A Very Beatles Minicourse - March 2013

One of the perks of my (Drew) job is that the High School shuts down for a week in March and students, along with teacher chaperones, head out all over India to have adventure, do service, learn about culture, etc.  My first Minicourse - Garwhal Himalayan Adventure - was a combination of trekking, white water rafting and a touch of learning about local culture.  It was a perfect first minicourse.  The camp was on The Ganga (Ganges) River - the holiest river in India - in the foothills of the Himalayas.

Our trip started with a four hour train ride and a two hour drive to just outside Rishikesh, a city that was popularized when the Beatles visited the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, their spiritual advisor, in 1968.   Our homebase for the week was the Snow Leopard camp just outside of town.

Here are some pictures from the camp and from our walk into the hills in the surrounding area.

Excuse me.. excuse me... excuse me... excuse me

In India, no matter where you go, you'll find a tuk-tuk

These houses had no road access; they were about a half hour walk from the road

Mother and child at one of these houses

Trekking into the mountains was a great time, despite one super whiney student and one student that fainted on top of the mountain far from any road access.  The students were fantastic, the weather was beautiful and the three days were a great experience for (almost) everyone.  We had to drive a couple hours to our starting point and ended 48 hours later back at our camp.

The following two pictures are of our view the first morning trekking. I wish I would have had my good camera to capture the snow-capped Himalayas

These women (it's only women that seem to do the manual labor) walked right through our campsite.  We also saw children coming from their houses to go to school.

This lumber was a full day hike up the mountain.
I was very curious what was going to be built.

The Ganga!  We knew we were getting close.

A farm up in the mountains

Becky Currey!

Unfortunately, one of the students messed up their leg and, as soon as we hit "road" access, I road with him down the last part of the journey.  We were in a little car and the drop to the left was ridiculous.  For those of you that don't know, I don't do well with heights... a xanax would have been nice for this ride.

The first and last day of the trip were spent whitewater rafting.  Oh how I love rafting.  The Mighty Ganga in this region is nothing like what you see further south and in the movies.  It is beautiful.

Ready for Battle against the other rafts

I took this picture from in the ridiculously cold river... proof later

Cliff jumping with two students

See!  Proof I swam in the (frickin' freezin') Ganges

On our way out of town we stopped, walked across the suspension bridge over the Ganges and spent a couple hours in Rishikesh.  It's a strange place.  There are a large amount of white folks that have gone native; it must be because of the whole Beatles connection.  

Hippy petting a nasty cow