Waterfalls in the Himalayas...

January 23rd

A little before 1 pm, Hukam and Lata came up to our room. We were just finishing up getting ready – I was really lazy this morning, and didn’t get up much before we had to leave. Lata combed my hair in the “other” style she had said she was yesterday. I was a little embarrassed with my bright pink barrette on the top of my head, and the bright fuschia hair tie with bells… but we all laughed about it. We left the room, and on the balcony outside, Lata decided I needed eyeliner, so she put some on me. We went down to the car. There, she decided that I needed pink lipstick with sparkly pink powder on top… and Hukam apparently got a new song on his cell phone that he started playing over and over and they would dance to, and encourage us to dance to, as well.

We stopped at the same restaurant as yesterday, and had the same food. Hukam fed a mangy/car struck dog some chapatti. We had chai, and listened to the “Wrong number” song on Hukam’s phone many more times… and danced.

(View out the restaurant window in back)

It was a hot day. Not cold and foggy like yesterday. The mountains were clear.
We took a hike into the mountains up to see a waterfall. It was beautiful, hiking up into the jungle. There were languor and vines everywhere – but cactus, too! Hukam played his song over and over the whole way up, except for when he got a phone call.

Mike and I got to get in a few photos of ourselves, in between photo requests from Hukam and Lata. (Ha ha :) )
(Clockwise from upper left: climbing a tree; Hukam photo bombing; dancing at the restaurant; dancing at one of the waterfalls; "falling" off the bridge; dancing...)

Mike took some really nice landscape shots, too, while we hiked. The path kept going up and up, with more waterfalls each stop up the mountain. We almost got to the top – Mike hiked up a bit further ahead, but then we turned back.
On the way down, we heard a loud explosion! On the other side of the path, workers were blasting away at the mountain; huge rocks were rolling down in an avalanche, just by where we had to walk. We quickly passed the area, then back down to the road. We had chai at the same restaurant. Hukam played his song; Lata looked more and more bored each time he restarted it. Eventually, we went back to the hotel.

When we arrived here in Rishikesh, these trucks with horns/loudspeakers attached to them went around and blasted people speaking and songs over the speakers. I thought they were for “holy men” or something – advertising, but the are for elections being held here in town.

(View from our hotel room)