Monsoon finalee

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So I've been away from any form of comunication for the last week or so and can only say that each day has been better then the one before...this is a LONGONE...fell free to read in segmetns...but it is an account of one of the most amazing two weeks of my life...there may alos be pictures...

First off..the monsoon arrived...yes this means rain but its only a few torrential downpors a day that completely wipe out the humidity/plloution in the air...underlying theme: I like the monsoon.

Now...We left dehradun last friday morning at 8am and travelled via jeep to Rishikesh where we met up with "Step Himalayan Adventures," the same guide service that had taken us rafting two weeks previous. We loaded tents and supplies onto the roof rack and commenced an 8 hour ride deep into the Garwhal region of the Himalaya. The road followed the Ganges all the way to its source...which is actually a convergence of two glacial rivers. There is a temple at the vortex of the "V" formed by the two rivers that is built in the shape of india with the "southern" tip comprised of Bathing Ghats. We took a break to visit the temple and while I was cooling my feet in the water/marveling at where I actually was, a man blessed me on the spot...and thenasked for money. Not wanting to start a mini holy war right there I paid and left. It wasn't until later that two of the girls in the program (who also happen to be hindu) explained that the man was of the caste of "priests" known as Brahman. These men will give up a "normal" life to work to live, pray, and bless people at the tmeples..very necessary in the hindu religion however they are forced to ask for money to survive. Knowing this I felt alot better about my experience and was extra glad I chose not to make a fuss....(nothing like pissing off someone with a direct connection to the divine to ruin a vacation)

The jeep ride resumed and after 5 more hours of winding rain and a substantial elevation gain we reached base camp. I know the term "base camp" comes off a bit sensationalistic, but thats what it was. We had fsix tents in a pasture: 4 for sleeping, one for cokking, and one for eating. The tents were pitched among huts and small gardens of a local village that looked as if it the movie Willow was filemd there. When we arrived it was shortyly before sundown and there were several village children playing crickett with a tennis ball an improvised bat carved out of a tree limb. Even though we knew next to nothing about the game the six boys let us join in and what was originally a loosely organized pick-up game turned into "lets jack the tennis ball as hard as we can at the americans" These kids were sluggers and I'm convicned that with a plane ticket, some coaching, and barry bond's pharmacy at their disposal they could eaisly make an impression in "the show."

We had paid for a fully guided experience, and thats what we got...it was a bit odd however, since any camping that I'd ever done was on my own or with several firends and everyone carriers theor own weight. Not here, the only effort we were expected to exert was to put one foot in front of the other up the mountain and as far from the tents/trail as possible when nature called. We were served tea around 6pm and the clouds cleard to the north west just long enough for us to catch a glimpse of several 6000+ meter peaks in the distance. Dinner was served at nine in the "mess tent" and was tomatoe soup (which I had no idea I had been craving) rice, Dal (lentils) and a vegetable dish. For the sake of brevity, and that the same spices are used in every meal regardless of its ingedients the aforementioned combination will be henceforth be referred to as "food."

Anyways the food was good, and after dinner we stood around in a big clumb of white wonder and stared at the sky until our necks burned. No one could tell exactly what the names of the constellations were, let alone name them al so we just gave them all names of our own...I just hope we all paid far more attention in gross anatomy and will not resort to the same tactics in our medical careers...All but one of us saw at least one shooting star and went to bed.

The next morning we had breakfast around 7 and departed camp (2800m) and set out to climb the peak of Chandrachilla (4000m). It was raining and as we climbed further into the clouds visability yo-yo-ed from 10 feet to half a mile but never reveald the vast snowy panoramma that our guide assuered us was "right over there" (poinitng north). Regardless of what we could or couldn't see it was still nice to be in the mountains. As we climbed higher the flora changed from cloud foresst to conifers. I remeber on more than one occasion catchign a shot of the stiff smell of damp pine forest and thinking of home. Soon we passed treeline and climbed thouruygh alpine meadows, and the pine smell was softened by the wet grass and wild flowers that would surroud us until we reached the summit.

At 3800m or so we came to the highest Temple in the Garwhal Himalaya dedicated to the hindu god Siva. We decided to continue to the summit and stop on our way back down. Although it was a short distance from the temple to the summit the air was thin and it was a chore climbing the last set of switch backs to the summit. When we finally reached the peak it was totally enveloped in the clouds but the effect was not lost on anyone. While we had been a loud laughing group of americans the entire climb, as we reacehd 4000 meters everyone fell silent and turned inward. Some soaked in the satisfaciton that comes after climbing all day only to look up and see only sky, Some touched their roots, some said hello to a faith they didn't know they had, and I said a goodbye I needed to say.

We soent close to an hour on top, eventually coming back together for the descent. We all stopped at a small guest house at the temple on the way down for tea and as we relaxed the clouds paterd and reveled just a chunk of the panoramma we'd been herign so much about all day. This caused several of us to scramble back up around the temple for pictures. I must have shot close to 25 pictures of one peak, but the clouds were moving so much each one seemed beter than the last and I had to capture it. Guess I'll weed through them all at home.

Anyways we mad our way back to base camp by 6pm and "food" was waiting for us along witha post-meal bon fire. While sitting around the fire I had a conversation with one of the guides through the translation efforts of my program-mate Rudjni.

At the summit there was a smal shrine to the Hindu goddess Ganga....although it was covered in all sorts of Hindi wiriting, there was one phrase in english: "A mother's Love" I asked our guide about it. He replied through rudjni:

"I'm just a simple man from the forest......and you...you're all doctors....so this is just my simple opinion...but we believe that everyone is interconnected....that we all are part of one whole...and one of the strongest connections we all have is that of a mother's love...that is what I believe"


The wieght, humility, and absolut truthfullness of that statement have been burned forever into my memory. All I could do was ask Rudjni to tell him that I agreed and that he was very wise. I feel a bit selfish, having been wiotness to such a testimony only to reply with "thank you..you're very wise" I still wish I had had something more powerful to reply, but I didn't..I still don't and I probably never will...but I'll never forget it....



Sunday we ate breakfast and struck camp and drove hafway back to the main road and took a short (3km) hike to a small lake to swim and eat luch. The clouds cleared in the distance and revealed another 6000+m peak in the distance. We all took pictures and relaxed and laughed...Sheree through a hard boiled egg at me....I'll never forgive her.

We hiked back to the jeep and made our way back towards rishikessh...one flat tire..one near haed-on collision....two games of "Lets find the lost american medical student" and 7 hornet stings later...we got home. No rest for the waery....two of us..myself included...were to leave that night (1am) for the village of Than Gaon..our rotaion started at 6:30 the next morning.


More later...........

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Photos

group shot....
Iy had just stopped raining...for a minute..

Trail shot
That is a shelter in the left foreground. The trail is actually a suped up stone wall, about 4 feet wide and elevated about 4 fdeet off the groud. It is maintained by the government because its part of a pilgrimage route.

"A mother's love"
Shrine to Ganga at the summit of Cahndrachilla

Herd dog
These dogs exist to protect the livestock from predators like jaguar and leopard...the collar is about three inches wide and spiked to protect their jugular veins from the big cats

Comments

[Kalergis]

Congrats Jim
Welcome home. Glad your back safe. Can't wait to hear about more of your adventures in person. -Dave