Hey friends and family! Dani here, just giving you all a quick update on our time so far in Mcleod Ganj.
Once we left the Sustainable Living Institute we hopped in a taxi which took us to our hotel in Bhagsu, right outside of Mcleod. It was a little after our halfway point of the trip, so we decided to throw a pizza party to celebrate! It was a welcome treat after eating vegan for a week. We belted along to old songs and Disney music in the little cafe under our hotel.
The next day we arrived in Mcleod Ganj. Mcleod is home to many Tibetan refugees and is where the Tibetan government in exile resides. We were able to walk around and see a little portion of the town, including the Dalai Lama’s temple, before meeting back up to hear about all the different options for things we could do during our time here. Mcleod is a melting pot of different cultures and people crammed into a town where everything is a “5 to 10 minute walk.” This had made it easy for us to see a fusion of the cultures here, even though it is a pretty touristy area.
Here we’re able to take classes which would teach us different arts. We also have the opportunity to volunteer with Tibet World, a young organization that works to teach mainly Tibetan Refugees English. We get to participate in their conversation classes, and do one on one time with students.
This week instead of staying in a Hostel everyone is doing a homestay. We were broken into groups of two (except for Alessandra who’s doing hers alone), and introduced to the local Tibetan family we’ll be staying with. We spend breakfast and dinner with them, as our days are full of classes, volunteering, and exploring.
We were fortunate enough to be able to go to a long life Puja with the Dalai Lama. We woke up early and piled in the temple and surrounding area with hundreds of other people. At the Puja everyone gets fed bread, Tibetan butter tea, and rice. We got to watch him bless item after item. Even though we didn’t get to interact directly with him, it was still incredible to be in his presence.
We’re here for a few more days with our host families before possibly doing a trek. After this we’ll be in Amrtisar.