Today, I hiked about 3 ½ miles with my new Scottish friend, Trent, along the dirt road overlooking the Ganges. Doesn’t that sound pleasant? Well, it wasn’t actually. If you’ve watched my video clip I posted on Facebook showing the way Indians drive, you’ll know what I mean! Along this dirt road there had been a huge landslide. This meant traffic about two miles up the road. When the traffic finally started moving, the angry drivers whizzed by honking their loudest horns (each truck has a few different horn options) in my ears! When they passed by, the dust would fly in my face and into my eyes. On top of these things, India doesn’t have sidewalks. And, apparently they don’t have safety railings up mountains either. So, here we are miles up this dirt road getting honked at, dust in our eyes, up a mountain with no railing or sidewalk in the 100 degree humid air. We were unable to walk by the mountainside, because the landslide covered part of the road.
When we finally arrived to the entrance of the trek up to the waterfall, we took a small break, drank some water, and paid the Rs.30 (less than $1) each to enter. While sitting, we met this Israeli couple with whom we hiked up the mountain with. The mountain was pretty steep, so we took a few breaks to take photos and rest for a while. There were a couple pools underneath each waterfall, and the one at the top was the biggest. When we got to the pool, tons of people were swimming in it! I saw my American friend up there, and that was comforting. My friends swam, and I ate a Cliff Bar and watched. Oh, how I love Cliff Bars. Plus, I had a massive headache, so swimming didn’t sound good to me.
We finally arrived back to our cottages about 5 hours from when we started. After dinner, I went straight to bed. What a multi-faceted day! Filled with struggle, pain, heat, laughter, fun, beauty, and food.
No comments:
Post a Comment