Trekking

Our group woke and ate breakfast on the roof of the hotel, overlooking the Himalayan peaks. It is odd, but I have noticed that everytime I look out at the mountains surrounding us, I end up drizzling tears down my cheeks. I am not really sure why that happens (I don’t feel like I’m crying), but it doesn’t really bother me. Anyways, I ate up a muesli joy for breakfast. After eating only Indian breakfasts for the last month, the honeyed muesli was a blessing to my tastebuds.
We decided to hike to a nearby waterfall during the day, called Bhagsunag. Javid told us it was an easy 45-minute hike, and we were eager to move our bodies after the long haul to Dharamsaala. So we grabbed some water and our raincoats and headed that way.
And then the skies opened and poured on us. For about an hour or two, the rains came down on us while we slid up (and down) slippery dirt roads and rocks to the waterfall. I will be writing a complaint to the manufacturers of my “weaterproof” jacket when returning to the US; after 30 minutes of rain, my entire body under my jacket was sopping wet to the point where you can ring it out and have a stream come out.
We still felt like hiking, so we trudged through the rain and found ourselves at the mountain crevice with the waterfall tumbling down the side. It is really a pretty waterfall, though small. I am afraid of heights a bit, so I didn’t dare look down the cliff drop of our hiking route, but I’m sure the look down was very pretty as well.
The rain finally began letting up, and we found ourselves at a little restaurant nestled on the waterfall, away from the path. It was kind of an odd place to find a restaurant, but there it was. We were not hungry yet, and we decided to take a path less traveled. That is, we decided to rock scramble the waterfall. For those who don’t know the term, it is exactly as it sounds: you scramble up rocks, usually up a mountain. I have done this before while in New Pawltz once, but I still made the boys in our group spot me while we climbed up the mountain. It actually was a really enjoyable hike, and we got to be creative as to where to place our feet, how to cross certain water streams, and how to climb up large slippery rocks. We worked very well together while we scrambled up the rocks, actually. Everyone supported each other and no one got upset if someone needed extra time to haul him or herself up. Bags were shared between everyone, and when Amber found two leeches on her, Maulin gallantly helped her take them off as she shrieked and Tara laughed. We joked about how we had to go back to Wagner and make a pitch that all incoming students need to go on a rock scramble to teach great team building.
In retrospect, I believe that the best connections made (whether it be personal or professional) usually come about after the people experience something where petty arguments and silly tensions are prohibited. For example, rock scrambling…where teamwork is needed for the sake of life’s safety.
The sun came out, and we settled ourselves right near the very top of the precipice, completely alone from any form of civilization. We relaxing and dried off as the rocks below us dried in the warm sun with us. We chewed on some nuts and lay around while the green shrubs and trees completely surrounding us glistened with fresh virginity. Water pipes lined parallel to the streams – which I gather to be water gravitational flow energy methods. Once dried, we descended the mountain cautiously, and totaled our hike for about 4 hours! We celebrated back at Nick’s for some more momos.

We came back and relaxed in our rooms. I watched the fog roll in over the mountains, slowly blanketing the entire area in a thick white coat.

We made our way finally to the Tibetan Buddhist temple complex, Namgyal Monastery. For those who still don’t know this area well, Mcleod Ganj is (again) where the Dalai Lama and Tibetans have sought refuge after the siege of Tibet by China.
We walked into the complex and found ourselves surrounded by monks paired up in twos, rambling to each other in Tibetan while slapping their hands. Apparently, in the evenings, the monks get together for debate, as part of their studies. We are still unsure about what they were possibly debating, but some monks looked serious while others laughed with each other.
The temples in the complex are really beautiful. The Buddha shrines have Tara and other deity gold figures accompanying them. The walls are covered in colorful murals of Tibetan/Buddhist deities and priestly figures. The offerings on the shines where that of Oreos, Nutella jars, Chocopie boxes, and honey; these are, after all, the standard food offerings of our generation.

After eating a Tibetan dinner at Shambala and sneaking in a Tibetan coconut-chocolate brownie dessert, we went back to our rooms and played another night of Uno.