Varanasi

We're traveling back in time for this post...

April 12th
 Erin, Jamie, and I woke up early for our flight to Varanasi. We had a very busy few days back home with finals and cultural shows; we were exhausted. Sadly, Jamie's flight tickets were all messed up and Erin and I were left alone for the adventure. We were really nervous, as it would only be the two of us, and Varanasi has earned its reputation for craziness. We even discussed cancelling the whole trip.
 I could not be more thankful we decided to go. 
 Once we arrived, we went to Brownie, a restaurant suggested by Lonely Planet. There we ate cheese. REAL cheese, and wow, real cheese is really good when one does not have it for a few months. We stayed at the simple and cheap Hotel Ganesha. That night we ate wonderful Middle Eastern food, walked the busy streets, and slept in our underwear.

The Himalayan Mountains! (Photograph by Erin McConaha)

CHEESE! (Photograph by Erin McConaha)

April 13th ad 14th
 The next few days were a bit of a blur... Some things I experienced: 

...wonderful food! This is Middle Eastern Thali= YUMMMMMMM!

... a sunrise boat ride on the Ganga (Ganges).

...poverty. This sweetheart hung around us all afternoon. (Photograph by Erin McConaha)

...incredible shopping.

...small shops/bookstores that served as sanctuaries from the busy streets.

...people protesting as to how the holy river was being treated.

(I give those protesters all my support because sewage freely drains into this river)

... exciting streets.

... street artists :) (Photograph by Erin McConaha)

...decked-out horses.

...ceremonies every night for the Ganga, performed by Jonas-Brothers-look-a-like-Brahmin-priests.

...sending prayers into the Ganga. (Photograph by Erin McConaha)

...getting ripped off for sending prayers into the Ganga. (Photograph by Erin McConaha)

...getting ripped off by a 10-year-old Brahmin priest. (Photograph by Erin McConaha)

The best part of the Varanasi trip was the friends we made:

This is Anki. He is a waiter at a restaurant owned by his aunt. We gave him a Nebraskan postcard :)

This is Betty. She is a street-saleswoman and she was pretty bummed when she found out we already bought some postcards from her competitors, but she was very sweet and we enjoyed talking to her. (Photo by Erin McConaha)

I don't know this little girl's name, but she is also in street-sales. She was determined to get something out of us, so we got her some juice. (Photo by Erin McConaha)

This is Svati and Mona. Erin and I bought one of everything from them... mostly because they were nice to us and they yelled at the men who tried to talk to us haha. We saw them numerous times after we met them and became very close with them. They put bindis on us as a gift (and we didn't pay for them!). We drank mango juice together and listened to them talk about their lives.

Svati is an amazing woman. She has taught herself fluent English and Japanese, purely on listening to tourists. She has a heart of gold. She is 20 and couldn't believe I was 21 because I am so tall and healthy. She has children. She is an acid-throwing victim. For those of you who do not know what this horrendous act is, I invite you to read up on it: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_throwing#India When we finally had to say goodbye to Svati she kissed my hands and cheek and repeatedly told me how lucky I am. I was unsure what to say, so I just agreed. (Photograph by Erin McConaha)

She bought us each a mango juice-box and we gave her a scarf and some bangles. I explained to her that in America, young girls have 'friendship bracelets' and that we would all have the same bangles to symbolize our friendship. Needless to say, this woman had a large impact on me.

April 15th
 Our journey ended at the train station. We were mentally drained and ready to go home.

I quite enjoyed the ride and liked the down time to look outside and write.

I played with the cockroaches at night time too haha :) We arrived home the next night.

Varanasi was my favorite trip in India. Erin was a fabulous travel partner, I think because we're on the complete same page as to what we want out of life/India. I thought India was done shocking me, but Varanasi did a fantastic job of reminding me that that would never EVER happen.