Waking up next to cows - 3 day trek into the Himalayas!

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Been away from the internet and civilization for over a week now, so we'll have to blog in steps - first up, 2 days of rotations and then trekking into the Himalayas again!

Went back to DehraDun for rotations for 3rd week, doing OB/GYN in the mornings (not so interesting after what I'd been able to do/see in Moussori), and then ER with Dr. Gandhi (yes that is his name, and he's an awesome awesome man =P ) in the evenings. Unfortunately got deathly ill on Tues night, so that was the end of rotations for the week for me. Truly and honestly, I don't think I'd ever felt so sick in my entire life - vomited maybe 5 - 6 times during the night, then more the next morning, couldn't even keep water down, kept being sick on nearly 1 1/2 hour intervals all the way until the middle of that afternoon (by which time I half-contemplated whether I might die from dehydration and that I really wanted to be shipped back to the States to be cremated...) when the local coordinator decided it was time for me to see Dr. Gandhi. So, off on the lovely bumpidy bumpidy rickshaw across town to the ER, where he stuck me with an IV and some anti-nausea medication that was *amazing.* Worked *wonderfully* and oh, how marvelous to not feel nauseous or actually throw up for long stretches of time! You know how you never truly appreciate things until they're gone/disabled? Like, you never realize how much you use your thumb until you sprain it and can't use it? Well, point of gratefulness number 56 (or wherever we are) - not feeling nauseous. Yay! =P Anyway, that was the same day there was a bbq planned up in Than Goan village (where we do one of our rotations), and I really didn't want to miss it, since I'd missed Agra the earlier because I was sick, so off on the jeep we went with my IV! Not that I actually think I got any liquids from it after I left Dr. Gandhi's office, the line got plugged or my vein collapsed or something, and the IV broke along the way with all the jumping around of the jeep anyway, but I was ok by then thank the Lord! Missed the bbq, though, which was very very sad... the first chance at meat and fresh veggies missed. =( Instead I ate kittchery (sp?), which is basically rice, dal, and salt cooked kinda mushy (like Chinese rice porridge, almost), which is supposed to be good for troubled stomachs.

Ok, enough relaying of stomach issues. =P After getting over that I had the most amazing weekend thus far - we left early Friday morning and went to the village of Chopta (passing where the two rivers make the Ganges and the temple where a monk/holy Hindu man blessed me with long life from the river, anointed my head with a red dot, and then asked for money for his pains. Our guide told us not to give them any, so I wonder if he revoked his blessings afterwards...) up in the Garwal mountain range of the Himalayas. We camped out in a cow pasture on the mountainside, about 2700 m u (~ 9000 ft), with the shepherds just down the way, and all the little boys running around and playing cricket with a tennis ball and a large stick. Someday I have to figure out how cricket is really played, as far as it went with the boys it seems like the ball can go in any direction, and anything goes! We took a walk that night (I later found out it was for the guide to figure out if we could all handle the elevation change ok), saw the Milky Way and made up constellations since we didn't know any ("look! There's mango! And Aloo!"), and they cooked the most amazing dinner for us. Tomato soup (which I'm sure back home sounds like not much, but here when you've been having nothing but Indian food for the past 3 weeks is *amazing*) with the best tasting croutons I've ever had (I think they fried them?), and some other stuff, but all I remember is the tomato soup. =)

Next morning we woke up early and started the climb up Chandrashela (sp?), a 4000 m (~13,000 ft) tall mountain, with the highest shrine in the Garwal mountain range near the top. It was a *hard* climb. Partly because of the altitude ("fat woman's fingers" effect, as Michelle called it) - I'm pretty sure my hematocrit went way up - but also... it's a tall mountain! I think it's the tallest in the Garwal. Took us... 10 hours, I think, to climb up and back down, with the trail being a good 17 miles or so roundtrip. Was absolutely gorgeous, though, all the way up. It was a rainy day, so we everything was covered in mist and fog for the most part, but every now and then we'd get a glimpse and see snow-capped Himalayan peaks off to the sides. I can't wait to show you guys all the gorgeous pictures I took along the way and at the top. Truly, though, one thing that I definitely appreciate about the Indian people is their hardiness. In Moussori I watched men carry *refrigerators* and bookcases and packs a good 6 ft x 4 ft across up 45 degree inclines while I was puffing away carrying nothing, and here in the Himalayas on the way down through the "shortcuts" - i.e. not along the trail but straight down through the grass and bushes, we met up with a gaggle of woman, all chattering and giggling, hiking straight down the mountain in *flip-flops,* as much at ease as if they were going through the market shopping. They found us hilarious, by the way, with our hiking boots and semi-slow progress down, and kept waiting for us, yelling "chill-lo! chill-lo!" ("let's go! let's go!") at us, and holding Sherie's hand to bring her down. One little boy with them grabbed Radjne's hand and asked her when she was planning on getting married, which I thought was pretty funny.

So, I can now say I've climbed the Himalayas! Yay! We had the same guide we had for our last trek in Rishikesh, so that was also pretty cool. His name is Rakesh, and Jean's christened him the Camel, though I think maybe he's a robot in disguise. He doesn't drink, eat, or sleep, and yet climbs mountains and has enough energy to carry our packs for us when we get tired! On the last trek (the 6 hour one down the mountain in Rishikesh) he didn't even bring any water with him. This time I think he stopped to drink twice and ate 3 biscuits! Plus he did the entire climb on 2 hours of sleep, and manages to do all of this in jeans! Truly, a robot. =)

Next morning, bright and early, we left for yet another hike, but a shorter one thank goodness. Also thank goodness that I had my knee braces the day before or I think I would have died this day. This time we were going to a lake, which we were all really excited about and wore swimsuits for, only when we got there we couldn't swim because the lake was absolutely infested with tadpoles! It was insane! I've never seen so many tadpoles in my entire life, even in the pond behind my elementary school where we used to go and collect them for class. You literally couldn't step into the lake without stepping on twelve, and on the shore there were thousands of tiny tiny frogs, all hopping around. Oh well. So, no swimming after all. It was a lovely place to stop and take lunch, though (cucumber, tomato, and paneer - an Indian cheese sandwiches again), and then it was back down to go home.

Going home, funnily enough, took *forever.* It was already a good 8 hour drive or so, but we had almost every possible accident along the way. First we had a flat tire, which took forever to fix, because they couldn't seem to get the spare out from undercarriage. Since it was taking so long, Radjne and Michael decided to go down to the Ganges below us and go for a swim. So, fixing the tire took forever, and then when we finally got it done, we shouted for Radjne and Michael to come back up. Only, it was taking them forever, and we couldn't find them, so Rakesh and Jason (Rakesh *loves* Jason, he's pretty much chosen him for his right hand man for everything) went down to find them. Finally Michael and Radjne come back up, covered in bits of brush, and it turns out that on the way up they'd decided to take what looked like a better route.... only Michael stepped in a hornet's nest, got stung all over, and had to run away, then wait for Radjne to find her way around, and then all the way up it was thorns! Jason and Rakesh came up not long after, only Jason got stuck in a thorn bush at the very end, and then off we were again.

Oh, have I ever mentioned how scary driving in India is by the way? Especially along the tiny mountain switchbacks, where there's barely enough room for one car on the dirt road, no railings, the tires of basically every car are worn bare, and your only hope of surviving is the skill of the driver and the honking of the horn as you go around corners. Basically I've realized that on any given day, if I only think I'm going to die 3 times, it's a good day - in the city, usually because of close brushes with cars, motorcycles, and trucks that all really don't care whether you're in the road or not, and come within an inch of your foot as they speed by. When you're driving along the switchbacks you have to consider a few more brushes with death as part of life, and on our way to the mountain I counted about 11 times I thought we were either going to careen over the side of the mountain or hit another car. On the way back, before and after the flat tire, I stopped counting after I woke up twice from my doze to because of sudden deceleration as we almost hit 2 jeeps head-on.

Anyway, so after the flat tire and our two missing people, we stopped at the confluence of the rivers that make the Ganges again, as the other car (we took 2) didn't get to see it on the way over. And... we lost Jean. Some people went down to the river while some of us stayed up, and in the middle, each thought the other group had Jean. So... that took awhile, but Rakesh recruited Jason (hehehe it was funny - Jason was just like, oi, again I'm the retriever? =) He's got a great attitude and was totally for it, but it was just funny that he was almost our official go-getter at this point) and we finally got Jean. By that point we were really, really late, and when we stopped for gas, Jim was like, "ok, NOBODY get out of the car!" to which Rakesh turned around and said, "No, seriously, NOBODY." =P

So, after all that, we didn't get home until about midnight (we were supposed to get home by 9 pm at latest) and had to grab stuff and immediately leave for Than Gaon village. I managed to grab a quick shower in there (I think my tolerance for dirtiness has gone up, now that I've experienced not being able to shower for 3 days after extensive hiking and heat...) but in the middle I've misplaced my camera memory card!! =( I don't know what I'm going to do, I certainly hope I can find it... Maybe I can buy another here in India?

Anyway, so that was last weekend. This week was spent in Than Goan village with Dr. Paul, where there was public phone or internet, but that's got to be saved for another blog.

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