The Arabian Sea and Gandhi's Ashram.

I don't have a lot of time to write, but so much to tell you guys about. This past week I went to the western most tip of Gujurat to a little coastal town on the Arabain Sea. It was called Dwarka. We took a bus there and for a minute it felt like we were honestly driving to the ends of the earth. We drove for almost 4 hours and saw nothing but fields and dessert until coming up on this bizarre little town swarming with holy men, women in bright colored dresses, both draped in gold jewlery. When we got there it took us no longer then an hour to get into the ocean. I think people thought we were crazy, being winter here and all, but coming from Lake Superior that ocean was hot. We spent our first day swimming and hanging out. The next  day we took a half an hour bus to another town called Okha. Off the coast of Okha there is an island called Bet, a very holy  place in India. It was said that Krishna slain a demon there. We took the 5 rupee ferry ride on a boat that by any standards literally shouldn't have been functioning.  It was amazing. We spend the afternoon exploring the island and avoiding the crazy stray dogs on the beach.  The following day was Divalli, so we spent the day eating sweets, roaming around the buzzing city, and again...swimming in the ocean.

After our Dwarka adventure we got back onto the bus and headed back towards civilization. We went to Ahemdabad to see Gandhiji's biggest ashram. It was incredible. I was overwhelmed looking at his actual spinning wheel, bedroom, can and glasses. We toured the museum and went through a timeline of his life. After walking through the museum you can walk the grounds to see his house,  his wifes quarters, the tree where he held daily prayers, and the areas that they ate and had meetings. It's a beatiful place right on the river. Stairs lead you right down to the Ghats and I spent a few minutes imagining Gandhi himself sitting in the same place that I was. It was really cool.

We had sort of a nightmere getting back to Udaipur. Because of Divalli the train station had to have been one of the craziest places on Earth. We finally found a night bus that took us back and I got in around 3 a.m. last night. I'm finding  it hard to keep my eyes open. I just got done purchasing my new green and purple sari for my  boss' sister's wedding in a few days. On Wednesday I'm back to Jaipur for my  mid-internship seminar, then off to Varanasi, Nepal, and hopefully to a point where I can see Mt. Everst. After the wedding I'll be back in the village for a week or so and then my time in India is coming close to an  end. I can't believe how fast these last couple of weeks have gone. I knew this was going to happen.

Life in India is still crazy for me. I have been here for 3 months and 2 weeks and  still feel like it's my first day here sometimes.   I have yet to get used to the constant attention and staring, but have fallen in love with a lot of things about this country.  I really think nothing can describe what an average day in India really is. Here is a good example.  A few minutes ago I was trying to pay for my sari and the man told me he would take me to another shop to run my credit card. A few minutes later I was riding on the back of his motor bike down tangled bazaar alley's. This place finds organization in chaos, and when I'm in the mood for it,  it's the most exciting place in the world.

Ok, I gotta get going. I'll write more when I can. Miss you all!!!!

Jen