Feed Me

Cooking here is kind of an adventure. Or rather, it is not an adventure at all; I cook the most basic of basic things because it is very difficult to keep foods fresh and I only have a stove top and one kind of good knife and no microwave so I don't cook much. Good thing it is super cheap to get take out curry! So on Saturday night I was making pancakes for dinner. I never eat pancakes back home but here they sell the Betty Crocker mix which you can just add water to and it is quite convenient. As I'm cooking pancake number one I feel like it is taking forever to cook. Then when I put the batter down for pancake number two I hear a weird noise so I look at the flame (gas stove) and see it flickering. Pancake number two barely gets cooked and then poof - the flame goes out. No more gas in my gas tank.
See, unlike gas stoves back home where your gas is piped in, my gas is from a tank which sits just below the stove top and is connected by a rubber tube (and yes, I do find this scary). Seeing as I've never operated this way before I had no way of knowing how to tell if it was getting low.
Of course, as with most things here, I hadn't the faintest clue how to get it refilled. So I went into work on Monday and asked my go-to guy and voila, just a few hours later I had a full tank.
But this meant that Sunday I was stove-less. So what did I do for food on Sunday? Well after some toast for breakfast (hooray for toasters) I went out on a mission - Greek food. I had once seen a Greek restaurant from my car but couldn't remember where it was...turns out I've driven past it tons of times but it isn't well marked. I was very excited. In Toronto I lived in Greek town so I ate Greek food quite a bit and I'd heard through the rumor mill that this place was pretty good. Alas it wasn't. It wasn't terrible; the veggie stuff was pretty good but they added a weird flavor to the chicken and the tzatziki was not exciting. I was so disappointed.
I feel like food has become such a focal point in my life here; what will my next meal be is always on my mind. I was hardly a great chef back home but I really miss the ability to get any ingredients I want and I also miss my good knives and good pots and pans. Funny, the idea of never having to cook for yourself sound glamorous but, for me at least, it isn't. I think that when I go home I'm going to take a few cooking classes to improve my skills so I can cook like crazy. Simply because I can.

spicy markets

So what does one do after visiting two temples? Have a great big yummy Indian lunch is what.
Our next and almost final stop was at a spice plantation for a tour. The plantation was relatively in the middle of nowhere so they included a yummy buffet lunch in the cost of the tour, it was extra yummy because of all the fun spices in the food. We ate lunch in an open picnic style area with a view over a big stream/small river which was full of herons and had an elephant hanging out on the other side - he kept waving his ears back and forth, it felt like he was waving at me. A great place to stop for lunch.
The actual tour wasn't that riveting for me as I'd gone on a spice tour in Kerala which was much more detailed...or maybe I just liked the spices there better, but the lunch and the location were well worth the stop.
Then it was off to Margoa, the 'big' city in central/southern Goa. By the time we got there we were pretty tired and really hot so we just wandered around the market a little bit - oddly almost all the women working in the fruit/vegetable part of the market were wearing green saris, between that and that green veggies it was a very green area. Then we took a quick stroll through their lovely municipal gardens - where the flower on the main page of the blog is from. And then off to the airport.
And so we bid farewell to Goa. Now that I've written all about it we actually did a lot but managed to not feel rushed...just the way I like things.
Final Goa photos: the elephant seen from where I ate lunch, and a woman at the Margoa market in her green sari sorting veggies.

temple time!

Is there anything sadder than the final day of a wonderful vacation?
Okay, yes, there are lots of things that are sadder but for a traveler that final day with the thought of "ugh - back to work tomorrow" in your head has a certain sadness to it. Especially when you are leaving a wonderful hotel with great staff and great guests. Alas, our final day in Goa came and we had to come back to the real world...but before our flight we still managed to fit in some sightseeing (and an early morning dip in the pool).
We were staying in North Goa and the airport is more Central Goa so I planned out a day of sightseeing that took us kind of sort of on a big loop to the airport. First up: temples. Two of my guidebooks had mentioned two of the same temples so I figured that they were the ones to visit so off we went. The first one we visited was very cute but had lots of construction going on around it which was a bummer. It was quite busy in the temple so we didn't stay too long because I was feeling a bit claustrophobic. I was actually more intrigued by two women that were working outside the temple. They were taking bricks and putting them in a bowl which they then put on their heads and then walked the bricks over to their new spot...about 20 feet away...seriously. I wondered - why are they moving a pile 20 feet and wouldn't it be faster to just walk them over one at a time? But they seemed content doing it their way so I'm sure there was a logic to it.
Then we asked the driver to take us to the second temple but he said he wanted to take us to a different one. Boy are we happy we listened to him. This second temple was similar in size to the first but was much quieter and also much prettier.
Prayer for Hindus is done very much at their own pace; they do have occasional group prayer services but for the most part people just go into temples in their own time and say their own prayers so temples are like living organisms with people always going in and out and saying their own prayers; quite different from what I'm used to. At times this means that a temple is teeming with people and is overwhelming but at other times, like at this temple where they were fewer people, there is a calm reverent feel to the place. We really enjoyed that temple quite bit. Super duper long name though which I don't remember.
One interesting thing about visiting temples in the heat...you have to take your shoes off outside all temples and they, for some odd reason, seem to always put the shoe place right on black pebbles which are blazing hot and also not comfy to walk on...so I did a fair amount of jumping to/from the shoe spot and the temple entrance. I was quite the spectacle with my jumping and my big floppy hat that protects me from the sun.
Anywho...I realized I've already written quite a bit so I'll save my final two Goa thoughts for tomorrow's post. For now a picture of the first temple. The second one was surrounded by a wall so I couldn't get a picture of the whole thing...and yes, that tower is actually leaning.

Old Goa

After Panjim we headed over to Old Goa which looked like a much smaller town and, according to our guide book map, had lots of churches. Lots of churches indeed, from what I could tell the only thing the town had was churches...not sure if anyone actually lived there. Our driver dropped us in front of one big church; the Basilica. It was very pretty and quite different from any other church I've seen in India because it was a dark red (although most of the earth in Goa had a red color to it so no doubt this was actually the most real colored church around). The basilica houses the remains of St. Francis Xavier; alas none of my photos of the interior of the church came out; either it was the spirit of St. Francis making them fuzzy or the humidity...I'm guessing it was the humidity. It was a beautiful church that even with gobs of tourists (why were no tourists in Panjim? Made it nicer but seems odd that they all skipped it) the church had a very calm peaceful holy feel to it...at least to me.

Then we walked for about 1 minute (literally) over to the Cathedral. A big white church with a little bit of a Tuscan flavor to it. Again, quite beautiful with a simpler interior but some beautifully ornate side chapels.

After visiting the cathedral it was judgement call time...do we check out some of the other 7 churches in town or head back to the hotel and the pool? Well seeing as it was about 100 degrees and we were both actually dripping with sweat (it is a weird feeling to have your eyelids sweat) the pool won out. I must say that was one of the most refreshing dips in a pool I've ever had.

So while our day of sightseeing in Goa wasn't very long; it was very wonderful. If you ever get a chance to come to Goa don't spend it all on the beach, check out Panjim and Old Goa. They are well worth the visit.

Pictures! The exterior of the basilica and a chapel in the Cathedral.

Panjim

After a day of beachy time it was time for a day of sightseeing. So we hopped in a car and were off to Panjim, the capital of Goa. It was a lovely 30 minute or so ride and I was ready with my Lonely Planet walking tour. I didn't really know what to expect, I'd skimmed over the sights and knew there was a big church and the town had a "Portuguese feel" to it (Goa was a Portuguese territory for over 400 years until 1961).

Well there was a big church...really big...although maybe it only seemed really big because it was up on a hill. It was painted all white - almost every church we saw was whitewashed - and was quite stunning high up on the hill overlooking the town and the water.

Then we walked over to what I guess could be called the old town with brightly painted houses and small little streets. I would say the best word to describe it is charming. We strolled around mostly following the walking tour but with a few diversions like when we stumbled across a very brightly colored temple which was closed but then walked to another temple perched up on a hill that was open so we peeked in.

One interesting thing in India, which I may have blogged about before so please excuse the repetition if I have, is that quite often there are religious practices that are quite regional. For example, apparently Diwali is celebrated much more in the north than in the south where Dishera (which I'm definitely misspelling), which is just before Diwali, is a much bigger deal. In Goa apparently the day before Diwali they burn in effigy a demon (or at least I think that is who it is - I asked and couldn't really understand the answer). So in Panjim we saw a few metal frames which was all that had remained of what had been burned a few days before. One of them was quite large, maybe 20-25 metres high and was at the base of the hill below the temple. Must have been quite a spectacle to see that burning.

I won't walk you through every step we took but suffice it to say that we loved Panjim; even though it was crazy hot and we did a fair amount of walking up and down steps which made us crazy sweaty (and rather stinky no doubt) we still loved it.

Oh no...blogger just lost half of my post so I guess that is my computer's way of telling me to get back to work.

But first, pictures. The first one is the church high on the hill and the second is a woman walking down the brightly colored streets of Panjim.

A day at the beach

Saturday was Diwali and we weren’t sure how much would be open and we were ready to just relax so we scooted off to a different beach which luckily was quite well marked so it wasn’t as tricky for me to navigate. This beach was also below a mini cliff which had great views; we could even see some cows on a beach a little south of us. We walked on down to find a rather interesting beach annoyance in Goa and the reason why lots of people stay at resorts…we had lots of women coming up to try and sell us things. Skirts, necklaces, etc., etc. Now I’ve been in India long enough to know that if you show even the slightest hint of interest you can’t get rid of people trying to sell you things; alas my travel buddy is newer to India but within about a ½ hour she figured it out and we got quite good at quickly shoo-ing them away.
After grabbing a quick lunch we decided to head over to an even quieter beach closer to the cows we had seen; Indians don’t go to the beach much and the few that do are mostly men, and the women keep all their clothes on when they go in the water (literally) so we were hoping to get a few less stares at this quiet beach. This beach was not well marked and I was 99% certain that we were totally lost but I knew that the ocean was west so we got there. Whew. The beach was super quiet with a few other foreigners around so we got much less attention. This beach also had a little café where we sat in the shade and had a drink (and some hummus…really difficult to find here so super exciting for me) and watched as the cows ran by.
Dinner was back at the hotel and was so amazing that it is blog-worthy. I love fish but don’t eat it in Delhi because I can never be sure that it is fresh so whenever I’m near the coast it is fish, fish, fish. At the hotel we met a French man who lives in Mumbai who comes to Goa every year during Diwali. He had stayed at the hotel the year before and became friendly with the owner so asked them to get him a nice big fish. We saw them bring it out and it looked amazing…they had another so we ordered it too and it was absolutely perfect. Indians tend to either fry fish or put it in a curry but this was perfectly cooked, broiled I think, with some roasted garlic…count on a French man to teach an Indian to cook fish the ‘right’ way. As the night progressed other guests came out and we all sat around chatting…the group was:
2 Americans living in Delhi (us)
A French man living in Mumbai
2 Frenchies living in Sweden
A Brit living in Spain
Quite an interesting bunch...like I said, a great little hotel with fun guests.
Picture time! A view down the coastline and 3 women surrounding guys on the beach trying to sell them stuff.

Goan to Goa

First and foremost...what is Goa? Goa is one of the states in India, the smallest state I think, which is known for its beaches and - especially in the 70s - for being a big party area. So I actually went to the town of Anjuna in Goa but unless you are actually from Goa or have been there you have never heard of it; much like when you go to the Jersey Shore you just say you are going to the shore and rarely say which actual town. I was confused and thought that Goa was a city and others have been confused too so I thought I'd give the whole story.
Anyway...I have been to Goa before. Last time I was there for only 2 nights and we stayed at a very nice resort with its own private beach. This time I was more concerned about money so found a more basic hotel with a pool that was just a few kilometers from the beach and it ended up being perfect. It was a small hotel with only 10 rooms or so with friendly guests and just a nice feel to it.
After checking in we were ready to explore...but how does one explore in Goa? Autorickshaws are few and far between and taxis are for long rides so...we did what you do in Goa and we rented a scooter. I was pretty nervous so I was the passenger, not the driver, and at first I was petrified but we drove quite slowly; our max speed ever was 40 km/hr and we didn't go that far and the roads are full of tourists on scooters so the locals are used to being careful around us. All in all it was a fun and convenient way of getting around and except for the fact that there were lots of cows in the road it was pretty easy (of course I was the passenger not the driver which made it easier for me).
Navigating was a bit tricky...take a left at the chickens, keep going straight past the palm trees, but we only made about two wrong turns which we quickly figured out.
So off we went on our scooter to the Anjuna beach. The beach was quite small and down a little mini-cliff (mini as in 20 feet tall and not really cliff like). We walked down the stairs and climbed over the rocks when we saw a little cafe on top of the mini cliff. It had about 15 chairs set up looking over the sea so we climbed back on up grabbed a chair ordered a beer and some fish and chips and sat watching the sun set.
A rather wonderful way to end a day.
Aside: I changed my flower picture on my main page, that is a flower I saw in Goa that I loved.
Pictures...first is our hotel, our room was in the corner. Second is me at our little cafe looking out over the sea after the sun set.

Back from Goa

Back from Goa with a tan (or rather, am a slightly darker shade of pale that only I can really see) and only got a small burn on my shoulders.
It was hot, hot, hot, but quite relaxing.
Anyway, our flight back was late last night (no surprise there, haven't been on an on-time flight in India) so got home after midnight so am tired and not thinking too clearly so will blog more tomorrow.
Will just leave you with this happy thought. Our return flight connected in Mumbai, my travel buddy hadn't been there so I suggested we get seats on the right side of the plane so she could see some of the city. I guessed correctly about sitting on the right side of the plane and we did see the city at night, and because it is still Diwali season there were fireworks being lit. Mostly just small flashes of light but there were a few big pretty ones - a fun thing to see from a plane.

Tractors and vacation

I have gotten stuck behind a tractor in traffic 4 times this week. 4 times! They are all hauling something or other. While it is kind of annoying I actually find it quite funny whenever I see a tractor because this is the capital city. Imagine a tractor in Washington, DC, or London, or Paris.
Anyway, off on my mini-holiday to Goa. Hopefully will come back with lots of pictures and fun stories...assuming we actually do something other than sit on the beach. You never know, the beach is quite lovely.

minor rant time

Diwali is Saturday and I have to say that I find this to be the most annoying and frustrating holiday EVER!!! It is the festival of light which means that people light candles but they also light fireworks. I was so frustrated by the fireworks last year that this year I'm leaving town and going down to Goa (yes, still in India but much less populous than Delhi and only 60% Hindu so hopefully will be calmer); but even though the holiday is on Saturday the fireworks have started.
Now you are probably wondering why I find fireworks annoying. Well, they aren't organized, it is basically kids running around lighting them off wherever and whenever they want to, so it is crazy unsafe; and they are really loud but really plain - HUGE boom, almost no light. How loud are they? Last night I was on the phone in the middle of my apartment, probably 100 meters away from where the kids were lighting them and I was inside, and the person I was talking to heard the boom through the phone. That is loud.
But my other frustration has to do with the fact that (in my opinion) most of the Hindus here seem to have no concept of religious awareness and don't understand why someone that is not Hindu wouldn't pray to their god or goddess.
Confused?
Well, last year on the day before Diwali the staff conducted a prayer service in the office, it was about a 1/2 hour long and involved singing and incense (cough, cough). I found it slightly annoying as I was trying to work but it was also interesting. But I could tell that the one muslim guy in our office was really annoyed by the whole thing. So this year I asked that if the staff want to have a prayer service that they do so in the conference room because now out of 25 staff there are 4 of us that aren't Hindu. Then an email was sent around to the entire office saying when the prayer service starts tomorrow and telling everyone they must dress up in traditional clothing and take part in the service.
Maybe I'm just being a stickler but I don't think that religion and work go together and I should not be forced to take part in a prayer service to a goddess I don't believe in. The muslim guys in our office would never say a peep; I guess they are used to it by now; so I'm just a lone crusader for religious awareness. I don't care which god (or gods) a person prays to but I do ask that people respect my decision to pray the way I choose.
And thus ends my mini-tirade. I guess I was spoiled growing up in a largely christan country in an area of the country that is quite tolerant so this is my first taste of intolerance that I have experienced.
Not fun.
Oh well, this weekend I'll be in Goa which is about 10% Catholic and I'll visit lots of churches so will get my fix and will feel better about the whole thing. And I will continue on my mini-crusade to educate people on fireworks safety (seriously, giving kids firecrackers to light off with no supervision is just not safe) and religious awareness.

Fair and Lovely???

Every day on TV I see at least one, if not 5 or 6, commercial for "skin lightening cream". One of them is called "Fair and Lovely"; Loreal has one, Ponds has one, pretty much every skin care product has one; there are even some for men. In India people want to be lighter skinned, apparently the lighter your skin the more beautiful you are.
Some of these commercials are completely ridiculous, like one where a girl's father gives her some of the skin lightening cream and because her skin is lighter she becomes a movie star; in another the girl gets proposed to by a boy that never noticed her before because she used this cream and in "just 7 days" she was fairer.
As someone who is incredibly fair I find the whole thing very strange. Being super pale for me means always having to worry about a sun burn; making sure I have sunscreen on and keeping an eye out for shade whenever possible. I've tried to explain to people here that have complimented me on my nice fair skin how it is actually not easy to be so pale but they don't understand. I suppose if you have never gotten a sunburn it can be difficult to comprehend the dangers of the sun.
I had kind of assumed that these lotions weren't that popular; one guy in the office was using Fair and Lovely and when people found out they promptly gave him a very hard time about it; but I did know that people tried to stay out of the sun; one girl went on vacation and came back with a tan and when I commented on her "nice tan" she told me that her mother in law was very angry with her for getting a tan.
But this weekend I discovered that not only is this desire to be fair real but people will actually bleach their skin! I was at my little spa getting a manicure and my hair mask thingy (the third time I've gotten it done and it seems to be the solution to my hair falling out problem - very exciting) and there was a woman who had a mask on her face and neck which was white and she sat with it on for about 20 minutes. Then another woman came in and had it done. I asked my friend and she said yes, they are bleaching their skin.
Crazy, huh! At this spa they use only natural ingredients so it is probably relatively safe but I imagine that some places use pretty harsh stuff. As I was leaving one girl came in who looked almost sickly, obviously she had been bleaching her skin for a very very long time and now she just looked like she could really use some color.
Funny, in the US it is all about fake tans and here in Asia it is all about being light-skinned. My friend whose is Canadian but has Indian parents had to tell the girls at the spa that she is allergic to bleach because they couldn't understand why she wouldn't want to be lighter. The girls also always comment that I'm very beautiful...because I'm fair. I wonder...I'm going to Goa this weekend for some beach time. Not that I ever really get tan but I definitely get a darker shade of pale...will people comment on my tan in a bad way? Well, my hair will probably get even blonder from swimming in the ocean so people will probably notice that more than my little tan.

Water

So I have lots of fears about living here; some big ones, like what if India and Pakistan stop talking and start fighting; some small, like malaria and dengue fever....I pretty much flip out every time I see a mosquito and can't rest 'til its dead. I've gotten quite good at killing them.
But one of my biggest fears is a day to day thing...running out of water. I should say running out of running water...I can always get drinking water. See for the most part water is stored in containers on the top of houses and the water people come and deliver it. Part of my rent every month is for water. Our office runs out of water all the time...and I always seem to be the one to discover it. It is sooo annoying.
I know of people who run out of water in their apartment fairly often, like once a month or so. My power might go out more than I would like but I can live with that, no running water absolutely not. So this past Friday after being out and about sightseeing I headed home ready to hop in the shower and...no water. I couldn't believe it. I have lived in this apartment for over a year and that had never happened. I was really nervous because it was a holiday, I had no clue how long it would take to get water. So I ran down to my landlord's apartment and he wasn't there - yikes! Then I called him and practically shouted "no water!!!" - he was somewhere outside and it was really loud - and amazingly, 1/2 hour later I had running water again. One of the best showers I've ever taken.
Its weird, living here you realize what is really important and what you really can live with and without. I would say that water is the number one thing I need to function. One of the women in my photography class went to one of the slums to take pictures and she was there when the water truck arrived. They have no running water so every day a big truck of water arrives and everyone goes out and fills up containers to get their water for the day. From her pictures it looked like a big party - everyone rushing out all excited to get their water and making sure they get enough water. Every day it is The Event.
1/2 hour without water in over a year. Not that bad overall. Although now every time I turn on a tap in my house I'm a bit nervous and then breathe a little sigh of relief when the water comes out.

Praying to the moon

Last night I had one of my many "only in India" moments. At around 8ish my doorbell rang, it was my landlady (they live on the ground floor) asking if she could go on my back balcony to look at the moon. She was dressed up in a very lovely sari and carrying a tray with a candle on it and some sweets. So I let her through and opened up the door to my back balcony so she could look at the moon.
Why did she want to look at the moon? There was no eclipse, it wasn't even a full moon.
Well....yesterday was the day when all the married women are supposed to fast for their husbands' health and they aren't allowed to eat until they see the moon and seeing as I live two floors higher than her she could get a view of the moon about 20 minutes earlier from my place than hers and she was ready to finish fasting.
So she went out back and said her prayers for about 5 minutes and then came back in, gave me one of the sweets as a thank you and then went back downstairs so she could eat her dinner.
Definitely one of those things that would never happen back home.

Monkeys and Peacocks and Cows, oh my!

Did I mention that I had a visitor last week? That is why my driver had to come at 5 a.m. yesterday; to drive her to the airport. It was a girl from our Toronto office here to help me with the software release (because that is definitely not my area of expertise). We tried to fit in some sightseeing here and there between the testing and actually did see quite a bit for the little amount of time we had...especially since it was super hot until Sunday.
She was super determined to see a monkey while she was here and lately, as I recently mentioned, I've seen tons of monkey, but they seemed to have gone into hiding during her visit. Finally on Sunday morning in Old Delhi she saw two hanging out on the street (usually I see at least 10 in Old Delhi so it was surprising to see only two).
However, we did see a ton of peacocks while she was here. I've seen peacocks once before in Delhi and had once again begun to think I'd only imagined them because I'd never seen them again. So on Friday (Gandhi's birthday, office was closed but we did only minimal sightseeing because of the heat) I took her to deer park. The deer park is in a larger area with some monuments and when I take people there I don't tell them that there are hundreds of deer in the middle of Delhi but say there is a 'surprise'; so we were walking up to the fence of the deer park and I'm expecting to - as usual - see a bunch of deer. Instead no deer but there were 6 peacocks! It was amazing. Of course I didn't have my camera because I was thinking that I'd been there tons of times before so why carry a heavy camera around on a super hot day. We did eventually see some deer, only a few, but plenty of peacocks, it was very cool.
Then at the Red Fort, also in Old Delhi, we saw another one! Craziness.
And, even though there aren't that many cows in Delhi I do think that they know when tourists are around because we had one walk directly towards us in traffic - which rarely happens; and another walked directly between us while we were walking through a market...we had to step out of her way, it was quite funny.
I feel like I talk about animals too much, but really, how often do you see monkeys and peacocks and cows (and goats, etc., etc.) just hanging out.
Definitely one of my favorite things about India.
Aside: heat is making a mini comeback after 3 cool days but I think (hope) that my nights with the AC on are over. Very exciting!

uh-oh

Twice this weekend I caught myself saying things in Indian English. I find this quite troublesome for several reasons:
1. I already talk with a funny Canadian/American accent; like I say Zed instead of Zee and I say sorry the Canadian way...I just can't help it...Canada just snuck up on me and wiggled its way into my speech.
2. I absolutely cannot spell any more, living in France all those years ago messed me up a bit (I always misspell apartment - and yes, spell check just had to correct me) and I throw an extra 'u' in everywhere, like rumour and favourite.
3. Some of the Indian English is just plain wrong and I shouldn't say it.
So what did I say? Well first I said that I "got to know" something. You don't get to know, you find out or learn. Then I added "itself" after a word, as in saying "I'm flying to Goa on Friday itself". Why add 'itself'? It is implied. But they always do.
Oh dear. So I'm on mission un-indian english-ify myself.
I suppose that as long as I never say that I'm going to "do the needful" or that I will "pressurize" someone that I'm still okay. I actually kind of crack up when people say that they are going to "pressurize" someone. It makes me think of a pressure cooker. It is used when talking about sales, i.e. "we need to pressurize this client to enroll before the deadline".
I suppose I've been here quite a while now so it makes sense that I'm talking funny but I hope I don't talk too funny.
aside #1: I'm actually going to Goa next Friday, not this Friday - hooray for Goa!
aside #2: I successfully told my driver when to come this morning in Hindi. Admittedly I had to count the numbers out on my fingers to make sure I got it right but I was quite proud of myself and he likes it when I talk in Hindi...seeing as I was asking him to come at 5 a.m. I figured it was the least I could do to try and ask in Hindi.

falling water

Well I'm happy to say that the big software release that I've been working on at work has happened and so far not so bad. Hopefully now I will have more time in my day...the past few weeks, as you can probably tell from my sporadic blogging, have been quite busy.

So before the last bit of training I'll try to squeeze in a post of my wonderful final day in Dharmsala. We had tried to visit the waterfall, which is actually in McLeod Ganj, on our first day there but it was raining a little so we decided to put it off until our last day. We didn't know what this waterfall would be like, we could see something from the road but that was pretty far away. So we followed the signs for "waterfall" and came around this corner to see a very very long cascade of water - much bigger than we ever expected. It was probably a mile long and there was mist hanging very low over it which gave it an extra cool look.

You could hire a guide to walk up through the falls or take the nice paved route. We opted for the nice paved route as we had neither a guide nor very good walking shoes.

So we slowly walked up stopping every few minutes to take in the view. As we got close to the top I saw the actual waterfall at the tippy top and I saw people right there so we kept following the path and then it kind of stopped. I was very confused, I saw people there but how did they get there? Well, this very nice man suddenly came over and told us we needed to climb over the slippery rocks and that it was just fine and totally safe. I was a tad bit skeptical but he gave us a helping hand and after 15 very nervous seconds I was over and it was well worth the fear. We hung out at the top for a bit, I contemplated jumping in the pool of water at the base of the actual falls but I wasn't that hot (I would have been very scandalous as the Indian men were jumping in while all the women sat on the side, almost worth it just to shock people but it really wasn't that hot and the water was quite cold).

There was a tea shop at the top but it was pretty crowded so we decided to walk back down over the (not at all scary going the other way) slippery rocks to a little tea shop half way down the falls. It was so nice and relaxing and while we were sitting about 5 goats came about 10 feet away from us and started munching on the grass.

Drinking a cup of tea next to a waterfall with a bunch of goats, quite a nice way to spend a morning...oh, and it was my birthday...definitely a birthday memory for the ages.

Two pictures again today (I'm so addicted to uploading pictures), one of the top of the waterfall, and one of the cascading water bit taken from where we stopped for tea.