Happy Diwali!

And the winner is...Rishikesh! We decided to head there, not really knowing what to expect. What we found is the Sedona, AZ of India. For those of you who aren't familiar with Sedona, that means it was a town full of spiritual gurus, crystal wands, yoga classes, ashrams, and all around general enlightenment...often aided by smoking weed. We actually loved Rishikesh, because it was full of excellent food, great traveler community, and chilled out Indians. We saw more white people in 3 hours than we've seen on this entire trip. The town itself is separated by the Ganga River, and there are two pedestrian-only bridges connecting the two sides. So it was extremely quiet on our side of town, and every night we could walk out our door and watch the sunset on the beach. Right next door was a cheap restaurant called "Namaste Cafe", and we ate there every night, because each meal kept blowing our minds. They offered everything from hummus with homemade pita to lasagna, ornate salads, and pastries. And they put so much into the presentation! It literally fulfilled so many of the food dreams we've been having while in India.
While there, we took a one-day white water kayaking class. It was really good and eye-opening. We learned that it's much trickier than it looks, and that it is terrifying to be sealed into a kayak and upside down underwater with not the skills to flip over again. We have much more respect for our kayaking friends: Forrest and Lyndie!
Also, the nation-wide celebration of Diwali happened while there. People everywhere set off fireworks and lit candles. It was beautiful to watch, especially over the water. These were like serious fireworks too...we would never be allowed to buy them in the States! Our guest house host, Dori, invited us to his Diwali party with his friends. The night was filled with peanuts, whiskey, drumming, and singing...and it was great to be able to take part in the celebration with the locals.
So then we bus hopped for 17 hours and found ourselves in Kasol, a minuscule town in northern India. It is nestled in a valley with mountain views out both sides. We are gearing up for a 10-day trek in the Pavarti Valley tomorrow, and spent most of the day today gathering rental gear and buying food. It will be VERY cold. Most people don't do this trek this late in the season, but we will be good if the first snow doesn't hit. So we're going to go for it, and we can always turn around. The Pavarti Pass stands at 5300 meters. So, we're off to eat a good meal and mentally prepare ourselves for the cold weather!
In other earth-shattering news: Due to the lack of fruit variety in most of India (apples and bananas), Clay decided to attempt to overcome his phobia of bananas. I'm happy to report that this morning, he ate his very first banana since he was 5 years old, and he LIKED IT!

Pindari Glacier Trek

We are fresh off the trail of the 6-day Pindari Glacier Trek, which begins and ends in the town of Song. We were led to believe by our trusty Lonely Planet Guidebook that we could get info about the trek and arrange guides, porters, and supplies in Song. We weren't planning to hire a guide or porter, but we did want to pick up some food, maybe rent another sleeping bag, and definitely get some info about the trail route. While waiting for a jeep in a town 38 km from Song, I happened to see a small guide service, so I went in to see if they had information. They were able to sketch me a map of sorts. Great...I did something useful with my time. Little did we know that when we arrived in Song, there was little waiting for us but a dirt street with a dusty snack shop. Obviously confused and not sure what to do, we asked where the trail started, and the locals pointed us to a path leading "up". So we inadvertently started our trek much sooner that we expected, carrying everything we brought to India, and armed with only a hand-drawn map of the trail. We DID know that there was huts to stay in along the way, and some kind of food available there, and the distances between those checkpoints.
We lumbered up the trail, asking anyone we met if we were heading the right way. We eventually found a man who offered us a place to stay for the night, and cooked for us. He also let us keep some of our extra weight luggage at his place for us to pick up on the way out. The next day we plunged into the mountains, and were met by a HUGE landscape of jagged cliffs and a rushing glacier fed river. There was water everywhere, so we never had to carry more than 1 liter on us at a time. The sun filtered through the dense greenery, and the rocks all glittered when the sun hit them (much like the vampires in 'Twilight'). I know this is three movie references in two sentences, but we decided that the scenery was like 'Jurassic Park' meets 'Fern Gully'!
Out on this trail, it is all about supply and demand. Huts were cheap enough to spend a night at, but food was definitely pricey and limited. We have now eaten enough rice and potatoes to last us a lifetime. Vegetables are rare, and fruit is unheard of...but the one thing you can always count on finding at the end of the earth in India is a cup of chai. The chai was amazing, especially for all the chilly nights we spent huddled in our sleeping bags. Another interesting thing was that everywhere we stopped, the hut host was literally pleading us to sell him our headlamp. Mine is an old one with a crack that I would perhaps sell, but we need them for our next trek. We turned down offers left and right. Finally, on one of the last nights of the trek, one man kept upping his offer to Rs. 700 ($14) plus he'd throw in his own hand held flashlight. So we finally parted with the cracked headlamp. Supply and Demand! So a tip to anyone ever trekking in India: bring a bag full of old headlamps, and you will make a profit AND be everyone's best friend along the trail. They are all the rage in rural Himalaya!
Anywhere we stopped, we were always asked, "You have no guide? No porter?". It was nice to be on our own, and in truth the trail was very easy to follow, and we hardly had to carry anything since food and huts were available. The trek lead us into a sanctuary of snowed capped peaks, where we climbed a small hill and sat basking in the sun for 2 hours, surrounded by the beauty. This trek was exactly what we were looking for, and it was a good warm-up for our next one, which we hope to be longer, more remote, and carry our food and rent a tent. So, 90km and one broken Chaco later...we are back in Bageshwar, where we are still deciding which bus will we get on tomorrow morning at 5 am. Joshimath or Rishakesh...I'll let the suspense of that one hang with you until next time!

Bobble-head Indians and Hotel Haggling

What is with the Indian head bobble?!? It is starting to drive us crazy. It's this side-to-side head shake in response to a question that could mean "yes", but it could also mean "no". So we try to rephrase our questions and are met with the same response: A blank eye stare and that side-to-side head shake. Argh!

We took the train as far as it would go Northeast, to Kathgodam, where we unfortunately got in at 1 am. The WORST...because you still have to spend money on a guest house room, but you are only there for 8 hours. Plus most businesses have already locked their doors and gone to bed. By chance, we saw a man on his balcony who had a seedy little room that he charged us Rs.500 for (Almost double our normal rate). So anyway...we left the rail behind for bone-jarring buses and crammed jeep rides, and started inching our way towards the Himalayan. Often the roads are single lane and hug steep drop-offs, so we frequently have to back up a ways to let someone pass from the opposite direction.
First we stopped off at Nainital, which we decided was the Breckenridge of India. It's a super nice vacation town up in the mountains that surrounds a half-mile long lake. There is even a cable car that climbs up to a resort and Himalayan view, and gondola-style boats that you can pay a boatman to row around the lake. The street food is glorious here, ranging from filled pastries and omelets to seasoned corn-on-the-cob and hot chocolate made with a steamer. It was also fairly packed. we searched over a hour for a room and the prices were insane. One guy showed us a room by the light of his cell phone because there was no electricity. A "selling point" of the room was that it had a TV. Then he quoted us Rs. 900 ($20). We tried to point out that the TV didn't count since there was no electricity, and that the room was definitely not worth his price but that we would indeed stay for something more like Rs.250 (still a rip off for this place). He didn't go for it. After much toil and a literal miracle, we found a charming cheap room. Our time in Nainital was spent exploring and hiking the surrounding mountainside.
After spending a night in Almora and enjoying Mango juice in the bottle and the sunset from a rooftop hotel, we went on to Kausani. Kausani is a miniscule but beautiful town. We were met at the bus stop with the usual hustlers trying to get us to stay in their hotels and such. One man was so insistent that we look at his resort that we finally consented, even though we had told him our budget. He showed us a gorgeous, clean room with a balcony and amazing view, our own bathroom, and hot water and told us it was only Rs.1500. We laughed and said we weren't kidding about our budget and we were sticking to it. We started to walk away and he started dropping the price like mad. Finally, in desperation, he shouted, "400! You stay for 400!" It was pretty much a no-brainer at that point...so we splurged and stayed at a legit resort, watched movies in our room, and got room service! (We've found that room hunting is much like buying a car...you just have to NOT need what they are trying to sell you.) Also here, we spent an enjoyable night around a campfire with an Indian family who just kept giving us rum and pakora, telling jokes, listening to music, and taking photos with us/of us so they could remember us always.

How many Indian family photo albums will we make it into?

The closer we get to Delhi, the more we become something of minor celebrities. We've been asked countless times to have our photo taken with Indians, and they don't hesitate to position us...shaking our hands or draping their arms over our shoulders like we're old friends. We tried making some money off of it, and telling them it will cost 'em 5 rupees, but they all just start laughing at our joke. The best was a few nights ago, while groggy and waiting for a train at midnight, a young kid comes up to us and pantomimes a whole conversation to us. Eventually we figure out that he wants our autographs and whips out a pen and scrap of paper!
Pachmarhi was an amazing retreat for us. We spent one day finding cave temples all over the hillside. They have makeshift ladders and little steps chipped into the rock at some places, just when you think you won't be able to make it up the next cliff band. The next day we rented bikes again, and rode 11km out to a peak that many pilgrims climb to the temple at the top. We were definitely given many strange looks as we were passed by jeep after jeep on the winding road up. People would tell us on the hike that they saw us biking, and they thought that was just great. Then they would find out we were from America and all of a sudden we would be shaking everyone's hand in sight. Our third day we were a little hesitant about, because we wanted to see this waterfall, but it would cost us 200 rupees each. That's a nifty little charge known to be called "skin tax". For example, this same waterfall would cost an Indian 15 rupees. Or the TajMahal: Foreigners pay 750 Rs, and Indians pay 20 Rs. So we are trying to figure out a way we can get fake India citizenship cards made or something! Anyway...we decided that we would scout out the entrance station to the waterfalls, and then try and bushwhack our own path into the falls. We didn't think it would actually work, but by some miracle, we did find the waterfall, AND discovered some amazing cascading rock pools of water and cliff overlooks by accident along the way!
We did see the TajMahal (in Agra) yesterday, and had to suck it up and pay the fee, although I can't say we didn't have a look at the North side, bordering the water :). Not even us would ever be willing to get in that water to save a buck. The Taj is every bit as beautiful and breathtaking as you hear it is. We went at sunrise to get and sun's first rays hitting the dome. The other good thing about Agra is the vast array of really cheap and really good food here! We found a place that serves a big cup of chai, 2 eggs, and 4 pieces of toast with butter and jam for 30 Rs. We've been craving this "Western Breakfast" for so long, and anywhere else it costs 5 times as much. Yesterday was also the end of the Durga Puja Festival. There were parades in the street all day, with statues of the goddess. Everyone was dancing and drumming and covered in different colors of powder. We inevitably got covered in powder and joined the parade down to the river, where all the statues were being thrown into the water. Loud speakers are constantly blaring in the streets here, with some type of anthem or song (it's a common occurrence and we are starting to not even notice anymore) but yesterday they brought the volume up a couple notches for the parades. Just when we thought India couldn't possibly amp up the energy! It was crazy!
I'll leave you with a fun irony that we've noted. India washes before and after meals, and yet other hygiene issues don't seem to be a big deal. Like the street stand that Clay bought some food at...minutes later a cow roamed by and started eating directly off of the plate he had just bought food from. The shop owner merely shooed him away and then tidied up the food pile, munching on a few pieces while he did it!
Tomorrow: off to Kathgodam, the gateway to the Indian Himalaya. For the sake of time, money, and distance, we sadly decided to forgo the Nepalese Himalaya and get our glacier treks in a bit closer.