Varanasi: Day 1

Varanasi is a crazy place. luckily, our rickshaw driver (a motorbike with a couch on the back, pretty much) was amazing and he just kept hanging out with us. his name is krishna and he cant read or write. only "talking talking", haha. honest talking. he took us to a great guesthouse, om guesthouse, and we are all paying about $2 a night. our room is painted bright green and yellow and blue, and we have shelves! our shower is great and the fan almost blew us away. which is good because i hate sweating all night, haha. last night krishna took us to the burning ghats on the ganges, or ganga, as they call it here. there were just fire pits, apparently they had bodies burning inside but we couldnt tell. he also took us to a great restaurant with amazing food. he is so goofy and predicted some of our futures, haha. next he took us to a classical indian music concert. a man played tabla, one on flute, and one on sitar. then a man did some kathak dancing. we drank chai and enjoyed it. mmm so good.

today, krishna picked us up at 9 and took us to breakfast. i at a uttapam for the first time and loved it. i got a coconut one. i would say it was a mix between a pancake and a pizza, haha. pretty interesting dish. next he took us around to some temples where we had to leave our shoes. so we walked around barefoot for like half the day. we probably walked in peoples spit, because everyone spits here. except the ladies, of course. all the hindu temples are made of marble and were a nice escape from the heat. the heat is so think here. he also took us to the best university in india, or so he says. it was pretty big.

next he took us to his home. his sister in law prepared a wonderful meal for us that involved chapati, peanuts, rice, vegetables, dal, and some other stuff that i dont know, haha. it was sooo delicious. she barely spoke english and she seemed to be so annoyed with krishna and his silliness, haha. we all took a nap in krishna's room next, haha! he slept on the floor, me on the couch, and kadi and kelly on his bed. when we woke up his sister in law had prepared some chai and ritz crackers for us. so sweet. she also has a beauty shop down below and she is going to make us beautiful tomorrow. so nice to visit a local's home. they had an indian toilet. oh goodness.

next we had music lessons at the classical music place. kadi learned flute, kelly learned tabla, and i learned kathak dance. ive already learned a tad in asheville, but not by a legit indian, haha. it was pretty fun. not my favorite form of indian dance, but thats alright.

it was a good, long day. and the sun hasnt even set yet. tomorrow we are taking a sunrise boat ride on the ganges. should be interesting!