As I drifted off, I remembered how the day started. Hakeem, the owner of the Annex Hotel, where I was staying, had hooked me up with this guide. For 2,000/rs,($20), I got a guide and lunch for my trek up to Triund. Not a bad deal, I thought. As we left the hotel to head up to Dharamkot (the trail begins right past the German bakery), we saw all these folks - tourists, townspeople, monks, cows, whatever - lining up on the street, waving Tibetan flags. It was the Dalai Lama, coming back from his overseas trip!!!! Everyone's excitement was palpable. People were exchanging stories about when and how many times they've seen his Holiness and how great it is to be in his presence. And, I was going to share this experience! We waited patiently as trucks loaded with ... stuff rumbled by, a couple of tourist cabs, an auto or two... waited waited... Then, the guy with the megaphone said something (can we ever understand the guy with the megaphone?), and a hush fell over the crowd. A row of cars began to move slowly down the road. I was going to see the Dalai Lama!!!! My camera was ready. I had already spent minutes plotting out the best place to take a photo. Inside the first car were a bunch of Anglos, waving the queen's wave. Okay, the next car... nope, more Anglos. Then, before you knew it -- kinda like the 4th of July parade in Gold Hill, CO -- the line of cars had passed by and .... no Dalai Lama! It turned out that these were Americans from the State Department coming to meet with the Dalai Lama. Oh well, you can't win 'em all. After all, I had what I thought at the time, a hike ahead of me. And, I was going to a teaching later on in the week. But, I was disappointed nevertheless.
It's a good thing that my disappointment had me looking at the ground, otherwise, I would have stepped in a pile of horse shit. In fact, I had to keep my head down the entire time I was climbing because the trail had all kinds of animal crap dotting it. I thought about doing a separate entry on the different kinds of crap I encounter in India. So, a brief recounting: horse, dog, cow, monkey, something unidentifiable, but definitely not human. The trail was steep and at the end of it, we had climbed to almost 10,000 ft. But, there were several chai stands along the way if we got tired. We encountered a few Israeli kids at one of the chai stands and I found out that Dharamkot is called Little Jerusalem by the locals because it's basically overrun with Israeli tourists who trek during the day and party hard at night. And, my guide owns a guest house just a little ways up from Dharamkot, near the Hanuman temple (definitely where I want to stay the next time I come to this area). We stopped off there for a spot of tea and I sat at a table that overlooked the entire valley. It was still early in the morning, about 8:30 or so, so people were still stirring. I saw several women walk by, carrying grass on their backs in these big packs. My guide told me that this is the time to collect the grass which will feed them for the winter. He said that in another month or so, the grass will have become too old and then it gets too cold for people to go out to get food. All along the way up the mountain, he gave me a lesson on different healing plants and showed me caves and small enclaves where monks reside during the winter. He was particularly intrigued by this one community of monks that don't talk at all. Which was clearly not him. I learned so much more from him than merely learning how to pace oneself when trekking. His knowledge about local plants and flowers was amazing. And, although he'd grown up in the area, he still took photos of various flowers. He took a great deal of time showing me all the pictures stored in his camera.
Then, for the walk back down. I was not ready. I wanted to ride on a donkey.. one of those donkeys that I had seen carrying gear up for some folks who were camping. I was pretty tired by the time we got back to McLeod Ganj at around 7 pm. What had started off as a walk in the mountains turned out to be a learning experience that I will not soon forget.
The next day I spent hanging out at this coffee shop trying to get in touch with David, whose illness had taken a turn. I felt very frustrated and decided that I needed to cut my trip short just in case of an emergency. While I was idling time people watching and drinking kashmiri kawa (OMG - the best tea ever), someone asked if they could share my table. Joe, that's his name, is a graphic designer from San Francisco, who's been traveling around India for the past year. He is a yoga aficionado, but not in that Indophilic sort of way. We spent about two hours talking about his travels, politics and whatnot. I hadn't realized how much I missed having a conversation about American politics and culture.
I spent an afternoon going to various gem shops and getting educated about gems. Apparently, McLeod Ganj is the place to get jewelry and precious and semi-precious stones. Not only did I learn about how to tell a fake gem from a real one, I also learned about the healing properties of various stones. Um...and I got asked out on a date by a philosophical gem dealer (quote: "Life is a bowl of ice-cream. You should at least taste it before it melts!"). In the mountains I felt relief from the constant stares of men to which I had become accustomed in Delhi. People were warm and welcoming. I ate the best momos at Kailash Hotel, which was recommended by a few locals. Sad that I couldn't find the chai shop that both Tracy and Amy had recommended.
Below are some photos I took or that were taken of me during the trek. Enjoy, and thank you for reading this for as long as you have.
the scenery as I hiked
This is me upon reaching Triund (5 hours - 5 loooong hours)
