Wifi in Manali!

Our hotel

Angry Cows

Rooftop view of mountains

 Well, quite a time lapse. I have spent a great deal of time in airports with no internet for the past two days.
We had a 13 hour flight from Newark to Delhi, which we almost missed due to flight delays.

 The flight was awesome. I am totally over my fear of flying! This plane had games with a built in controller!! And lootttss of movies and music (even some Garth <3) to pick from. I watched Blue Valentine first which I missed a fair portion of because I had to keep fast forwarding through inappropriate scenes..
After the flight we had to sit in the Delhi airport for NINE HOURS! We all slept on the floor and then played some bananagrams. I hated knowing I was in this new exciting place and couldn't experience it. Customs was a little terrifying. Men were walking around with huge rifles swinging from their arms and all the women had to be pulled into a small room to be checked privately.
  Then we boarded an extremely small plane from Delhi to Kullu airport around 6:30 am. The view was breathtaking. The mountains looked so perfect and there were waterfalls everywhere. Everyone was speechless just staring out the windows. When we arrived at the airport we were greeted with complimentary chai and extremely welcoming staff.
 Our trip leaders, Heather and Sunny, arrived shortly after with taxi's to haul us all an hour and a half to the hotel in Manali. To say the drive was terrifying would certainly be an understatement. While flying past a bus on a cliff, we swerved and almost smashed into a car headed directly for us. We drove at what seemed like 100 mph on the smallest roads filled with cows, children, parked cars, wild dogs, and carts full of live chickens.
  Some of it was beautiful looking and some of it was heartbreaking to see. A few women with their children approached our car to ask for money. It's so hard to not give it to everyone that asks. A dollar for us is almost 100 rubies for them. Enough to feed their children.

 Well none of us were able to brush our teeth or bathe for almost 2 days which was pretty disgusting considering all of the random foods we were eating to hold us over through the flights and layovers.
BUT we are in our snazzy hotel in the center of Manali, walking distance from the hospital we'll be working in. Beds are hard as a rock, which I discovered after I jumped on it expecting to bounce..
The "bath tub" really is a bucket under a hose. But we are just happy to have fully functioning toilets :) And also wonderful staff that make all of our meals to accommodate our various dietary needs and provide us with whatever we need to feel comfortable.

 We ventured into the bustling city today in search of local cell phones and slippers to bathe in. We saw many crazy things but I think to everyone else, we were the crazy things. They looked at us like we were  something they had never seen before.

Attempting to take a shower in the morning. Wish me luck :)

p.s.

These men entertained us. In the shops of Manali

Delhi airport

Just lost power..