On Sunday (9/25), I spent the day trekking to Chota Bangal (literally "little place") in the interior of the Dhouladur Range 0f the Himalayas with three amazing guests from Deer Park (Ritesh, Vid, and Anni). We started off in Billing, at the same site most paragliders in the area take off from, venturing into the next interior valley. The path was beautifully maintained by the local Gaddis (shepherds and cowherds) and we passed high along the ridge of the first few mountains, watching fog rise further into the range, eventually making a slow descent to Rajgunda, then crossing the river to Baragaram (where we were lucky enough to join some of the local Pahari children in play and where the older women told me it's a shame I'm not married and that they'd find me a beautiful Pahari bride), finally making it to Milota, our final destination (and one that connects back to Bir by a road, albeit a winding, tight, and mountainous one) after about eight hours of comfortable walking. The trail was misty and incredibly, unbelievably, magically verdant; the entire trip felt like I was dropped into a fairy tale. The day ended, as all good day hikes do, with a copious amount of pizza (courtesy of 4tables, a local establishment in the village of Gunehar that uses a real wood burning oven)! I look forward to doing this trek again soon (hopefully in an extended version) and trying the small local trails the wind up and down the mountains off the main trek. Hopefully, I'll even be able to follow the trail all the way to Bara Bangal (literally "Big Place"), a beautiful and secluded Gaddi community unreachable in Winter.
This past week I've settled fully in Deer Park Institute in Bir, officially starting my year of volunteer work! Deer Park's community work is focused mainly on ecology and education, and so far, I've been able to help construct a play-space/library for local children out of recyclable materials and start planning a secular ethics curriculum to be taught in the local Tibetan schools. I feel incredibly lucky to be given this opportunity to do such cool work at a place with such friendly staff and great facilities. And, of course, being in Bir, today I went paragliding! I'll update more on the actual substantive content of my work here as soon as it jacks up to full gear. Thank you for reading!
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