Tilak decided to hold a yoga retreat this year in Costa Rica.  A friend of his told him about a Wellness Center there named Pura Vida near San Jose.  He mentioned it to his yoga students and they had interest in it as well.  There were 22 persons who attended the conference with Tilak and I.  And so the story begins….

We flew in to Costa Rica Saturday (January 10, 2009) afternoon.  We flew on United Air and everything now costs money on their flights (ie any type of drinks, snacks, etc)  The flight attendants also market different products during the flight – it was like a live commercial while we were flying.  The flight there was only about 5 and a half hours.

We had a beautiful mountain view as we were landing in San Jose.  We had taxi drivers hired by the resort that were waiting on us there (holding a sign).  They had name tags for each of us and took us to baggage claim and then to the bus that would take us to the resort.  We were all giddy to be in a warm climate and in a new surrounding and looking forward to our week ahead.  We were laughing, telling stories, and getting to know each other.  The drive to the resort was only about 20 minutes.  The roads were paved, but narrow and windy.  There were a lot of tropical flowers and trees to see out the window.  The houses were small – many of them made of stucco with metal roofs.  There were a lot of people out walking it seemed.  One could tell quickly that this is not a country with much money.

The resort was gated.  We entered and were greeted by several staff who took our bags to our rooms, gave us a quick “welcome speech”, told us where to find the dining room that evening and gave a general verbal layout of the grounds.  Each of us got a schedule for the week and went to our rooms to get unpacked.  Tilak and I liked our room.  It was nice size, a beautiful view, king size bed, and nice size bathroom.  There was a lot of natural light and a beautiful patio off the side of it.

After we unpacked we made our way to the dining hall to have our first of many WONDERFUL meals.  The dining area is on the second floor of one of the buildings.  It had a covered balcony to eat outdoors and plenty of dining tables indoors.  Anywhere you chose to sit had beautiful scenic views.  The food was set-up buffet style in a beautiful presentation.  There was also a bar to purchase drinks if you chose.

With full bellies, we all made our way to one of the yoga halls for a brief “meet & greet” with just our group.  We sat in a circle and all shared our names and why we decided to come on the trip.  Every answer was slightly different.  Things like: to sort through events in one’s life, to be with a spouse, to enjoy a lot of yoga, etc.  For me, I heard the words “Costa Rica” and I knew I wanted to go!  I like to take advantage of any opportunity to explore some place new – It is always exciting for me.  Also, I wanted to meet Tilak’s yoga students that he speaks of often.  I knew right away that I was going to enjoy the group of people that we were with.

The next morning we received an orientation from Pura Vida staff letting us know of the adventures they would be providing for us if we choose to take part: body work (Swedish Massage, manicures, pedicures, Watsu, Om Chu, Body Talk Therapy, etc.), zip-lining through the rain forest, white water rafting, boat tours, hiking, coffee plantation tour, trip to the beach, salsa dancing lessons, drumming circle, swimming pool/hot tub, shopping in San Jose, and a trip to the zoo.  All of this on top of the already scheduled 2 yoga classes per day, meditation sessions, swinging in the hammocks, enjoying the scenery and being able to have time to read, relax and enjoy time to ourselves.  Ahhhhh, Heaven!

The things that I chose to take part in were:

YOGA:  The morning classes began at 6:30am.  Even though I am not a morning person I did not have much trouble getting up that early.  They were gentle/beginner type classes which were right after a meditation session.  It felt good to stretch, breath deep and connect with a wonderful sense of stillness inside myself each day.  They were held in Ananda Hall, which was the biggest of the yoga rooms there at the Wellness Center with large windows around 3 of the 4 walls.  The natural light and beautiful scenery was a wonderful gift to receive each morning.  The afternoon classes were held at Lila Hall (a.k.a. The Bird Cage).  This room was literally shaped like a huge bird cage.  It was screened in and had beautiful greenery inside it.  They began at 4:30.  This class was an intermediate level that had several series of standing poses as well as pranayama (breathing practices).  I chose to play “photographer” a few times during these classes since I am not as experienced as some of them and I was a touch lazy. J

MEDITATION:  I really suck at this.  It is incredibly hard for me to sit still because of my bad back and it is also incredibly hard for me to keep my mind focused on one thing and not wander off somewhere.  Of course, Tilak tried to coach us in ways to begin overcoming these obstacles (counting with each breath, making sure you are comfortable, using mantras, etc).  I have been really fortunate to experience meditation states that were very powerful/meaningful but they have been few.  Tilak says that training the mind is the hardest part of yoga because our minds naturally want to control everything.  Our minds do not want to allow our True Self to control them.

EATING:  The food was delicious everyday!  It was healthy too.  The presentation of the food was beautiful.  We were always served fresh fruit, yogurt, toast, pancakes, scrambled eggs and rice/beans in the morning with fresh squeezed fruit juices (cantaloupe, orange, watermelon, etc.).  Tea and coffee were always available to us all day long as well.  Some of the things we were served for lunch and supper were: grilled vegetables, grilled chicken, seafood stew, soups, bread with dill butter spread, salads with homemade dressing, fresh fruit, fresh guacamole, rice, stir fry, salmon, kabobs (chicken & veggies), eggplant, coleslaw, etc.  There is a lot that I am forgetting I know.  The wine was great!  Anyway, the point is that none of us went hungry and we all enjoyed meal times.  My only complaint is that there was never any chocolate served L.

CANOPY TOUR:  One day we took a bus to a Rain Forrest that was about 30 minutes from where we were staying.  There, we all got harnessed into zip-line equipment.  We had several tour guides who demonstrated how to use the zip lines and led us through a short trail in the forest, telling us about the plants and animals that live there.  Then, we (six at a time) climbed a ladder several stories high to begin our zip-line adventure!  We were hooked to a wire with the equipment that they had put on us and would fly down the wire to the next platform one at a time.  One of the “flights” we went backwards.  Two of the “flights” went over the top of beautiful waterfalls!  I am sure that I had a smile on my face the whole time that I was there.  It was the most fun I think I have ever had!

POOL/HOT TUB:  A little of each day was spent laying in the sunshine by the pool - Sometimes with a book - Sometimes visiting with others - Sometimes napping.  The sun was warm and there was a pleasant breeze which kept me comfortable.  I jumped in the pool from time to time to swim some and cool off.  I usually enjoyed their hot tub at night.  Several of us would gather there before bed and soak in the hot water under the moon and stars.  Ahhh – it was the life!

A HIKE THROUGH THE COFFEE FIELDS:  Several of us decided to go for a long hike through the coffee fields one of the days we were there.  (There was an official tour offered at one point, but I missed that one.)  The coffee fields that we explored were directly behind Pura Vida Wellness Center.  It had to have been hundreds of acres of it that we were drifting through.  If someone had not told me I would have never known what I was looking at in those fields.  The coffee plants are large with beautiful dark green leaves and have cranberry-looking fruits on them that hold the coffee beans.  At the end of our hike/adventure through the coffee beans we ran into the owner of the fields we were roaming.  He was very friendly and did not mind that we were there.  He even took some time to teach us about his coffee beans.  He said that all his beans were organic (we applauded him for that).  He uses the husks from the beans as compost.  He says each coffee bean plant lasts about 25 years before they cut them down and plant new ones.  He had us taste the husk which was surprisingly sweet and then the bean itself does not have much flavor.  The coffee bean is light green, almost transparent and hard.  It was explained to us that the beans get their dark color and taste when they are roasted.  He said that the dark roast beans have less caffeine because they are cooked longer and the heat takes out some of the caffeine.  The light roast coffees are the ones with the most caffeine.  We also learned that decaffeinated coffees are actually not good for you as there are a lot of chemicals that are used to extract the caffeine.  It is best to drink the dark roast coffee instead of decaf according to the tour guide.

SALSA DANCING LESSONS:  On Thursday evening, the resort offered a one hour Salsa dancing class.  It was a lot of fun and we learned a great deal in a short amount of time.  The dance moves are so fast that once the music would start it was hard to keep up.  I did best going slowly through the motions without the music. This type of dance has your body twisting a lot.  There is also a lot of hip swaying.   After our lesson, the instructor and her husband danced for us.  They were gorgeous together.  You could tell that they enjoyed dancing together and they were good at it!  The dance is upbeat, sensual and fun.

READING:  I enjoyed beginning to read “The Audacity of Hope” written by our new president, Barak Obama.  I have to say that I have been so impressed with this man since I have been learning about him.  He seems to be just what we as a country need (someone intelligent, even-tempered, thinks of others, wants unity, etc).  He writes well.  In his book he explains what he feels is the problem in Washington (greed and intolerance), describes how he would like to see unity happen (tolerance, common goals, focusing on agreements not disagreements, etc.) and how important his family is in his life.  It was a perfect time to read this book – right before his inauguration into office when we returned home.  Some reading was done in my room but most by the pool or in a hammock.

MEETING NEW FRIENDS:  I was pleased to have met new, wonderful friends while we were on our trip.  The even better part of it was to know that most of them would be coming back to VA with us which will allow the friendships to continue at home.  These people we were surrounded with are some of the most REAL, compassionate, open-hearted persons I have ever met.  The personalities were diverse, however everyone was accepting of each other.  Everyone was a pleasure to be around and everyone was genuinely loving people.  A lot of us met for the first time there in Costa Rica and you would think that we had known each other for years based on the comfort level we had with one another.  It was great!

OM CHU BODYWORK:  Some of the body work that was offered I had never heard of (Om Chu and Body Talk) and others I have experienced or at least knew about them(Hot Stone Massage, Swedish Massage, Manicures/Pedicures, Facials, etc).  I decided to try an Om Chu treatment.  I received this treatment around noon on Tuesday.  Where do I start to explain it?  The gentleman’s name who offered this treatment is Olman.  He is a blind gentleman who has been trained in Eastern healing, massage, and energy balancing.  He began our session with deep tissue massage and when I say deep, I mean he could probably feel the table through my body kind of deep tissue massage.  He told me to let him know if the pressure was too much so right away I told him it was too much pressure.  He said OK but barely eased up.  I mentioned the pressure again and he told me that the pressure is necessary to get rid of the stress built up in my muscles.  I had the choice of saying “I don’t want to do this” or I could endure it and see what happens.  I chose the latter.  The deep tissue massage lasted about 30 minutes.  It was painful but somehow I felt like it would be worth it.  I just took deep breaths and tried to relax into it.  After the massage, Olman adjusted my spine with several chiropractic-like manipulations and twists.  My spine has never felt so straight.  Finally he said he was going to align my energies and placed his hands on my head and began chanting a beautiful song (I assume it was a song).  Anyway, I have to say that it did something for me because after he was finished I had tears streaming down my face (happy ones).  I gave Olman a huge hug and thanked him for the gift he gave me.  Luckily when I left the room everyone was eating lunch in the dining room and I got into the hot tub (per Olman’s advise) to help my muscles recoup from the treatment.  Again in the hot tub, I had tears being released and I just let them flow.  How healing.  A side note: my arms, back and butt were bruised the next day but I did not care.

WATSU:  Watsu is a water massage/treatment that originated in Harbin Hot Springs, CA (Tilak and I have been there – he received one there).  During the treatment you are floated above (and under if you choose) the water in a manner that makes the water massage your body (zig zag, circles, fetal position, back bends, etc.) It was completely relaxing (only because I chose to stay above the water – I have a fear of water if I am not in control) to my surprise.  I chose to receive this treatment for 3 reasons: 1. It was an attempt to continue to work on my fear of water  2. I have never received one and thought I could at least try it  3.  Tilak was persistent that I do this.  Before the treatment began, Nati (the person giving the treatment) told me to think of a positive intention and to meditate on it during the session.  I chose LOVE as my intention.  During the entire session I thought to myself “I am Love”, “I will give Love”, “I will receive Love”, “I am open to Love”.  I felt as though I was floating in the perfect blue sky with whisper-like clouds.  I was the sky.  I was open.  I was peace.  I was LOVE.  After the session I felt stoned – in a good way.  I was so high on the meditation and massage.  I walked back to my room and laid on my bed and soaked up the wonderful feeling for awhile.

EARTHQUAKES:  Two  days before we left for our trip we heard that there was an earthquake (magnitude of 6.1) near San Jose.  We called the resort and found out that the roads were still drivable and there was no damage to the resort but that the waterfalls that we were to hike and see were no longer in existence and the road to the volcano we were to see was not drivable.  We were relieved to know that we could still travel there.  We talked to most everyone that was to go on the trip and we all still chose to go.

We did not know, however, that we would be feeling small aftershock earthquakes during our entire trip.  The first one we felt was the second night we were there.  We were sitting at the dining room table with some friends and one of them said “Do you feel that?”.  We all felt a small swaying of the table and the water in the water bottles were shaking.  We did not think much about it and continued our conversations.  That night after we all went to bed there was a much larger one that occurred.  It was about 1:30 in the morning and I woke to Tilak calling my name, the windows shuttering and what I thought was the lights flickering but it must have been my eyes adjusting while I was waking in panic because Tilak says they did not flicker.  I immediately knew that it was an earthquake as I was becoming conscious.  I was scared to death!  My heart was pounding.  I called Tilak’s name, jumped out of bed and was thinking that we needed to get under the door frame like we were instructed by the staff if something like this were to happen.  By the time those few things happened it was over.  It was very difficult to fall back to sleep but sleep eventually found me again.  We experienced several other earthquakes while we were there but we almost became immune to them (because they were small enough not to scare the $#!@ out of us).

SHOPPING:  Several of us decided to take a shopping trip into San Jose one day.  It was a lot of fun.  The drive was about 30 minutes.  When we got to the city we went straight to the ATM to exchange our money.  We then split up and went exploring.  The main part of the mall was for pedestrians only.  It is blocked off to all types of vehicles and there are people everywhere!!!  There were several small music groups playing guitars, tamborines, shakers, etc. for money.  The market was neat.  It was indoor/outdoor and had narrow halls.  They had everything from flowers to spices to crafts, etc.  I spent a hour in there and could have stayed longer.  Next we went to the Art Gallery Market (I guess that’s what you call it).  There were paintings, baskets, jewelry, hammocks, etc.  I could have stayed there all day – so much to see!!!  Anyway, after hours of looking around we all got back into the taxi van that we reserved for the day and we decided to stop at a local grocery on the way back to the resort to pick up some Costa Rica coffee and misc to take home to our friends and family.

During our stay at Pura Vida we had wonderful staff taking care of us.  Everyone from the management to the kitchen crew to the grounds keepers they were all so nice and genuinely wanted us to be comfortable and happy while we were there.  We spent a whole week with no TV, computers, work, telephones, and kids.  The only one of these that I missed was my kids and that was after I had enjoyed the time to myself and began to think about how I missed having them around.  I was proud of myself because the last time Tilak and I took a long trip without the kids I talked to them a lot.  This time I trusted that my friends and family were going to take good care of them and that if something went wrong they knew how to get Tilak and I.  I was actually able to relax and not worry about them at all.

I AM THANKFUL FOR THE ADVENTURE….

For 2 or 3 summers now they have allowed me the pleasure of picking the sour cherries that grow on the trees in their front yard. It is such a wonderful, simple pleasure to climb up in the trees, pick the cherries and put them in a bucket (and eat some as I go). The kids enjoy helping me as well - I think they like the climbing in the tree part the best.

I use the cherries to make pies, cobblers or to have as a snack. I share them and I freeze some to use throughout the year.

Anyway, with a lot of joy we brought two small Cherry Trees home today (they are sort of intertwined - Peter said it represented Tilak and I) to plant in our back yard. Immediately when we returned home the kids and I found the place that we wanted to plant the trees. They made a deal with me that they would dig the hole to plant the trees if I would do their chore of “poop scooping” the back yard. I agreed.

The kids worked very diligently to make a perfect hole. Once we finished getting the hole just right we put some of our compost material in it and we put the tree down in the hole made with love. Kali was talking to the tree saying “I hope that you will be happy here in our yard”. Texil said he would “take good care of it”. We had a lot of fun with the planting of our new trees. When we were finished Kali placed a heart-shaped rock that she had found on our hike today at the base of the trees.

Oh, the simple pleasures in life! There is nothing like it!

This year Kali sang a High School Musical song entitled “I Gotta Go My Own Way”. Texil decided to play a song on his wooden Indian Flute (he made it up). I was busting with pride watching the two of them on stage! For Texil, I was thrilled that it all went well for him (i.e. he did not get too nervous and freeze up or play wrong notes which would send him into a panic). Look at his face at the end of the attached performance. You can see his relief and pride of a job well done! I was front and center in the audience and he threw his hat to his adoring fan (me!). With Kali’s performance attached you can see her go out on the stage with confidence. She has not quite learned to get the audience involved with her performance yet but she LOVES to be on center stage. At the end of her performance she throws her scarf she was wearing into the crowd. This was her idea. Very cute. The video unfortunately did not capture this.

It was a fun night. I hope you enjoy watching their show!!!

For Crust:
2 cups of finely ground gingersnap cookies (I mixed half graham crackers and half cookies)
2 tablespoons of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
1/2 stick of unsalted butter (melted)

For Filling:
4 8oz packages of cream cheese (room temperature)
1 1/4 cups of sugar
4 large eggs
1 cup of sour cream
1/2 cup of whipping cream
1/2 cup of finely chop crystallized ginger (I did not use this - I grated some ginger root-about 1/2tsp)
2 tablespoons of peeled fresh ginger
2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice
4 teaspoons of fresh lemon peel
several lemon slices to garnish

For Crust:
Preheat oven to 325.
Generously butter a 10-inch springform pan with 2 3/4-inch high sides.
Double wrap the outside of the pan with aluminum foil.
Blend ground cookies, sugar and ginger in processor. Add melted butter and process until moist crumbs form.
Press mixture onto the bottom and 1/2 inch up side of pan.
Bake until crust sets, about 10 minutes.
Cool and maintain oven temperature.

For Filling:
Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in sugar, scraping bowl occasionally. Add eggs one at a time, beating well. Beat in sour cream and whipping cream. Then put in crystallized ginger, fresh ginger, lemon juice and lemon peel. Poor filling into crust. Place springform pan in a roasting pan. Pour boiling water in roasting pan to come up 1 inch in pan. Bake cheesecake until filling is set and golden brown on top (cake may rise above edge of pan), about 1 hour and 25 minutes. Turn off oven and prop open oven door. Let cake set in oven for one hour. Cake will fall. Remove spring form pan from water and remove foil. Cool cheesecake completely on rack. Cover and regridgerate overnight. Release pan sides from cheesecake. Transfer cake to platter. Garnish with lemon slices and serve.

Enjoy!!

We got up early on Friday morning and headed out. We rode in her car. The drive there is absolutely gorgeous. There are mountain views and farm land everywhere! We enjoyed the scenery and talked and talked as if we had not seen each other in years though we see each other everyday.

When we got to West Virginia we began using the directions she printed to find the properties. The towns were small that we drove through and there were long spans of road between stores and gas stations. We found the first property she printed fairly easily. Neither of us were impressed by it. We then found the next property without any trouble - it was not quite what they were looking for either. Once we left that property the real adventures began. We stopped at an old Thrift Store on our way to the next town. There was an interesting sign on their bathroom door that read: “No more than 5 minutes per person in the bathroom”. I found this funny!

We called her realtor to get directions for the next property and had to find places that are cell phones would actually have a signal to speak with him. We twisted up and down mountain roads (stopped to pee in the woods a couple of times since there were no stores around to use a bathroom).

We pulled into a rock driveway to see a house for sale and when we tried to turn around Kim’s car sunk into the mud. We got out and tried to rock the car back and forward to get it out of the mud with no luck. Then she pushed the car while I put it in reverse but that just dug us deeper into the mud. We found a country boy loading his truck at a nearby trailer and asked for his assistance. He tried to help us push the car out but that did not work so he brought his truck over to us and tried to put a chain on but it was too big. He then found some nylon rope and tied it to his truck and Kim’s car and was able to pull us out that way. The rope got so tight that he had to cut it off of Kim’s car (of course the country boy had a pocket knife in his pocket. He had on coveralls. The rope and chain was inside his truck. This country boy was prepared for us!) Kim got his name and address to send him a thank you card and we were on our way again.

We stopped at a monument and an overlook while driving around.

We got lost looking for the last property we were going to see for the day and Kim’s realtor said he would meet us to show us how to get there. Kim was not wanting to go look at this land because she was getting tired but I talked her into it. We found the realtor and followed him to the property. Kim was glad that we went. It ended up being a beautiful piece of land with a creek on it, trees and an old cabin). While we were touring this land Kim and I had to pee soooo bad and there was no where to go but the bushes again so Kim asked the realtor to walk around the land to give us some privacy “to pop a squat”. He laughed and went for a walk. We laughed and tried to do our business quickly before anyone saw us. It was hilarious!

The realtor wanted to take Kim to one more piece of land to see that day. We reluctantly agreed. It was a long drive there and Kim was disappointed with the land when we got there. We decided to call it a day.

We drove to Beckley and met Kim’s in-laws for supper. We then spent the night at their home that evening. Got up early the next morning and headed back home. We again enjoyed each other’s company. We talked about everything. It was a fun trip.

1. Filth, Pollution, Dirt everywhere - nothing like America.

2. Indians are curious about westerners - especially Kali (my daughter). Liked to take photos of us.

3. Indian clothing is beautiful and colorful.

4. Cows roam around everywhere.

5. There are beggars everywhere. They do not know when to leave you alone. Many continue to tap on you, talk to you and stay in your face.

6. Indian men are not shy to pee anywhere. The smell of urine is strong in the streets.

7. There is little familiar food. When something is found on the menu that is made in America it is served with the Indian spices.

8. There is poverty everywhere yet most people seem to have cell phones.

9. Everyone drives crazy yet no one seems bothered by it - it is some kind of organized chaos. Pedestrians do not have the right-of-way, no one seems to stay on their side of the road - everyone passes each other, blows their horn and swerves even on turns.

10. Baths are taken everywhere: river, buckets, outside spicket, etc.

11. Spirituality is number one: cab drivers have bells in their cars to ring when they pray while driving, shop keepers have their shrines set up in their shops, chants/prayers play in restaurants/businesses.

12. Women carry things on top of their heads.

13. Laundry is done in the Ganges River and laid to dry on the rocks or hung.

14. Many kids wear uniforms to school.

15. Many of the poor children do not go to school but beg, work with their parents or stay with their parents at their jobs.

16. There are many beautiful mountains in India.

17. Most women have nose rings.

18. A lot of Indians know English.

19. Most of the Indians we met were very polite, gracious and kind.

20. In our trip to India we met people from Iceland, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and Europe.

21. Most children we came in contact with made up games to play with things like rocks, sticks, etc. since they could not afford toys.

22. Many people had flip-flops or no shoes.

23. Monkeys were everywhere.

24. Lots of stray dogs/puppies.

25. The Ganges River was graceful and peaceful. (It had more of a current than I expected)

26. Toilet paper was not readily available.

27. Most of the buildings were old. Made of cement and old brick.

28. Most Indians I saw seemed to live with ease and peace amongst their poverty.

29. Restaurants had many flies in them. Many of the restaurants did not change the table cloths between customers.

30. Many places we went there was a fee to use the public toilets (2-5 rupees).

31. Bottled water was readily available at most stores.

32. Trash cans were hard to find.

33. Many of the Sadhus want paid for the blessings they give.

34. What India considers “Clean” and what America considers “Clean” are very different.

35. Men were very affectionate with other men in public though men and women did not seem to show much affection.

36. We rarely saw Indian families all together. It was usually the mother and the children - the dads work very long work days.

37. Weddings are HUGE events and celebrations that last days. There are lots of music, colors, food, traditions, etc.

38. Horns are blowing constantly. Everyone uses the road at once (cars, buses, bikes, rickshaws, motorcycles, horses, cows, people, monkeys, etc).

39. Many of the men stared at Kali and I and would follow us around. I think it was the blond hair they were fascinated by.

40. I did not notice disrespect between the economic classes.

41. There is discrimination in prices with tourists (i.e. the entrance fee for the Taj Mahal is 750 rupees for foreigners and only20 rupees for Indians).

Our tour guide was Sanjeev Mehta, a gentleman full of passion for animals and photography. He brought his camera along with us to the Park. When we got there we all rode in the back of a jeep throughout our safari ride (a 5 hour tour). There was a beautiful sunrise happening as we began our trip through the woods. The tour guide would have the driver stop as he saw animals that he wanted us to see and to tell us about. He was very knowledgeable and wanted us to have a good time.

We saw all kinds of animals while we were on the jeep ride: wild elephant, peacocks, spotted dear, vulchors, an eagle, tiger tracks – no tiger though, etc. There were a couple places we stopped where we were allowed to get out of the jeep and climb an observation tower.

Once the safari was over our tour guide said that he would see what he could do to let the kids ride on one of the captured elephants that they cared for there at the Park. He took us to see those elephants and while we admired them he worked his magic with the care-takers of the elephants. When he came back over to us he told us that they would let the kids ride the elephant for 100 rupees. We agreed and the kids rode on one of the elephants. They were thrilled. It was one of the things they wanted to do most when we told them that we were going to go on a safari when we came to India.

As we were leaving the National Park we saw a baby elephant coming up the road hauling a lot of leaves on its back. We found out that the baby elephant was an orphaned elephant that our tour guide had legally adopted. We stopped the jeep and the tour guide walked up to the baby elephant and it wrapped it trunk around him and they hugged. It was sweet to see.

When we got back to the tour guides office we collected our belongings and he directed us to the bus stand so that we could purchase a ride back to Delhi to catch our flight back home. We got to the bus station just in time to load our stuff before it was to leave.

It was a long trip back to Delhi (about 5 hours). The bus driver drove like a maniac! He swerved in and out of traffic and would pass other busses and trucks leaving only inches between them. You could definitely not rest on that ride. One thing that we found humorous while we were riding the bus was that at stops that the bus took, salesmen would get onto the bus and stand in the front of the bus and give a “commercial” about their product and then walk up and down the bus to collect money from people that wanted to purchase their product. The men sold a little bit of everything: food, table cloths, tooth cleaner, pencils, etc. It was comical to Tilak and I.

When we arrived in Delhi at the bus stop we decided we had enough time to go to the All American Café to eat supper before we went to the airport. We found a rickshaw driver to take us to the restaurant and then pick us up and take us to the airport.

We enjoyed our meal at the restaurant though we were all beginning to feel exhausted from our long day. After we ate we were picked up by our taxi driver and brought to the airport. Llyn and Carter had to go to the domestic airport and we had to go to the international airport. We were dropped off first and we said our good byes to Llyn, Carter and to India.

I was relieved as we walked into the airport. I was ready to head back home. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in India but I was ready to be in my cozy home and in my cozy bed and be closer to our family and friends again.

The airport was so chaotic. Not that I should have been surprised by that. Everything was sort of chaotic in India. There were few staff to direct one where to go. There were people everywhere. We got there around 8:00pm and we had just 2 hours before our plane was to leave. We had to exchange our money back to American money, check our luggage, go through security and then go through customs and each of those places had very long lines! We got through all the lines and to our terminal just as it was making its first boarding call. I sighed a sigh of relief. I surely did not want to miss our flight.

When we got on our plane Texil seemed really sleepy and sluggish. Once the plane took off we realized why. He was sick and he threw up everywhere! We tried to get the “barf bag” out of the pocket in front of him but were too slow. Only half made it into the bag. Thank God we were all sitting next to one another on this flight and he did not throw up on someone else. We cleaned him up and gave him another “barf bag” in case he was to get sick again. We then used one of our blanket that the airline gave to us to clean up the seat and floor. I was able to get a bunch of wet wipes from a flight attendant and things were cleaned up in a matter of time. What a start to our 36 HOUR TRIP HOME!!

When we got to Paris for our lay over we learned that our flight back to VA had been cancelled. Tilak waited in long lines to reschedule our flight while I entertained the kids. It ended up that we had to take a trip to Canada and then to VA as there were no other flights into Washington DC airport that day. The airport gave us food vouchers and we had a 5 hour wait until our flight left for Canada. We slept, ate, played games, slept some more, got on the internet café computers and finally boarded our plane to Canada.

On our flight to Canada we were served yummy food and wine and we watched TV and chit-chatted with people. It was pleasant. Once we arrived in Canada we waited in long lines again to go through customs, etc. It was -14 degrees outside and it was snowing. Once we got to our terminal we watched the snow out the window, read and ate snacks while we waited for our flight to leave. I was praying that the flight would not get cancelled due to the weather. Thank God it did not and we loaded the plane on time. It was a very small plane. Only about 20 passengers on it.

When we arrived in Washington DC airport we were all tired of traveling but we still had to rent a car and drive another couple hours home. Tilak and I tried very hard to keep each other awake and we finally made it home! It was wonderful to walk into our home and collapse in our beds! We stayed in our beds mainly for the next couple of days while our bodies were getting used to USA time again.

We our thankful for the wonderful journey that we had in India!!!!

We finally found the trail head that led us to the mountain waterfall. The waterfall was not as big as we were expecting but we enjoyed it anyway. The kids played in it and several of us dipped our toes into it.

On our hike back to our hotel we stopped at a little restaruant that had given us directions on our way there. The lady that owned it was very hospitable and friendly. She made us some wonderful hot ginger lemon tea and we sat there to talk for awhile.

When we returned to town we shopped again for gifts for family and friends. We spent time with the orphanage kids and we had a great supper.

We went to satsang that evening with the orphanage children. We were all sad that it was our last night with them. They sang us a beautiful good-bye song. I held back tears. A couple of the children drew pictures for me in my journal. We got their names and the address so that we could write to them.

After satsang Ankita and Lolita came back to our hotel with us. They had written us a beautiful letter to say goodbye. I had tears running down my face as I read it. We gave them big hugs and said that we love and will miss them and that they made our hearts full while we were there.

The gates were open to the ashram when we got there. We took our time and explored everything. The grounds were beautiful and green with plants and trees. The buildings were stone or concrete. We walked through the old buildings imagining what it must have been like before the place was abandoned. We picnicked at the top of one of the buildings that had a deck that overlooked the city of Rishikesh. We had two more buildings to explore before we left so after we ate we did just that. One of these two buildings was full of old papers – some from the 70’s. We tried to find some with the Beatle’s name on them but had no luck.

At the last building we explored there were domes on the top of it with ladders that you could climb to get down into the domes. Everyone was taking turns climbing and looking at the view and into the domes when an Indian man speaking Hindi showed up and began yelling at us all. Most of his words were in Hindi so we could not understand him. We did however understand that he was trying to charge us 80,000 rupees for trespassing and having cameras with us. We immediately were suspiscious of him and asked for his identification and told him we would not pay any money unless a police officer told us we had to. He pulled out some tattered paper from his wallet that I doubt was a real identification and told us to leave the premises right away. We began to leave and the man followed us yelling the whole way.

We saw some other westerners on our way out and we quickly explained to them what was going on and so they followed us as we were leaving so that they would not get into any trouble either. When we got to the front gate it had been closed and locked! We were scared at what to do next because the man had gone into one of the buildings, put on a uniform shirt and was still hollering things at us in such a hateful manner. The other westerners told us to follow them and they took us out an alternate way. Thank God the crazy man did not follow us past the exit. We were scared at the time but laughed about it all once we got down the road a ways. We figure the man must have been a park ranger and was trying to scam us for money.

We walked back into town and did some shopping, walking along the Ganges and ate supper.

We also went to the aarti ceremony along the Ganges that evening. Llyn and Carter enjoyed the experience and we enjoyed it again as well. It is beautiful to sit and sing with a bunch of strangers. All of us with peace in our hearts.

When we returned to the hotel I took the kids to play with the kids from the orphanage for awhile.

We went to bed after a full day looking forward to tomorrow which would be our last full day in Rishikesh.