Varanasi, and the Crooked Rigshaw Drivers

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A lot has happened since I last wrote, but all good things, thankfully. We made it to Varanasi by train with no problems at all. The train is actually pretty confusing, considering they make plenty of stops along the way in different city's to pick up and drop off people, and make no announcments which city they are now stopping or stopped at. Luckily for us, I happened to ask a man which stop was the next stop right before the Varanasi stop, and he told us. We got our things together quickly and ran off the train just in time to reach solid ground before the train started moving again to it's next destination. We then proceeded out of the station to my most dreaded part of traveling, finding a legitamate taxi driver that will take us to the place we want to go without trying to screw us out of all out money. We walked around for some time asking every taxi driver if they had a meter or not, but after every single one told us they didn't, and that Varanasi drivers don't have meters, we settled with an auto rigshaw driver for 80 rps to take us to out hotel. When we got the rigshaw the man owned, there was another man who approached the rigshaw we were sitting in who could speak perfect english and began to tell us about his hotel and why we should stay at it instead. We told him we wanted to stay at the one we had reservations at, and he told us that was ok and if we changed our mind, here was his card. The rigshaw driver then got in and it seemed like we were on our way, but not before another man hoped in the front of the rigshaw who could also speak English...

As we were driving to the hotel the man began talking to us asking us if it was our first time in India, which we lied and said it wasn't, and asking what we were going to be doing here. We chatted for some time about small things, and then he began to tell us about other hotels around the area that were better than the one we were going to stay at, and cheaper. We said we just wanted to go to our hotel, and he said ok, but that he couldn't get us right to the hotel because muslims and hindus were fighting and they had closed off the street that lead to our hotel. He then had his friend pull into a back alley and stop and said he couldn't get us any closer and that we had to walk a certain number of kelometers in some direction to get to it, so we would do better to just forget about that hotel and go stay and one they knew of... this was when I lost it. I told them both that I wasn't going to pay them shit if they did't take me to the hotel that I told them I wanted to go to at the beginning of the trip. The man driving who couldn't really speak english saw I was pissed and I think wanted to take us there finally, but the english speaking one had done this before and was used to people getting mad. He said he couldn't take me to the hotel because of the fighting. So then I told him I wanted him to take me to the closest spot he could to the hotel, and he said alright. We then proceeded to take back alley routes for 10 minutes until we came to a stop in the middle of one of the alleys. He told me we had to walk a distance from there to get to the hotel still, and that we should just stay at one of the hotels he knew of. I told him to walk me to the hotel and let me talk to the manager or he wouldn't get paid, so me and him began to walk and Cami stayed behind with our bags and the driver of the rigshaw. I was well aware of the fact that they might be trying to split us up so I kept a close eye on the man, babu, who was taking me to the hotel. If he tried to run I was 100% ready for it, and my anger was there to help too. We walked for a good 10 minutes and then finally we got to the hotel. I went in, looked around, came out after seeing it was a nice hotel, and began to walk with babu back to my sister and the rigshaw. On the way babu began to tell me that I should trust him, because others have trusted him before me that were foreigners. He then took out a little book that looked like it had been writen in by a number of tourists about their experiences with babu and how awesome babu was, but there was one little flaw about babu's little book about how great he was, the english written in the book was obviously not written by someone whose first language is english. Things were written in the book like, "babu, your are my friend" and "you have shown me many things that I liked to see in Varanasi." After seeing this, I knew he was a fraud for sure. When we finally got back to the rigshaw, Cami was pissed and wanted to go right then, so we grabbed our bags and walked the way I had just come to the hotel, leaving babu behind cursing. It turns out that this is a huge scam in Varanasi, drivers telling people that their hotel's burnt down or something like that, and then telling them there is another hotel that is better and cheaper. Once you get to the hotel, you realize it sucks, and that the driver is getting a commission for bringing you to this shitty hotel.

We have actually begun to spend out time here very luxuriously. We have taken a yoga class already once and I have taken 2 bansuri flute lessons, too. I really like the bansuri flute, and am thinking of buying a nice one here from the place I'm taking lessons from for around 700 rps, or 14 dollars. Yoga, on the other hand, was extremely hard and I was really sore afterwards. Since I have been here, 2 months to be exact, I haven't done anything active at all. I sit around and site see and read, and on top of all of that, all I do is eat rice. My muscles have completely vanished and all I do now when we are in our room is stand in front of the mirror with my shirt off and tell Cami how much of a weakling I am now. Yoga was the first thing I've done for 2 months that actually took some serious effort, and my entire back is aching from it. It's the kind of aching that really reacts to breathing, so that really sucks as I am always breathing. I decided that I'm going to start doing push-ups everyday so I can get my muscles back, and I think I'm going to start eating eggs every morning so I can at least get some protein in my diet.

Well I better get going, I have a yoga class at 4 and I don't want to miss it and feel worthless tonight as I stand in front of the mirror and realize how bony I am. If there is one thing that I am learning while I'm here though, it's how to really appreciate everything that I have back home in America. I never realized what great opportunities I have been given compared to the rest of the population of the world. Even when I have had a long day and I come back to the hotel to lay down in the silence of my room, I realize that the majority of people who live here in Inida can't even do that. They are constantly surrounded by people, and if they want some quiet, the best they are going to get is to curl up in a ball on the pavement and hope a bicycle or rigshaw doesn't come along and hit them. Everyday I am reminded more and more of what I have, and what I should be thankful for, and I'm learning to say to myself everyday what I am thankful for, and I think it is an extremely healthy excercise. Ok, I better go, peace on earth and try thinking about things you are thankful for, instead of the things you don't have.

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