The good life

Is that even possible? Here are the perks:

- The weather is fantastic. Cool nights, warm days. 

- The beach is stunning and there are dolphins quite close

- People are super kind

- We have a great group of friends

- The girls LOVE school

- The food is wonderful

- The yoga shala that I teach at is on a hill above the ocean and I teach to the sound of the ocean

RIGHT OUTSIDE OUR HOUSE

FISHERMEN

ON OUR PORCH

OUR NEW HOUSE. WE ARE UPSTAIRS.

LUNCH- $1

Thank You Goa

Travel in India can be really hard. Everyone has stories to tell. We had three glorious weeks in dharamkot followed by a week of difficulty. Without needing to recount in detail - I will just summarize quickly. Trust me, I am not complaining. Itay and I understand that it is part of the experience here.

* Vashist was beautiful - a village tucked into Kullu valley but Itay, Naia, and Avigail were sick.

* The 15-hour bus ride to Delhi was hard- the "express" bus stopped a dozen times to pick up more people and Naia spent a good part of it sick and vomitting. While standing in the aisle to help Naia- the bus screeched to a stop and I flew 10 feet in the air- landed on the dashboard and fell to the ground. Good news- my heavily bruised body healed fast! 

* Delhi was 2 days. It is fine but crowded, polluted, dirty - and crowded.

Frolicking

We took a flight to Goa and nearly cried for joy- it is really paradise here. Goa - a state on the Southwest part of India is famous for its beaches, Portugese architecture, and laid back lifestyle. As far as beaches go- it is 200km of choices. There are North Goan beaches and South Goan ones. We chose South for its more quiet ambience. We've heard North Goa is very developed and a party scene. 

Our beach

Goa seems like a completely different country- it is clean, the architecture is Spanish style, people are relaxed and the scenery is postcard perfect- coconut, banana and mango jungle all around, small villages with colorful houses, long beaches surrounded by the jungle. No traffic, incredible food, colorful markets. 

Beach Path

The Village

The village we initially stayed in- Agonda- is quite special. Peaceful, small, and stunning. However- after finding out that there are two schools for the girls 10km away- we moved to Patnem. Riding on the motorbike each way was difficult and all three would fall asleep on the way home! Alas, we found Patnem to be another beautiful beach with many yoga options! We have a lovely, spacious 2 bedroom apartment, a chai shop across the road, the schools are great (alternative and progressive), and there is a very welcoming community of people here (yes, a lot if Israeli families).

Our House- Left side 2nd Floor

Cows Like The Beach Too

Our Favorite Thali- 2 dollars

There is a sizable community of people  who stay here year round as well as many who come year after year for high season (November-April). A lot of the foreigners who own restaurants and beach huts come for just the high season and close during Monsoon. We have met great people and feel very much at home here. We love the time to ourselves while the girls are at school and look forward to the next three months here.

So Sweet

Playing In the Front Yard

Starfish Everywhere!

Chai

Seven Earthquakes Later

When we had arrived in Dharamshala, we met a nice German woman, RIa, who has lived in the area for 25 years. Somewhere during the conversation, she mentioned that all the recent building was against the earthquake building code. She went on to mention that Dharamshala is sitting on a major fault and is expecting some sort of a huge quake in the future. Um okay. Glad we are on the 3rd floor of a 4th floor building over the side of a mountain. Ria also warned us that our hotel was NOT looking so safe to her. Great. 

Waterfall fun

In the Hills

Waterfall Fun

We had a magical three weeks in Dharamkot. We loved our guest house, our neighborhood friends, familiar faces, great restaurants and we LOVED going to the teachings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama (who by the way stopped to say hi to Amit!). We also loved the waterfall, the monks washing their robes and blankets in the small pools of the falls, the momo's (Tibetan dumplings) we bought on the road, the long walks up and down the mountains, the amazing eagles that graced us with their constant presence, the baby donkeys, cows and puppies, and all the goats and even the greedy monkeys. We loved the Chai Shop at the top of the hill that sells yummy cashew cookies and good chai and on and on. Life was really enjoyable in Dharamkot.  

Amit LOVES cows. Babies especially

Waterfall

Momos on the Road

One afternoon while Itay and the girls were napping- I was actually trying to write a blog post - I felt the room shake. At first I though it was construction from a nearby guesthouse but I then realized it was an earthquake. I woke Itay and the girls and rushed everyone outside. Turns out it was a 4.8 on the Richter Scale. It freaked me out. We later found out that there had been another one that day. 5 more followed over the next 2 days. Small ones. Other friends with kids made plans to leave and another family that we connected with contacted us and asked if we wanted to go with them to Manali area. We decided the time had come. Best to err on the side of caution. The girls and I took a walk down and then up the mountains for last minute errands- bid our amazing place goodbye and had a ceremony to thank and say good bye to all the people and animals we had met.

Walk to the Waterfall

Henna Tattoos

We took an 8 hour private taxi with our friends to  Vashist, near Manali- a beautiful and picturesque  village tucked into Kullu Valley in Himachal Pradesh. The driver seemed very intent to get us to Vashist as dangerously as he could.  He drove like a maniac around hair-raising turns on super steep mountains, overtaking everything in sight and veering sharply around blind corners at really high speeds. Playing chicken with massive trucks was did not seem to bother him the least. At some point I just stopped looking. Needless to say, we needed to stop multiple times to allow our friends' son to vomit. And no, we do not have car seats and backseat buckles do not exist here. We have become quite relaxed about the whole car thing though. 

LEECHES!

Vashist is lovely. The views are spectacular, exaggerated and peaceful. Snow-capped mountains loom all around us, the air is cold and crisp morning and night and warm sun blesses us during the day. There are wonderful hot springs right down the road from us and Amit and I already had our evening bath there with the Indian, Tibetan and local tribal women. It was really a lovely experience and we look forward to bath time at the springs tomorrow night. 

We will stay here 4 more nights and then begin our journey south, stopping at the Taj Mahal- bien sur. 

Waterfall

Bucket Bath

A fair comes to town!

The buzz around town is that :

A) The Dalai Lama is teaching next week!! We registered and will attend.
B) A street fair has arrived in the town square. We went!

We decided to go to the fair with our friend, Joelle. Joelle is from Holland and lives across the hall. She is a big hit with the girls. Joelle is here studying yoga and was happy to spend the day together on her break from her course.

Joelle and the Girls

 The fair was a hit! It snaked along a road behind the square and featured food stalls, rides and games for kids, clothing, toy and houseware stalls. Since we were there mid morning, it was pretty quiet. We began at the first food stall in the fair. Now we are well aware that food stalls are mostly a no no here but we figured that since so many people were gathered around, it would be ok. We ordered samosas and tikkis that came slathered in gravy, veggies, chutneys and a bit of yogurt. It was some of the best food I have had. We went back for seconds. Avigail loved the tikki - round, fried potato patties. Happy to say it all went down really well! (So far, that is)

Divine Food Stall

Our Delectable Dish

We then moved on to the rides. Joelle was a bit concerned about the rides- they looked ancient, badly maintained and rusty. But, the girls had no interest in the huge swinging boat that was nearly throwing its passengers out. We stuck to rides that were mostly man operated (no engine). We all had a great time. While the girls were on the big bouncy castle (biggest one I have seen), people gathered round to watch them squealing and screaming. Avigail got stuck at the top and a crowd gathered to convince her to come down. It was really sweet.  

On the Bouncy Castle

The carousel was very sweet and unique. It was operated by an older man who pushed it around manually. 

Carousel

More Carousel

We bought the girls some toys that broke later in the afternoon. We finished our day walking back up to our hilly home, having dessert on the way and visiting the local playground. We have made many friends and acquaintances here, from shopkeepers, cafe workers and owners, expats, travelers and other families on the road. It was lovely to come back “home” and see so many familiar faces.

Walking back up the hill, Amit said to me “India is cool. It is really special mommy.” Yes it is.

At The Toy Stand 

Here are some snaps from our trip to the waterfall

The Waterfall Ravine

We Made It To The Top

Frigid and Fresh Water

Surprised by the Goat at the Top

Goats at Rest in the Ravine