I'll start with last night:
We worked hard all day, some painting, some design work, some brainstorming, some interveiws for staff we wanted to hire etc. Then we went for walking with our local friend Takur, the flute player I mentioned earlier. It was the celebration day for the local god Ram, and there was a big procession and festival, and beautiful colors, sounds, smells and sights. They sacrificed 18 animals (though I missed the action), and fed anyone who wanted some at the temple. We saw these things, and the old temple (lovely); and then went for dinner. For dinner we had a lovely Manali Thali, which is a vegetarian collection of small dishes, served with rice and bread, and yogurt with sugar cane for dessert. Yum!
Today also, we worked long and hard. And after a nice dinner of Miso and Pesto Pasta - we put on our hiking boots and hit the trails. We traveled along the rivers through small towns to the closest local clean warm water source, a town called Vachist, which has a hot spring. We wandered through small villages, many of which havent really changed in hundreds of years. Crossed a very...bouncy...(read: scary) bridge, over a Himalayan river. We trekked up and through the mountains to this small town, and went to bathe in the hot springs. The baths are located in an old temple. It was really beautiful. The basin of the baths were black granite, and the water was hot and wonderful. It was my first warm cleaning since I left the U.S.; my first warm water (except the water in my bottle which was SCORCHED in Delhi) at all really. It felt marvelous. We spent abou 45 minutes splashing the water onto our skins, rubbing down with scrubbers, washing hair, soaking feet, etc. It was luxury! Then we starting walking back to Manali. It had gotten very dark by this time, and by the time we got to the main road, it was too late for most of the rickshaws, but loud and unpleasant to walk along. We were lucky that a nice guy riding by on his motorbike stopped and asked if we needed a lift. I was highly anxious about the prospect of riding on a bike, especially in India with the way they drive! But, well, I saddled up, and it was my first time ever on a motorbike! It was really scary at first, but it was okay, eventually. The night air was cool and calming.
Now for bed, squeaky clean and feeling nice.
I wish I had taken some pictures for you all, but - alas... Just words tonight. Hopefully I'll get to more pictures soon... know that the colors, the smells, and the lines are very nice.
much love to all of you, wherever you may be.
Z
Zoe, I can almost hear you telling your stories as I read what you've written. I love knowing what you're doing and thinking. Miss you!