rama, Krishna's earthly embodyment, and helped him rescue his wife from the demon king Ravana, anyways Hanuman represents duty, strength, humility and service. He's a very special god, there isn't a Rickshaw walla without his little orange hanuman.
The day began with a monkey getting into my room at the Ashram where I was in Rishikesh (the same one I stayed in before) and stealing my bananas and oranges. I was in the bathroom, and when I came out a friend down the hall calmly told me that a monkey was in my room. He said, "It's OK though, 'cause it's Hanuman's birthday." I went into the the room and the monkey had only taken the fruit and left. No damage done! i was happy to have fed the monkey :D
Ok, I'm getting off, I'm going to fall face first into the keyboard and I'm going to need my energy for my train in an hour. More to come when I get to Varanassi!
Monday, April 11, 2011
1 month in 10 minutes
Me, danielle (U.S.A), Sandeep (India/Nepal), Tamuz (Israel), Jessi (U.S.A)
To say the least this last month has been amazing. I'm leaving in an hour or so for Rishikesh, to do yoga and sit on the fact that I let the plane that was supposed to take me back to the U.S. take off with an empty seat. Now my adventure has no planned end just to keep on learning and exploring these far off wonderous places of the world.
I've been out of contact for a little while because I was living up at the village. There was so much work to be done because Pooja's first annual function for her school was on April 8th. I committed when I arrived here to stay until the completion of it. We worked so hard, especially Pooja, she has devoted all of her energies to her school it is amazing and inspiring. She has treated me so well and I've felt so at home in her home and with her family. in fact she's because my "Indian mother" and I'm her "brat!" This experience here has been one of the most rewarding of everything that I've done in India, so much has happened, here's a quick recap.
I got lice and shaved all of my long floppy hair off, the hairdresser actually did it all by hand with a pair of scissors, totally impressive, especially for only 50 cents.
My camera had another adventure, it spent the night on another mountain top. I went on a hike and after taking photos I forgot it on my way back down. The next day I climbed back up and found it perched at the peak in it's same old flashless beat up condition.
3 new volunteers arrived. Two from the U.S. and one from Israel, we had so much fun dancing around fires and repainting the school to ocean, dinosaur, space and other themes. We were all a great help at a crucial time to Pooja, I was unsure why exactly she was inviting three more volunteers when we were in such a crunch, but when they arrived it was pure magic. Everyone had something to bring and we worked hard for the week leading up to the program. I've uploaded some of Jessi's photos onto flickr, check them out!
The function was amazing. Every kid had their own costume and got up on stage. They did wonderfully, the kids loved it, the parents loved it, and we were all so happy and proud. I had been helping for a month and seen all the kids practice countless times, when they got up on stage my heart started racing. I felt like I was the one getting up there. The preformed better than I've ever seen them, even though they'd only had one rehearsal on the stage and in costumes. I even received comments on my narration of Snow White, Pooja has given me the disc so maybe I'll be able to use it again at another school.
There is so much to write about, I'm antsy to get going off on another adventure, back to traveling. I've got 2 weeks left on my visa in India, I'm heading towards Nepal! New adventures await.
Pooja, Tamuz, Jessi, Danielle, Pooja's family, Town school staff and all the villagers have given me so much positive energy, I'm practically floating. I'm sad to be leaving yet another wonderful place. But I've promised everyone that I'll return. When I do I can't wait to see the changes that Pooja, the villagers, town school staff and all the volunteers will be making. Wohooo!
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