The last week of October, I had the wonderful opportunity to help chaperon the 9th Grade's Week Without Walls trip to Dharamsala. This was the first time the school had done this trip, which was organized by a group called Snow Leopards. Dharamsala is where the Dali Lama fled to when he left Tibet. His residence is here, along with many other Tibetan monks and Tibetan refugees. It is located in the foothills of the Himalayas and is beautiful. As we flew, the mountains at first looked like white clouds far in the distance. As we got closer, the landscape below us unfolded into steep hillsides, dotted with shiny tin roofs. Villages were nestled at the end of valleys and perched high on top of the hills. (To anyone from the east coast, these "hills" are close to the equivalent of the Appalachian Mountains). The white peaks were then towering layer after layer as far as the eye could see. I felt like crying, it was so good to see mountains! The white capped mountains around Dharamsala are very rugged and have not really been climbed much. When we landed, the airport was small with one runway, but with a spectacular view. As I deplaned, I took in a nice, clean breath of fresh air. Ahhhhh... After everyone arrived, we climbed aboard two buses and started the steep and switchback filled journey up to our hotel that a bus had no business being on, but this is India. The fauna had gone from tropical in Mumbai to an alpine environment here. I knew it was going to be hard to leave at the end of the week.
The area of town where we stayed and where the Dali Lama's residence were located, was along a steep hillside. Roads traversed along, snaking around multi-storied buildings that were brightly colored. The first evening, we walked through town and briefly looked through the Tibetan museum, walked through the temple at His Holiness's residence (he was not present that week) and then walked two kilometers around the temple. The path was narrow, and wound through the forest. There were carins everywhere, painted white and prayer flags layered all throughout the forest. Sets of Prayer wheels lined parts of the path and it was meditative to spin each one we came upon. They were all sizes, from about as big as a large tin can to taller than a human being. That night, after eating dinner, we were graced with the presence of a monk, who talked about his story of escaping Tibet. It was heart wrenching and amazing to see this smiling and forgiving man in front of us. He had been though more than I could imagine someone ever having to go through in a life time. He is 33 years old, my age. He ended with a Tibetan chant, which was low and deep. Some of the boys practiced imitating this the rest of the trip and one even performed at the talent show our last night. It was fascinating to watch how different parts of the trip effected some of the students.
I ended up feeling a bit sick that night, having to get up many times for "loose motions" (as they are called here) and was worried about how I was going to start trekking in the morning and spend two nights out camping. I was also angry at my body and told it there was no way it was holding me back. In the morning, I succumbed to taking some medicine and throughout the day felt better.
The first day, we trekked around the upper hills of Dharamsala. We stopped at a temple that had so many prayer flags it was almost disorienting. We had another monk talking to us there about being a monk. He had a great sense of humor and teased the kids a lot. When one of the kids asked him why he became the monk, he answered with a smile, "oh, this was a very stupid reason. When I was 13, we had a monk come to our house. I saw that my mother is making all this good food and then serving it to the monk. I sat there and though, wow, I want to become monk so I can eat all this good food. Very stupid, but my stupid reason turned into a wonderful decision."
We also visited the Tibetan Children's Village (http://www.tcv.org.in/index.shtml), which cares for and educates Tibetan children who have been orphaned, abandoned, or brought from Tibet for a better life. We saw the grounds of the school, which were in an amazing setting, saw the temple there, visited the 2-5 year olds, and toured a house where 30 children live. The 2-5 year olds were precious. They sang for us, proudly, and were very eager to show our students their rooms. There was one very serious little guy, who was climbing all over and had the most amazing balance and coordination I've ever seen in such a young person. The kids loved him.
The rest of the day, we hiked into more farming and grazing lands in the hills to our camp spot on a terraced hillside. Snow Leopards provided tents, sleeping pads, sleeping bags, and blankets. The students were responsible for putting up their own tents. The meals were cooked for us and we ate in a long tent set up with lots of chairs. The students also helped with chores like washing dishes, cleaning up, taking down camp. It was good for them to have to help out for the common good.
Our next day of trekking was the hardest. It was a fairly steep climb to gain 1000 meters during the day. I was impressed how most of the groups encouraged each other and found ways to occupy their minds to get through rough parts. The last part of the climb was very steep and we could see where we would end up, just above the rocks we were hiking up. When we got there, it was an amazing reward. We were on a grass covered plateau, looking across the vally to snow-dusted, rugged peaks. I had a strong desire to be over there! I asked one of the guides later about climbing those mountains and he told me one of the peaks had been summited but the others had not because there wasn't a good route up them. "Man, I have to bring Greg here," was what I was thinking. Everyone was tired, but happy about the view. It was cold when the sun went down and the wind picked up. Many of the students didn't have adequate clothing and started to shiver. We rounded them up, into the eating tent, which warmed up with body heat and was protection against the wind. A fire was also started. Above us, there was a higher point where a small temple stood. I asked about how long it would take to get there and was thinking about an early morning hike before breakfast. I spoke with one of the staff members and we had 13 students interested in getting up at 5am and hiking through sunrise, going as far as we could. I had my doubts about how many would wake up that early, especially when the time came in the cold, dark dawn. Low and behold, 12 got up. We were a group of different paces, but we stayed together as a group and reached about half way up to the temple. Hiking as the sun came up was spectacular, watching the color bloom through the valley and surrounding mountains. We all felt a bit special, I think, as we entered camp for breakfast having such a great experience when everyone else had only gotten up and were packing. My wonderful tent mate had even rolled up my bedding for me! (Thanks, Kim)!
The trek down had more amazing views, though was steep and filled with loose rock. A bunch of us commented that we were glad this was not how we had come up. I think some of the students might not have made it. We arrived at the hotel with smiles and the students were eager to hit the town for some souvenir shopping. All the adults were ready for a nap, but we pushed on. After having tea on a roof top terrace near the Dali Lama's residence, we split into groups and had an hour of shopping frenzy before we needed to be back at the hotel for a cultural performance. I laughed because me group of girls spent a lot of time buying junk food for traveling the next day. You'd think they had been trekking for months, not just out for two nights. They were also bumming when they didn't have enough time to buy gifts for their families. Oh, wonderful natural consequences.:) I myself bought Greg a singing bowl (he's been eyeing them for about five years), some scarves, and YARN! We kept passing shops where women were knitting, but I didn't see any yarn. I finally asking and slowly was pointed to a shop that had yarn off to the side in plastic bags. I rummaged through quickly and grabbed about 8 skeins that I bought for under $10! What a deal!
I rushed my group back to the hotel and we were given a wonderful performance of traditional Tibetan dancing. Colorful, intricate costumes, wonderful singing and music. The performers had such wonderful energy and amazing smiles. I think this ended up being one of the best things about our week...other than the views, the monks, the Tibetan Children's Village, prayer flags...it was an amazing experience! I was a bit disappointed to be sleeping back in the hotel instead of a tent. The hotel was cold, stuffy, and sheets a bit stained. (Rule #1 when traveling to budget hotels in India, always bring your own linen). But, I slept much better than my first night at the hotel with my "loose motions."
Our decent down the hillside, back to the airport the next day was a little sad for me. I was ready to stay and just have Greg join me, rather than head back to Mumbai. I think that was a sentiment for other staff members and some of the students too. We had a little bit of a debacle with the flights out of Dharamsala, but it was worked out and our plane cleared the mountains, rose into the blue sky, and we watched to mountains slowly disappear.
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