in shimla

last night i said goodbye to jojo in delhi and got on a "bus" for shimla. apparently i'm officially missing tourist season in shimla by 5 days - instead of a bus, the only thing that was available was essentially an oversized van that held 12 passengers. it was a really pleasant journey for a bus ride: i got on board at 9pm, slept, then woke up as the sun was rising over the himalayan foothills. i made it into shimla at 6:30am, checked into the YMCA here, and have spent most of the day wandering. it's a cute little town, but not too different from darjeeling. i have a feeling that all hill stations in india are essentially the same - crumbling colonial architecture, streets lined with overpriced shops, and and a population consisting of about 75% tourists. it's nice though, and the cool weather is a welcome change from the varanasi/delhi heat.

today has been a frustrating day, as it seems like every other man i come across on the street tries to either leer at me or touch me. i slapped one boy who grabbed my leg, though, and that made me feel a little bit better. dealing with sketchy guys has been one of the hardest things to get used to this year, and even though it's pretty commonplace (especially in varanasi), some days it's just more annoying than others. right now, i'm looking forward to hanging out in a nunnery for a while.

tomorrow morning i'm taking a taxi up to tapri in kinnaur, where i'll hopefully be met by some of the nuns i'm teaching. i called to let them know when i'd be arriving, but due to my rudimentary hindi and their rudimentary english, i'm not entirely sure that we were able to understand each other. that's the best thing about traveling in india, though - you don't have to plan things too far in advance, and really, you can't plan things too far in advance. somehow, though, everything always works out. i can't explain how or why, but it always does. it's one of my favorite things about this country.