Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Eric Clark's India Adventure - Eric Clark



This place is a mixture between Jurassic Park and Avatar. It has been really cloudy and rainy which has made the lush mountains so mysterious. We had a six or seven hour drive to Chamba. The drive was absolutely amazing. It was a drive through mountain rain forests, amazing green terraces and tons of Indian villages along the way. Along the way we saw tons of monkeys, interesting Hindu men and an elephant. 

I had the chance to go to a Hindu temple and take part in one of their rituals. During the ritual you must leave your shoes at the base of the temple, wash your hands in a special fountain and then sit on a woven mat with the temple seer. He then put hot water into wax and then took the wax and placed a dot on my forehead. He then gave me a yellow, red and orange bracelet, and gestured for me to drink the water out of my hand that he gave me. Then I had to eat a mixture of assorted things from my hand that he gave me. The temple had a number of statues that almost surrounded the inside of the room. He told me the names of the gods and then wrote their names down in Hindi. I love experiences India and getting a better understanding to what India has and is.

Today was great in so many ways. We were surprised during breakfast with a steady stream of girls that continued throughout the morning. We ended up having around 25 girls that kept us productively busy all day long. They are so smart, so happy and so pure. I can already tell that this trip is going to fly by. Before I know it I am going to be back in SLC and trying again to adjust back to American life. I try not to ponder this thought but it is so hard to think that we are going to have to leave these amazing girls. It is a sobering thought that we have such a short time but we are making the most of the experience in any and every way and look forward to spending as much time with these girls tomorrow!!!

Eric Clark

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