Sick. Again...

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And so it is my turn to sit here with a heavy heart while my poor Jason lies in our hotel room across the road, too sick to get out of bed. In fact, our entire visit to McLeod Ganj has been far from healthy, especially for Jason. Our nine hour trek up from Amritsar left us under the weather, as every trip on public transport seems to do, with stinking colds. After eating our first meal in the mountains (Jason had been too sick to eat while we were traveling) we passed out, intending only to take a nap before heading out to explore the town. 17 hours later, I finally managed to wake Jason up. My afternoon nap left me awake most of the night, but Jason managed to sleep right through until morning. Presuming that he had had enough rest, I suggested we go find breakfast. After breakfast, we took a little walk around a small corner of town before Jason decided he needed another nap. Jason woke up for dinner, at which point we realised he had slept for 22 of the last 26 hours, before heading back to bed. Living on a cocktail of vitamin c tablets, painkillers and decongestants, Jason seemed to shake his cold (something I still haven't managed to do) only to pick up a stomach bug. One of the fortunate things about traveling in India is that most antibiotics (and, indeed, vaccines) are available over the counter without a prescription, so long as you keep up the pretence that you know what you're talking about. However, it seems Jason may have prescribed himself the wrong antibiotics, because this morning he is worse than ever.

Yesterday we attended our first ever yoga class, on the roof of the local community building, under the Himalayas, as the sun rose. Jason's surprisingly good at it (and ridiculously flexible), but I'm definitely the worst in the class. Two hours later, psyched up by our yoga-ing, we left the roof and headed down into the bustling streets to find breakfast before we headed out to hike to the next village. Our hike turned out to be a disappointment; the sacred lake we had set out to find turned out to be the most disappointing lake (sacred or otherwise) either of us had ever seen. We spent the afternoon trying to find a suitable volunteer project, but the only option anyone is willing to offer us is the opportunity to teach the newly arrived refugees English. I'm well aware it's an important job, and that it needs to be done, and I'm know it's a worthwhile volunteer project, but neither Jason or I are managing to make ourselves at all excited about the prospect. Instead, we decided that perhaps it might be time to move on and see what else the country has in store for us.

However, this morning, in trying to get up for yoga (we refuse to beaten by it just yet), we discovered that Jason was far too ill, and so it looks like we might be spending a few more days here before we head back to the road (probably to catch another illness...) Still I suppose there are worse places to be stranded!

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Photos

Tibetan Prayer Bells
...and yes, it's Lucy in a sweater!! In India!!