Story of my life...

I should have known that the toad in my room on the first night was an omen. Combine that with my Oregon genes, the marine mammal tattoo, and an affinity for H2O, and you have a walking, talking water magnet. What all that means is that on an 8 day trek to Kuari Pass it rained every day, without fail. Along the way I learned a smattering of Hindi, including "it's raining", "i'm cold/wet/not dry", "leech", "slug", etc. Despite the constant presence of clouds, mist, and fog, it was wonderful to be outside, climbing up stony ridges through fields of wild flowers, curling up in a tent with the sound of rain pattering down, and just being away from car horns and pushing crowds. The last night it cleared enough to see the panorama of peaks across the valley, and watching the sun rise on them the next morning made it all worthwhile.

This didn't mean there was a lack of people, by any means. A couple nights we camped either near or smack-dab-in-the-middle of some amazingly rural villages. Everyone likes to come watch when the circus comes to town. We had it all - tents, ponies, pale-faced clowns in funny clothes. The spectacle vazaha is truly an international event. This can make things such as going to the bathroom extremely awkward. Well, might as well give them something good to look at.

In addition to an Austrian couple, the entourage included a guide, cook, helper, and intern (a guy my age who had just finished a course in tourism at the local college, and didn't even realize you could sleep in a tent until the first night of the trek). My time in Alaska has prepared me pretty well for living in the constant wet, and I was able to offer the Austrians some techniques for a more comfortable existence. Apparently when the weather's like that they just stay at home. Step 1: just accept that you're wet, your gear's wet, and it will remain that way until the end of the trip. Once you get past that mental block you're set.

I'm back in Rishikesh now after a 13 hour jeep ride yesterday. Apparently it's normally 8, but the heavy rains had caused numerous landslides; at one point we remained stationary for 2 hours while a single, small bulldozer attempted to clear boulders twice the size of a bus. Watching the gathering crowd watching that operation was the most entertaining part of the whole affair. From here I'm planning on hopping a bus to Dharamsala and Mcleod Ganj. I still have another week in India and it's not nearly enough.

Hope you're all well, thanks for checking in.
Love,
Em