Saturday, July 1 Yamunotri Hike

I was awoken by servants with chai…at 6:00! I put it on the table and went back to sleep. Then I suited up in my 100% water/sweat-proof clothing (compliments of the REI/camping fiend, a.k.a. my father), and hit the mountain. I walked really fast. The whole way, the blue rocky snow-capped Himalayan peaks formed the background of the lush, green cliff mountains cut into by the powerful, clear, sacred Yamuna River miles below. This was all were visible against a clear, cloudless sky. I shared the rocky, muddy, zigzag path with Hindu pilgrims, with white or orange Saivite facepaint highlighting their blackened skin, beards, and dreadlocks, dressed in loose white cloths and wooden prayer beads, carrying walking sticks, silver water pitchers, and burlap packs; mules carrying rich lazy Hindus for 100 rupees each way, stones, and grains; and short, young, male, Nepalese or Indian porters who carried rich fat Hindus in wooden-frame palanquins (or kids or old women in little baskets on their backs); and Hindu pilgrims, many of them rich tourists from the cities. We got to the top, and it was actually really anticlimactic. There were shops selling fried foods, puja offerings (like beads, flowers, foods, and gold-lined colorful cloths), bottles so you can take home some Yamuna water, and souvenirs. The temple grounds were steps leading from the Yamuna River to the hot spring baths and to the main shrines to which Hindus perform puja. “Yamunotri” means the “starting point of the Yamuna” (actually I just made that up), and the Yamuna is sacred, hence the pilgrimage spot. I first went into the Hot Springs, which were supposed to cleanse the devotee before puja. It was hot and smelled like sulfur, and Hindu men from age 10 to 100 were in there in their tighty-whitey underwear, relaxing and socializing. Don't know how pure I was afterwards, but it also conveniently doubled as a substitute for the shower I haven’t had in five days. (Yes, I'm dirty). Bob-ji encouraged me to go in the river (and I was the only one who actually went in). I stayed in for like 60 seconds because it was freezing cold…this being at 10,860 feet, where ice is melting off the Himalayan glacier. Then I made a fool of myself by slipping and falling on the stairs. After the hot springs, I didn’t do puja and went down the mountain and two brothers followed me and I spoke to them in limited communication. They listened to my music, and really liked Daler Mehndi. As do I...I wish I had a Video iPod, though, so I could introduce them rightfully. I had lunch at the hotel, but because I basically ran up and down the mountain, I was still hungry and tired. The town is pretty depressing. Poor Nepalese and Indians live here and all cater towards the foreign and (more commonly) Indian pilgrims and tourists. There are thousands of porters whose only job is to carry people or things up and down the mountain or care for the mules that carry people or things up and down the mountain. No one knows English (or needs to), and no one is rich. The stores all sell clothing, snacks, water, and fried foods.