chris

The scenery is stark and absolutely incredible, almost ridiculous. Indescribable. As are the villages that are perched on hills or hidden in valleys surrounded by terraced fields as best to use the glacial melt that they use as irrigation water. The village we entered today sort of resembles a medieval village---a maze of stonewalls with endless small wooden or tin doors leading to the enormous white villas that every Ladkhi villages consists of.

We spend the majority of time in the kitchen, the warmest room in the house cause I'm endlessly cold all the time (I've made the stove a constant companion). I'm currently sitting on a rug ("stan" in Ladkhi) next to the window looking over the village square and write this on a low red wooden table covered with cups of cha (ladkhi chai) of which I drink at least 15 cups a day and biscuit from my family in Phey. There is nothing I will miss more than the tea drinking habit.

We are back in Leh for a brief moment after our fabulous trek in the Sham side of Ladakh. This region is actually located north of Leh, but as it is several thousand feet lower than the rest of Ladakh, it is commonly referred to as "lower Ladakh". Our group was able to see firsthand how a small difference in altitude can completely alter the growing season and lifestyles of the local peoples! At points we visited villages above 12,000 feet and they had not even started to fertilize their fields yet, while at other times we passed through villages below 10,000 feet and the fields had already been plowed, planted, and were starting to turn a shade of bright green.

This mini-trek allowed the group to focus on Ladakhi homestays, rural agricultural life, and development in remote areas – all issues that we will touch on in the larger trek, but we felt that experiencing them first hand was much more beneficial. Hiking from village to village as a Ladakhi, living, eating, and cooking as a Ladakhi, and viewing the landscape as both a visitor and a Ladakhi gave us great insight as to why this place is so special.

"Jullay! I hope this message finds everyone well. This is Cam and the group calling from the Markha Valley. We are having an excellent trek so far. We started at Chillin and went past several other small villages on the route. Then we had a long day getting to Markha. Yesterday we had a shorter day walking up to Hang-ka. We are carefully looking at the snow conditions as we go and evaluating the route. For now, it looks like we will head up the Marka Valley and possibily do a day hike up the Zanur-Karpo then head east and go out over the pass not far from Hemis Monastery. The conditions here are good and we are having an excellent time. We will call you in another three days."

To the group: "Does anyone have anything that they would like to say?" People say "hello".

"We are just packing up now and getting ready to head off. We have had great weather thus far with lots of sun, but today is a bit overcast so it is a little colder. Everyone is doing fine with the elevation. The cooks, guides and horses are all great. Everyone is healthy. We'll call you again in a couple of days. Bye for now."

Tomorrow, we head out to Hemis Monastery and will spend the day there exploring this site (the largest monastery in Ladakh). Tomorrow night we will take a bus to Leh and then over the next few days will be in touch. I imagine that it will be a real shock to fly back to Delhi soon after being in this environment. But everyone really enjoyed the trek and spirits are high.

One special request: Please post a Happy Birthday to Melissa’s brother for her. (Happy birthday!) We will be in touch again soon.

Erin.

We're back after a wonderful 8 days in the mountains! All semester Frank has been talking about taking a zip line over a roaring river... this is how our trek began. We loaded any combination of four people or backpacks into a rickety old wooden box approx. 4ft x 4ft, and 3ft tall, and sent the box zipping over the Indus to the opposite bank where we met Dorjee and Dorjee and our horses.

We were quite the entourage--10 students, 3 leaders, Namgial our local coordinator, Pemba the Nepali cook, the two Dorjees our horsemen, and "the boys" Norboo, Samten, and Stanzin. Our days varied from strolling through villages in the Markka Valley to route finding up alternative passes where we battled both heat exhaustion and whiteout blizzard conditions within the span of 10 minutes. "Take the snow out of your hats and put your down jackets on everybody!" shouted Erin as we neared the halfway point of the Kangmarula pass.

So our stay in Ladakh has almost come to a close. It's hard to imagine that we've only been here for a month. I feel that I've learned so much and grown in so many directions. My family in Phey really redefined for me what it means to be part of a family. The care and responsibility each member of the family felt toward each other and, even me, really blew my mind. It's really a shame that that kind of nurture has nearly dissapeared in the west. Exposure to such awesome and stunning natural formations really effected me here in Ladakh. The trek was an opportunity for me to really connect to myself and nature. The memories of gurgling streams, joyous mountains, and bowing trees carry with them a feeling of peace.

If I were to compare my body to the infinite empty space,
It is an existence as small as a particle of dust
My heart feels the empty space in its entirety and embraces it.
With each and every breath
I become one with the empty space.
Just as there is an empty space that exists outside my body
There is one that exists inside my body.
Since both empty spaces are connected
We are tightly embracing the empty space from inside and out.
All living things have their noses buried deep into this empty space
Receiving life from its greatness.
If the great empty space outside falls ill
It only follows that the small empty space inside falls ill.

One of the most important things that I've come to understand better from being in Ladakh is how important my own actions are and how they effect the world around me. Realizing, on some level, my interdependence with the rest of the universe really stimulates in me a desire to positively affect the world.

Lauren

We have really entered the final stage of our semester as we have left Ladakh and are now in the sweltering state of Rajasthan!

As we expected, the Markha valley trek proved to be an unparalleled experience for the group. The extra bonding time, the wonderful food, the opportunities to reflect during the days, passing through remote villages, the terrain testing our stamina, the stars, the altitude, the laughter. In all aspects the trek was meaningful, demanding, and truly a culminating experience for our time in Ladakh! Everyone performed exceptionally and eventually we all learned the basics of backcountry travel - risk management in a group setting, packing a daypack to be prepared for all weather conditions, Leave No Trace philosophy, high altitude travel and health, and the importance of communication while hiking with a party of 14 people!

After our tremendous day crossing the Kongmarula pass in a snowstorm, everyone's spirits had peaked and there was an enormous sense of accomplishment in each student's smile. It was a wonderful blue sky day when we returned to Leh. We stopped by Hemis Monastery on our way back, soaking up our last glimpses of this deeply rooted Buddhist culture in the northwestern Himalaya. This monastery is one of the largest and richest in Ladakh, with many prayer rooms and gathering halls for the monks to complete their daily rituals. It was a wonderful way to re-enter civilization and Ladakhi culture, to really remember that we are still in this mystical landscape and culture of Ladakh (when you are surrounded by only mountains for so long, you sometimes forget!). Namgial presented the history of both the monastery and the Drugpa Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism. This gompa visit really allowed us to summarize our time spent exploring this school of thought over the last two months and helped us realize how much we have all learned!

After an afternoon of some random, last minute shopping, Knight, Katie, Caitlin and I had arranged to meet at 6:45 to take a rikshaw to our hotel so we could be back by 7, the time the leaders had arranged for the group to meet and then go out to dinner. Seeing as how the 4 of us had somehow neglected to establish a meeting place, I was quite lucky to happen to find Knight in one of the shops at this time; neither of us had any idea where Katie and/or Caitlin were. When it became 6:50, we decided that Katie and Caitlin could get back by themselves, so we stopped looking for them and started worrying more about getting ourselves back.

We are busy as all running around and trying to make this end GREAT...... Our hands are covered in Henna, we are about to meet for a closing ceremony, then.... a surprise Bollywood dancing lesson with a professional instructor, dinner, dancing, and the airport. Things are going GREAT. Really. We are having a fabulous time and I cannot believe it is the 11th!

Erin

We've been doing a lot of traveling in the past week. We came out of the mountains in Marka Valley into Leh. From Leh we flew to Delhi and that same day we caught a train to Jaipur, Rajastan. We stayed there for two nights and then trained it on back to Delhi where we have been doing some serious shopping, packing for the plane home tomorrow in the early morning.

Both Delhi and Rajastan have left me perspiring more than I thought humanly possible, especially without even exerting myself. On the train to and from Rajastan I fell asleep on the leather train seats and woke up drenched in my own sweat. Conveniently, it means visiting the toilet less, because I just sweat out all the fluids I take in.

We are leaving for the airport in about 7 hours. This evening we have a final dinner planned and then we thought we might end the night with a little Bollywood dance party! We have had many great discussions about returning home and what to expect, about what we have gained from our time here, and about how we will continue to learn about ourselves and the world when we get back to the states. This has been an unforgettable semester and we cannot wait to share it with all of you in just 48 hrs!

See you soon, Cam

pizza at L&B's, the legendary Brooklyn pizzeria that Frank had been talking about for weeks

My family and Cam's family met us in the airport (with American flag sweaters and red, white, and blue streamers). We had those delicious cheese burgers we've been dreaming about for the past year, but somehow they just didn't taste as good as the thought of them does from Ladakh.