stage two in this video game i call life

Everyone told me how horrid the flight here would be. 24 hours of travel time. One stop. 19 hours to Delhi another 3 plus to Mambai. What they didn't know is that i was going to sleep for over ten of those hours, meet a helpful man named Riz in the Delhi airport and get upgraded to first class to fly to Mumbai, and coast through detleg like nothin. Those people must have never been on a 24 hour train from Mumbai to Delhi and a connecting 7 hour bus ride with one stop while being completely sick to their stomache.

To get to Rishakesh, the yoga capital of the world, we had to take a 24 hour train which would not have been so bad if i had 5 more blankets and did not become ill the last4 hours of the trip. The closer to Delhi we got, the more the temperature dropped. It was of course mid sleep when the real cold hit. The windows created a wind tunnel of winter like breeze and bone stabbing temps that a corps couldn't sleep through. I was awake a majority of the ride and on top of that the breeze brought me a raging sickness and deep stomach pains. After dragging myself off the train, taking a tuk tuk over to the bus station and figuring out a connecting bus to Rishakesh (huge hassle when everyone tells you something different) we were on our way. I had to pay for an extra seat so i could lay down . The only position i felt i wouldn't die in was laying completely flat. I was luck enough to have Erica who let me rest my head on her lap. So doesn't sound too bad huh? Except this bus was a rusty ass dirty box with plastic windows and was scheduled to make only one stop. Also, the man behind me hit me in the back of the head for laying down and taking up a seat he wanted. Rude. After 30min into the trip i was pretty sure i wouldn't make it. I cried (to myself of course). Another hour later enough people asked to stop to pee for the bus to make a premature stop. On the side of the road. I looked up and everyone on the bus had gotten off and literally just started peeing right there. i looked at Erica, stared crying and told her i couldn't do it. The Stomach pains were more shark than ever and every bump we hit felt like a dagger was jabbing me in my abdomen. So a laid back down and tried to sleep.

One stop and a few hours later we were in our new home. It was late at night, completely dark, and all was pretty much closed which was perfect. I had to wear everything i had heavier than a tank top to keep warm and Erica and I tried to keep each other warm with our body heats. Helped. Not much though. What i awoke to was completely unexpected and unexplainable, totally worth the cold. Our ashram, set so perfectly in the foot hills of the Himalayas, over looking the Ganga River, the mountains lining the scape. Uh! As we walked up the foot bridge people all around were welcoming us, there were yoga places everywhere and the view from the bridge was out of control literally took my breath away. This was what i came here for. This beauty and this solitude. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect place after leaving Mumbai. This was my new home. I felt an unexplainable peace and the purest calm. Pure love for my surroundings.

The last two day Erica and i spend at Khumayla where over 5 million people gathered to dip in the Gangas waters, perform their beautiful ceremonies and say their punja and send their flame down the river. It was a very special day yesterday, for it was a solar eclipse and Jupiter was moving into Aquarius. But people seemed more fascinated with us than anything. We were videoed and photographed. People trying to sneak up behind us while their friend stood in front to sneak a picture with their camera phones. We asked for money as a joke once and the guy totally paid... ha... so we took it. Why not? My highlight was seeing a member of the Agori tribe. Covered in the ritualistic cremation ashes from head to toe, wearing a human skull round his neck, and having a head of matted dreads, these tribes men are firm believers in multiple different drug usage and have cannibalistic tendencies. They are absolutely beautiful. And I'm thinking of becoming one.... eh? Or atleast stating my own religion or tribe and living in the trees out here and making my jewelry from all these different animals int the road. Oh was really brok my heart the other day. A mother monkey standing on the hood of a car screaming and drying into the street. We were in a tuk tuk and didnt know what was going on at first but as we got closer we saw there, her young dead in the street. Someone had hit her baby and she was crying a sound i have never heard before. It was heart breaking and that image is ingreained in my head. I would have saved that monkey.

I think we will stay here a few more days then head to Varanasi and Darjeeling, ride that train!
Sorry for the words and lack of pictures but my computer is still broken. I'm working on it though...

With love and peace

G