red panda

cheers!!! here's my trek post. if you want the short version i've put a brief summary and if you want details, the long version is below. oh and i ditched the rolling duffel from hell!! unfortunately it was ditched unceremoniously but it had to be done! i hope someone in yuksom finds use for that lunky thing! i personally would've liked to crawl inside it and blast out of the mtns in it luge-style but that would've required it to be lugged up...

short trek summary:

- with israeli couple for first few days. visit dzongri top for sunrise (a 1 hr steep 4a.m. climb with amazing stars and frost shimmering under the light of my headlamp), visit dzongri pass later in the afternoon for more fab mtn views

- next 5 days trek mostly alone with my guide and porters right at my heels. the guide doesn't speak much unless i ask a question and if the porters are around they chat in nepali right behind me. if i stop for any reason (to cough, blow my nose, pull my trekking poles from a rock or something, they all stop, nearly crashing into me and become silent). i spend much of my time devising ways to get my entourage to go around me. i'm served my meals alone usually next to my sleeping bag on the floor of the trekkers hut. they have this large thermos type thing with 4 silver pots and i always get 4 pots of things. way tooooo much !

- day to tashing is beautiful scenery: meadows, ridge walk, mtns everywhere... it's gorgeous

- this night i share the floor with west bengalis. start hiking at 2:30a.m. and reach goechela for sunrise. it's breathtaking!! it's a long, hard hiking day and i drag my body back to camp, pack up and head to the next lower hut (12 hrs hiking at altitude... zzzzzzzzzzzz). 2 more days and i'm out!



if you want the long version it follows:

so i booked my 8 days trek to goechela from yuksom with a company in gangtok. i felt a bit apprehensive about booking with this company... seemed maybe a bit shady but none of the other companies i talked to had groups going out. there was one company i wanted to use b/c the man in the office seemed professional, spent a lot of time w/ me assuring me there would be a yak, horses in case my knee blew out and i needed a lift, a tent, etc, etc with the horses in case someone had a problem being the greatest selling point. however, he said he had one older indian man who probably wanted to go and that was it. couldn't envision spending 8 days in the mtns with one older indian man (wierd) so i looked elsewhere. i went to resum (silk) tours and treks which was right across from my hotel. i walked in and asked "do you have any groups going out for the goechela trek in the next couple of days?". the answer was "yes, we have a group of 4 americans going out day after tomorrow. they're in yuksom already so tomorrow you will go to yuksom". yahoo! i had met an israeli couple earlier who wanted to arrange a trip to yumthang valley but were also having trouble organizing a group so, they decided to do the first 3 days of the trek with me as they had seen me sign my life away in the office. they found me later and relayed the news and i thought, great! there'll now be me, the other 4 americans and the israelis for a few days at least. the more the merrier! we're on our way to yuksom and the israelis, dvit and moses, have heard nothing of the 4 americans. hmmm??? i question the managing director who refers to himself as red panda, who's a total sales guy and does resemble a red panda somehow, a somewhat short guy with this funky patch of dyed reddish hair, funky ear piercings or something... hard to describe but he thinks highly of himself and is all "no problem my friend". so, i find out there is no group and it's me and the israelis for 3 days and then i'm on my own with the guide after that. i explain to him that this isn't what i was sold and not what i wanted. i wanted companionship on this trek as i'm traveling 3 mths solo and was trying to meet people but he told me it is luxurious to trek solo and i should feel lucky. there was no getting thru. i then found out there was no yak which is fine there were two horses and porters to carry stuff. i then found out there was no tent so i would not be camping at the dreamy camp at the base of the climb to goechela that i have been dying to camp at for a very long time and would be staying in yet another trekkers hut about 2 hrs from that point thereby adding an extra 4 hrs onto my hiking day if i did, in fact, go for goechela. i'm thinking i might call it quits at dzongri which is 3 days out and 3 days back (what the israelis were doing) but i've already paid for the full deal and i'm not good at quitting. i also contracted a nasty head cold before starting out and i feel like crap. the first few days are somewhat uneventful (mainly trekking thru rododendrun forest which when rododendrun are in bloom must be amazing but now are not and without mtn views first 2 days), lonely, disappointing... sharing trekkers huts with the israeli couple which was fine with the highlight being hiking from dzongri hut to dzongri top for sunrise. the sky was absolutely littered with stars and the light from my headlamp made the morning frost glisten as if the earth was covered in diamond dust. the climb was steep and my breathing was hard and fast and i sooo wanted to turn back and slither back into the warmth of my 2 sleeping bags but i pushed on and was at the pass in an hr's time. the view of the mtn's bathed in the early morning light was beautiful (however not much different from that of tiger hill in darjeeling without the crowds so i thought again of turning back with the israelis). it was beyond freezing so i stayed for about a half hr and then turned back. the sun made the frost-covered alpine plants glisten like red and orange gems... it was really beautiful and reminded me of the alpine gardens of the white mtns. the israelis left this afternoon. i dined alone with my dinner served on the floor of the hut next to my sleeping bag (which i eventually got somewhat used to)... ugh! later that night i was joined in the hut by a 31 yo basque man who had ridden his bike from basque to mumbai india and had done other adventurous long bike rides, like one from i think he said durango to panama! unfortunately his english wasn't that great and my spanish is horrible so... i didn't get enuff info on this adventurer. however, he met three other guys from spain that were tenting there that night and they invited me to hang out with them while they had their dinner. it was like a night out for me!! it was awesome to hang out with people i could relate to and not just be laying in my sleeping bag shivering by myself as i felt like i had been doing forever. one of the guys spoke really good english and he acted as translator or we just had side chats. they were a good laugh and were also climbers and had been to areas of south america i had so that was cool too. their guide was also great... very energetic and talkative and enjoyed entertaining his clients. my guide is a very nice 21 yo guy who has done the trek many times but has limited english and doesn't have a lot to say to me. so, he's fine to lead the way but doesn't offer much more... altho he tries to answer my questions when asked and knows the names and elevations of the surrounding peaks. anyway, the spanish guys invited me to join their trek but they were doing a route that required a tent and i didn't have one so i was stuck alone. thinking of the prospect of the next days alone and dining solo from my sleeping bag, i again started considering turning back. however, i made the decision to go one more day beyond the dzongri trek, see if the scenery started getting more spectacular and then would decide. the trek from dzongri to tashing was beautiful... following a ridge, crossing meadows with snowcapped peaks looming in the distance and yaks making a trail to the mtns, the sound of their bells ringing thru the hills. this is the first day i'm truly glad i came on this trek (day4 i believe). after a couple hrs of trekking however, the trail leads steeply down... REALLY steeply and for a very long time (like 2 hrs). my knee started cracking and burning and i was a bit panicked but luckily it got me in one piece to tashing.
my guide, pouran, follows right on my heels like a trained dog... i have a cold but if i stop to blow my nose, he nearly crashes into me. when he meets up with his porter friends, they all follow at my heels, chatting in nepali and if my trekking pole gets stuck and i have to stop, or i have to blow my nose, or whatever, they all stop and become silent. i find every excuse i can to have them go around me. this goes on for the entire 8 days! so anyway, i survive the trek to tashing from which i'm supposed to then go to goechela (this is the highlight of the trek and it's over 16,000ft basically to the base of kachenjunga, the world's third highest peak). a group of 20 older europeans (i think the austrian alpine club... can't remember either austrian club with also 2 swiss people or swiss alpine club with also 2 austrians) are having lunch at a plastic table with chairs at the hut when i arrive. they're a very inspiring, sweet, energetic bunch in their late 50s to maybe early 70s and i chat with them before their lunch arrives. they tell me it's 8 hrs from there to goechela which would mean i'd have a 16 hr high altitude hiking day to get there and would most likely not make it for sunrise which is the highlight. i'm feeling very alone and defeated. i didn't come for the challenge of my life, i just wanted a beautiful trek. i would have to leave at 10p.m. and hike all night in order to catch the sunrise and then hike back all the next day on a crap knee with no one to feel like crap with. this is not appealing to me at all... so i wish them well before they set off to their further camp but say i prob won't see them again. that night i find i'm sleeping on the floor of the cold hut with 2 older west bengali men. one stands up and announces, "madam, madam" "only unbuckling my belt nothing more". very funny, the cultural differences here and i wonder how this is going to be. how strange for all of us. then another west bengali couple and their six year old son join and a gangster looking pair of younger guys also join to dine there (one rolling his own cigarettes which when my guide comes in to drop off my dinner, he does question him on to make sure its' only tobacco). the gangster types do a lot of staring at me as i try to rest shivering in my bags and decide what i want to do. i decide to come out of my coccoon and make conversation to deflect the staring and everyone is very nice. i can't help feeling so strange being a lone american girl sharing the floor with this odd mix of west bengalis (all from kolcata). they think i'm crazy to consider going all the way to goechela from this hut but then again, they're all in tennis shoes and no trekking gear at all and walk very slowly. i tell porin (my guide) i'm not going but he convinces me it'll only be 8 hrs round trip and i should go for it so i agree to try knowing full well it'll take me longer than 8 but convinced it won't be 16.

so one thing i've learned during this trip is that west bengalis are typically very noisy people (my apologies for the generalization). not only are they noisy awake but apparently they're also noisy when they sleep :) i didn't catch a wink of sleep due to the snoring so when i got the wake up call at 2 i just got up and went. the initial slog thru the valley was better than i had expected; not too cold, i felt tired and a bit nauseas but i was able to somewhat enjoy the starlit hike. we then reached the steeps leading up to goechela. my breathing was very heavy, my head cold had become a chest cold and i was hacking a bit so this also didn't help but just when i was starting to feel awful, i saw them... massive stark white pinnacles, poking up behind the ridge. i wanted to climb faster as the sky was beginning to lighten and i feared i would miss sunrise, but my body wouldn't let me. i could see a line of headlamps ahead of me and knew it was the austrian group... i was so happy for them that they would make it for sunrise! finally, pooran says, "jody, 5 minutes more"... we reach the first view point about 2 minutes before the sun began painting kachenjunga, mt pandim, etc with a fiery glow. it was absolutely magnificent! as i approached, several of the swiss people congratulated me and then my two favorite ladies spotted me... they shouted to each other, "look who's here!!" and i could tell were genuinely so happy i made it! it was very sweet! they said they had worried about me and all talked about me the night before and hoped they'd see me up there. their kindness re-energized my spirit! getting to the 2nd viewpoint i felt like a 100 yo smoker... from this point we had a view of the shimmering limestone green lake below and kanchenjunga dominating the landscape. WOW! i enjoyed the view for about 1 hr despite the cold, sharing the top with a couple of younger swiss guys who offered homemade swiss jerky but i was too nauseas to partake and could only think of chocolate (Mel will be shocked since when we hit the summit of mt pisco, our 19,000 footer in peru, i didn't even rejoice i just fell to the ground and started digging for the same... chocolate). i had no idea how i was going to get myself back to camp. BUT, in the end i did. after several hrs, we returned to the valley and as i slowly worked my way back, dragging my nauseas, exhausted body, hacking up a lung and generally feeling like death rolled over, i started meeting up with different members of the west bengalis from the hut. each one shook my hand and were sooo amazed and fired up that i reached goechela from the hut, i felt like a celebrity. i think this is what got me back. it definitely helped my spirit a ton! i got back to camp, packed up my stuff and completed the last leg down to the lower hut and after 12 hrs of hiking at altitude i was done! i had no idea how i would lug myself out 2 more days on my aching, creaking knees but for the day i was done!! my cook (who was amazing and always presented things so nicely, even cutting elegant designs in napkins to serve snacks on) made me a full apple pie that evening! haaaaaaa!

so, the last 2 days out are really difficult on my knees, lots of ups and downs (not to mention the back of my knee is practically an open wound from the brace rubbing against it for 8 days) and i'm just ready to be done walking alone or with porin and troop at my heels and to be done with dining from my sleeping bag with my 4 pots of stuff coming out of the plastic thermos that follows me everywhere... very good food but i'm just tired of the routine and of course in need of a hot shower! anyway, i finally made it OUT and spent a couple days relaxing in sleepy yuksom trying to kick my chest cold! then, after a long shared jeep ride to jorethang with 14 indians and me and a flat tire that was changed 3x and another packed shared jeep on to darjeeling, getting stuck in the divali traffic jam, i'm now chilling out in darjeeling trying to get the next leg of my journey rolling. 30th i leave for kolcata and then on to bodhgaya, sonepur for the sonepur mela (animal fair), varanasi and we'll see from there. i'm off to treat myself to a cappucino after fighting for position at the train reservation counter... i'm getting o.k. at pushing and shoving but i still require respite afterwards. cheers!!!

my savior the bain of my existence and landslides too

so i bought this rolling duffel the night before i left... a rash decision with the hopes of saving my bum knee rather than forcing it to bare the weight of a heavy backpack for 3 months. this bag is very heavy in and of itself and i'm frowned upon as the american with too much stuff everywhere i go (my roommate keeps confirming "that's a very bad bag"). it's not only an embarrassment but it's ridiculously lunky and actually causing more problems for my knee everytime i have to lug it up the inevitable 5 flights of stairs to my hostel room. i'm planning a bag burning party after my trek and will have to try to ship everything that doesn't fit into my small backpack home.

sooo, silla and i decided to go on a 2 night tour of yumthang valley. it's considered the switzerland of india.. we spent 2 nights in the quaint hillside town of lachung in a very cozy (but freezing hotel). on our second day we drove thru yumthang valley to the terminus, zero point which is above 15,000 ft and at which point the road just ends and we're surrounded by jagged white pinnacles and the lachung river running thru. there are small canvas shelters where we sipped sugary sweet tibetan milk tea and sadly decline steamed momos as we've already eaten breakfast. there are many indian tourists but we're the only foreign tourists around. on the return we stop for a short hike along the limestone green river, thru a field where yaks graze around a buddhist stupa and the sound of their bells peacefully rings thru the valley, prayer flags blow in the wind and jagged peaks cloaked in mist loom overhead. in the spring the scene must be idealic b/c there are rododendrun bushes everywhere and our guide claims there are 34 varieties and the valley just alights with color. we wind up at a much advertised and highly unappealing hot spring which is basically a tiny cement ditch containing hot spring water enclosed in a dark and dingy hut (luckily my lonely planet guide had prepared me for this) . silla from iceland, the land of beautiful hot springs is very impressed! haha!

anyway, we spend another night in lachung and then depart for gangtok in the a.m. we drive about an hour, me in a zone, happily enjoying the tunes on my ipod watching the countryside flying by and then we stop and the jeep's engine is turned off. this isn't all that unusual so i don't react right away but then i realize the dilemna. there is no longer a road where yesterday there was one. a huge landslide has fallen and blocked our exit. we have nothing to do but wait 5 or so hours for a jeep to come from gangtok at which point we'll climb over the blockage and travel the 4-5 hrs back from there. we spend a good deal of time sitting on the side of the road, walking around, sipping tea, walking around.... the excitement comes when it's time to cross. crowds of people, mostly indian tourists, clamber for their chance and for many it's a very scary experience ( it's clear there are not many trekkers here). many people desperately cling to their husbands, wives, etc as if they were being dropped to their deaths as many men helped by grabbing onto their pants, picking them up and placing them at the next rock. to us, it was a rather comical scene and all very exciting. oh, but i forgot to mention my beast of burden/bain of my existence. the poor guide and driver had to lug the dreadful rolling duffel over the wreckage... it caused all sorts of problems (see the bag being carried by the ends by the two guys... that's the bloody roller from hell) being dropped a couple of times and generally just being a huge cumbersome burden!

jaime, the photo of patrick crossing the landslide is for you!!!!!!!!! haaaaaaa!!

the return back to gangtok was not quite as exciting... in fact it was quite tedious. of course on the other side we were met with more mass chaos and our jeep was filled with people with huge bags of vegetables, stacks of eggs, etc that needed to be sent across before we could go. after hrs we were finally moving but were then met with trucks blocking our path... there's much backing up, going 10 ft forward, backing up, 10 ft forward, and on and on... we arrived back in gangtok after midnight! i received a call at 9:30am. while we're eating breakfast that there's a trek heading out at 11 i can join but i feel rushed and panicky and don't go so will try for another day.

so later on i arrange a trek with another company, to goechela, where i'll be joining 4 americans i think and i leave tomorrow for yuksom. i'm nervous/anxious.... not sure what else to say. so, i'm off tomorrow and won't be in touch for at least 10 days (hopefully).

oh, we found a vegetable, spice and stuff market today which made me change my mind about gangtok which i was finding rather lackluster tho my favorite place for indulging in all kinds of to-die-for northern indian curries, breads and other tasty treats. we wandered thru the maze of vendors and then came upon a row of piping pots of yellow curries that were being stirred and ladeled into small leaf bowls lined with newspaper and then topped with corn, chilies, onions, then came the dried banana chips and other spicy crunchy things on top!! even tho we had already had lunch and soft serve ice cream, we had to try it and it was absolutely phenomenal! wish we had made this find much earlier!! i also noticed a man running around with a steamer of momos that were being served in newspaper which i'd like to go back for!

gangtok and more photos

pink rice and goodbyes

10/12 so i am now writing from gangtok in sikkim. i am filled with mixed emotions; sadness for leaving the kids of glenburn and the adult welfare volunteers that we were helping with english but excited for adventures to come and exploring other areas of india (and escaping the loud tv and electronics of my homestay).

our last week at glenburn was during a hindu festival so school was closed but we had three last days of library at sikari durgha pry school. our last day, we were first told, was fri and the end of the session was rather anti-climatic so we were feeling sad about the way our goodbye went. then we were told there would be library on monday and again it was fun but with an anti-climatic goodbye (basically chaos and no one saying goodbye :) ). then we were told there would be library on tues. sooo, we hiked the 1/2 hour thru the tea fields and quaint tea planters villages for the last time again. today we were honored by the children who stood in a line and draped silk scarves over our shoulders one at a time while clapping. it was very sweet and the whole thing brought a tear or two to my eye. the teacher that leads library there, sarman (a very nice man who is extremely dedicated to the children), tried desperately to have the kids sing songs and dance for us but there were a bunch of new kids that hadn't worked with us before and who were too interested in playing with the games and things we had bought for the library. his efforts were much appreciated but we also loved just watchng the kids enjoying our small gifts to the school. he had also written us each a speach in nepali to read to the kids so we attempted to read these emotional goodbye/thank you speaches but none of the children listened. it was very funny! then we tried learning a nepali song which we can now not get out of our heads... kanchi hai kanchi, kanchi kohita kholana..... :)
we were also honored at the cultural ceremony held in town for the festival. we had no idea what was being said or what was going on but suddenly out of the stream of nepali we heard i-to-i blah blah blah iceland and england (so much for representing the states) and then scarves were draped on our shoulders in front of the whole town!
on thurs we were brought to a local tea pluckers house to witness the tika ceremony. they graciously invited us into their home to watch this wonderful hindu ceremony where first the elders and then sisters give blessing to the family from eldest to youngest by chanting, putting pink rice (tika) on the foreheads and flowers in the hair or under a hat or handkerchief. after the entire family received tika we were invited to also receive the blessing. the women were very happy including us and all family members wanted to have photos taken with us and asked that we return to their house again someday. they offered us tea and treats even though they have so little and all was very appreciated.
so, it is with sadness and excitement of what's to come next that i write this post. i'm in gangtok in sikkim with Silla, who will be leaving in a couple days. i'm hoping to then join a group for a trek and praying my knee holds out! i might be buying a yak to ride... figure it could also keep me warm and cozy in my tent! trek will be either dzongri or goecha la with dzongri being the wiser choice as it's a few days shorter. so, i'll be out of touch for 7-10 days but in good hands with guides, porters, yaks and horses to carry me back if my knee gives out so i'll be in touch when i return!! wish me luck with the knee and gorgeous himalayan sunrises every a.m.! thanks :) hope all is well at home! i'm thinking of you all! think i'm going for a good indian meal (hopefully spicy curry and garlic naan or stuffed paratha and maybe even some rice pudding) and a cocktail!!!
cheers!!

p.s. sikkim is plastic bag free, organic encouraging and give heavy fines for littering and spitting. they're also anti excessive horn blowing and loud noise making!!! it's a very nice repreive from the rest of india... i'm expecting culture shock when i finally make my way to kolkata!
p.s.s. the hotel we're staying at is costing us each a little over 2$/night and we had an amazing indian meal yesterday for about 5$ each!

himalayan sunrise

10/6 - it was raining soooo monsooningly last night i thought the roof was coming down and was not confident our excursion to tiger hill for sunrise over the himalaya would work out but i hadn't slept a wink (must've been the glass of horrible wine that tasted amazing and the chocolate brownie with ice cream) so when the alarm went off at 3:30 i was set to go regardless! i bundled into all my warm clothes which i actually remembered to pack this time and we hit the stairs for the outside... but suddenly our hopes of himalayan sunrises were dashed as the door was locked from the inside and we had no key! somehow being locked in feels really wrong and we had no idea what to do b/c the hostel thought we had a key from last time since we had forgotten to return it but it actually got lost somewhere along the way and we hadn't told them yet (it actually wasn't me who stole or lost the key believe it or not :) ). i was ready to pack it up but silla bravely rapped on the door of the poor old woman who keeps the place and does the cooking, etc, waking her out of a sound sleep to open the door. we raced down the street following the light of silla's torch... the streets were pretty scary at 4:30 a.m. with stray dogs barking and baring their teeth at us and many homeless wandering drunkenly about but we soon came upon a mass of people all headed for the jeeps to tiger hill. we were crammed into a shared taxi with what felt like 20 people with us being the only foreign tourists and off we went. i was starting to feel nauseas from all the jostling, diesel and body smells (i was in the back sitting basically on the rear tire) and was afraid i would lose my stomach but then we turned a corner and there they were standing starkly white against the dark of the early morning sky!!! ahhh the himalaya!! i suddenly felt much better as tears of joy sprung to my eyes and my breath was lost! the view from tiger hill is amazing but the crowds of people all pushing to get a front row view was crazy chaotic and had the potential to take away from the amazing scene of the sun creeping over kanchengjunga, everest (just the tip was visible), lhotse, etc setting the peaks aglow with a pink and orange hue but i was so enthralled by it all i didn't let the anxiety attack that would normally overcome me in this situation ruin it! i found a spot on some steps leading to a higher viewing point that only people with a special ticket could enter and was trying desperately to get some good shots but so many were ruined by the sudden entry of someones head or someone bumping into my arm, blurring the shot... was getting quite frustrating when the man collecting tix shooshed me in saying "you can go" and he pointed out each mtn to me!! my lucky day! i finally was able to get some space to take it all in and get some fantastic photos that i soooo wish i could share but computer service is ridiculously slow so i'm not sure that's happening :( after returning to darjeeling from our excursion we hunted down some dreamy banana pancakes which we drizzled with honey and which i enjoyed with a glass of hot milk! it was divine!!!
mel's marathon was/is today and i'm hoping her hip didn't keep her from running and that she's having an amazing race!!! MEL!! i was thinking of you my friend staring at the mtns and sending all my positive energy your way!
back to glenburn today with tomorrow being our last day at the school with the kids because the puja festival is this week. we're excited to participate in the festival but sad to be having our last day with the kids! there's a cultural performance on the football field on tues which will be fun and we're planning on pressing for a tea estate tour which we still haven't gotten so hopefully it'll be a fun week! i'm also supposed to be teaching the pharmacist some back exercises to pass on to the laborers who work sooo hard carrying heavy loads every day! the tea pickers baskets hang across their foreheads so their hands are free to pick! all day in the hot sun protected by umbrellas... it's really unbelievable! i'm sure i'll be making a fool out of myself again teaching the exercises but i'm getting quite used to the feeling :)
until next time...

gandhi's bday and gin

so we're nearing the end of our volunteer project at glenburn tea estate and i'm having mixed feelings. i love the kids and the adult "volunteers" (rather paid teachers) of the glenburn welfare project are great and i'm finally feeling like we're doing good here with our efforts at the 2nd school's library program and the adult english study group we've started. however, nights are rather uneventful and i'm somewhat looking forward to a change of pace, namely, not going home at 5:30 with no where to go afterwards, no sounds of loud tv and loud childrens' games, the sound of a bowling alley above my head (i have no idea what's going on upstairs but it really sounds like there's a bowling alley up there... the kind with the big balls!) and different flavors. my host is a wonderful cook but i'm not used to eating the same kinds of things every day! i would kill for sushi, a fruit smoothie, a burrito with guacamole.... !

at library, we celebrated gandhiji's bday by having the kids make birthday hats which were a huge hit, singing happy bday and of course, treats!! the kids savored every moment and every bite of their cookies and candy! there's no greed in these kids and they were sooo appreciative of their one cookie and piece of candy. they're really the sweetest kids!! we also did some painting of posters to put on the walls of their "new" library room and it's starting to look a lot more lively!

the adult volunteers are really dedicated to the kids and to learning proper english to teach the kids so we're doing our best in the short time we have to help them. we started the group and hope they continue meeting when we leave and that the next set of volunteers will carry it on! we're in darjeeling this weekend to pick up some english language references for them to use when we leave.

hoping to hit sunrise at a gorgeous himalaya viewpoint (tiger hill) tomorrow and praying the clouds clear!! power keeps going out so i'm going to keep this short but i'll try to post some photos of the view from my morning walk on the tea estate, the kids (note the bday hats :) ) and tea pickers working in the fields! it's lovely looking out and seeing the emerald green fields dotted with brilliant umbrellas of all colors!

oh, the gin!!! we were finally invited to our coordinators bungalow for dinner and were soooo excited when her husband asked for our poison of choice! we requested gin and tonics to which he added a splash of bitters and we sipped them slowly sitting on the porch with flowers dripping down around the veranda and the scent of Queen of the Night flowers which smell like jasmine, tiny village lights flickering through the hills and a cacaphony of crickets, cicadas, etc. it was dreamy and ohhhh that first sip of gin!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was just what the doctor ordered!! aside from a half a beer in a dark, smoky bar lacking in ambiance of any kind, that was my first taste of alcohol since i left and it was dreamy!

o.k. so back to picture posting! all my best to home!!
i miss cereal and milk, fall foliage, guacamole, fresh fruit and of course you all!!