Dharamsala

Just back from a three-day hike in the mountains here. A little monsoon rain, steep, slick rocks, some Hindi song campfire fun, and I think I'm ready for what is going to be a pretty tough week. As of this Thursday, I will lose the remaining few people who came to India on the same date (June 3) as I did. It'll be a little strange at placement and around town without them...

The hike was a good send-off, though. Friday we went about 6 kilometers (didn't start until 4pm), essentially straight up, over some suspicious bridges (one missing a lot of its planks), to end at a lodge where we had dinner and ended up drinking, singing, and dancing with 6 or 7 local Indian men. Saturday we hiked some more -- about 13 kilometers. We stopped at a small lake (3600 feet up from where we started) where locals joined us for dinner and some neighboring kids gathered wood for us, I guess in exchange for a little attention, a few cookies, and some photos.

There wasn't a minute of the hike that wasn't beautiful -- epic, really. But parts of the hike were grueling enough to be extremely distracting. Today we came back down, and for about an hour along a slick (from the rains that kept up with us all morning), slightly descending, rock path. As I was walking down, I thought of two things: One, how I should update my list of meals and foods I will eat once I get home. Two, how to describe this path that, I swear, was designed to piss off the people who used it. Sometime go buy a barrel of oil, pour it over a slightly descending handicap ramp, and then try walking down it about 2,000 times. We had some pretty nasty tumbles along the way.

Anyhow, we made it back safe, and now it is time to have a send-off dinner for a couple friends leaving tomorrow morning. I think I'll put up a picture or two this week, assuming the Internet doesn't tank again.

And once more, congratulations to Nan and Jeff! I kept thinking about the good family time I was missing this weekend. Hope it was a ball!