Rishikesh Rapids

Below is the "trash" on the banks of the Ganges right next to the Taj Mahal. It looks like garbage but if you look closer you can see it's all religious icons. Crushed Ganeshas, ceramic pots, and thos circular plaster things representing male and female (real short explanation). Here we are on a boat in Varanasi. No we haven't converted to Hinduism, it's just a blessing we all recieved from this real nice Brahman priest. I really hate to sit here in beautiful Rishikesh on a computer, but I know ya'll are wondering about how we're all doing. After some gruelling travelling situations, which remind me of some of my early family vacations, we ended up in Rishikesh. It's like a Swiss Alps version of India. It's finally cooler and the people are generally more truthful and nicer. We had 7am yoga this morning, then breakfast on the roof overlooking the Himalyan foothills, and then we went rafting on the Ganges Rapids. Yeah! That jsut happened. Old bearded Yogis were looking down from their mountain retreats as we paddled through class 4 rapids, urged on by our softly singing Nepalese riverguide Karin. Rishikesh is like a yoga mecca. I haven't seen so many westerner-hippies since (insert pop-culture reference). I don't mind hippies though, we're all a little hippy these days, come on, people. You'll probably get some more postings about the rafting tomorrow. On and the jeep ride to the rafting is crazy. The road is right next to a deadly cliff that would kill us all and the driving is very uncautious. Its right outta some adventure movie. I thought it was exciting and fun. These drivers have been doing this for years and ain't no ECU students gonna tell him to slow down. I gotta get to some poker. Later dudes.