India

Men doing laundry and bathing the Ganges: Below-Just outside of the old city in Varanasi, this kid was just washing his shoe!:

Just an ally off the main street:

Above- this guys job is to take the cow poo and dry it out and then sell it for fuel for cook stoves as all lumber goes toward cremation.

Below- Varanasi:

Ganges:

It's the Taj:

Kids at Taj:

At the Taj- sooo wet!:

Waiting to get into Taj:

View from farm with the kids who lived on the farm:

The farmer's clay house:

The Baby Taj:

The baby that was thrown at me on my walk to the waterfall...

The Family we met on the train to Agra:

Each day India reveals a new part of itself to me. I am constantly surrounded by new overwhelming things that both amaze me as well as horrify me. The last time I wrote I was in the Northern Part of Dharamasla, on top of the mountains in a heavily Buddhist/Tibetan area. From there we took a public bus to Amristar, the capitol of the Punjab State as well as the home of the Golden Temple. The Golden Temple is a Sikh temple on a 500 year old holy site. After arriving in the evening we got accommodations just across the street and then entered the sacred sight. All of the ground is marble and the real golden Temple sits in the middle of a small lake. We had dinner with all of the other Pilgrims before meditating with them as we waited for the temple to undergo the ritual of being washed with milk between 12 and 2:15 am. All are welcome to the temple and served equally. Outside of the kitchens hundreds of people work together to peel the vegetables for the food that is served for free, 24hours a day. Inside, all sit down on the cement floor together and are served slop bucket style. The food was so delicious! Afterward we had a several hour long talk with a baptised Sikh about his religion as well as life. Then at 2:30 in the morning we we let into the golden temple!. To enter there is just one bridge across the lake, representing life. The is just one way in, birth and death. I would love to talk more about this but I don't want the blog to be too long, I will just leave it at being one of the most amazing experiences of my entire trip.

So then we went on our way to Agra, to see the Taj. On the train ride there (sleeper class, no AC) we met a nice family who kind of adopted us. They gave hena to Monique and their kids hung out with us for almost the entire night. Agra was everything that we expected, dirty and busy with many people trying to make an extra few hundred rupees. The first day we took a tour of the city and saw the Fort, as well as visited a small farm where we got to talk to the family who had been living there for generations. Well we didn't actually get to talk to them because they didn't speak English but we got to see their "house" and learn how they lived. PS did you know that India has been so effected by Global Warming/ lack of monsoon that harvest is two months late this year and veggis and rice have gone up in price by more than double? The next day we went to the Taj. It was stunning (an entire palace of white marble and inlay) but we just stayed a an hour or so as it was raining and very touristy. From there another train ride (overnight, of course) to Varanasi.

And here is where I need to take a breath. Varanasi is so... over the top for all the senses including the spirit. The first night we stayed just 50ft from the ghat where they burn the bodies. We sat on our roof and overlooked a family singing their loved one into heaven while they burned the body and threw it into the Ganges. The old city, where we are staying right along the river, is said to be the oldest inhabited city in the world. It is made up of hundreds of small alleys/ streets lined with shops, houses, temples, cows, trash piles, shit piles, bathing children, sleeping beggars, salesmen, more shit, and bugs/insects. Yesterday we walked all along the ghats to see them all. This morning we woke up at four am and took a boat ride all along the ghats (the different piers along the river) to see the people bathing, etc. We did see one whole dead body but it was covered in the traditional bright fabric and then floated on some bamboo. It looked like a child and I assume that the family did not have enough money to burn the body. Now we are staying in a hotel just a little ways deeper into the maze of streets but it has a high rooftop restaurant where we can look out onto the entire old city.

At first when I got here I kind of took the whole thing for granted, seeing it just as an ideal- the "varanasi" that we all read about and see on TV. But after being here for a few nights and spending more time in the city and especially after this mornings boat ride the reality of it has really sunk in. I cannot believe people live like this. I mean that in a way of just common sense. There is poop everywhere!!! People and animal. As well as dead animals. This place is covered with all the generations of trash since the beginning of this cities time. Also people who have lived here their entire lives often go crazy, thinking things like they are Shiva reincarnated...

But, besides all that I love India. It is amazing and more than I expected. I'm glad that I finally found a place to upload pictures, I'll try to put a lot. Much love to all and thank you for your emails!