A Trip of a LifetimeLaura Harper — Oakville, ON
When I first became a travelling volunteer in 1987, our founder, Murray Dryden, promised it would be a trip of a lifetime. Indeed it was and with many more to follow. The trip to Spiti Valley, however, exceeded my wildest dreams. After fifteen hours flying time from Toronto to Delhi via London, we stayed overnight in Delhi and left the next morning for a three-night stay in Manali to get acclimatized to the altitude. Never have I travelled such winding roads and hairpin turns as we climbed up mountains and down into valleys, through passes with spectacular sights of snow-covered mountain peaks and cascading waterfalls. We passed from green-forested landscapes to the barren desolate landscape of Spiti Valley where only a few willows dotted the countryside. The only other vegetation were the fields of barley, peas, and potatoes that were irrigated from the waters from the mountain streams. Occasionally we saw wild rose bushes blooming out of the rocks and other yellow, purple, white, and blue flower patches. We saw lots of horses, goats and sheep, trucks carrying goods to outlying areas, dried-up river beds as well as rivers of rushing water. One of my hopes was to see a yak and it was realized when we visited a temple in Manali — although I declined the opportunity to sit in the saddle and have my picture taken. We saw two more in Kaza drinking out of a pond in the street and on our return trip we saw a yak on the mountainside.
Spiti Valley literally means “middle country”. Rudyard Kipling in his book Kim called it “a place where the gods live.” Although geopolitically part of India, Spiti Valley is culturally part of Tibet. Life there is much like it has been for the last thousand years. I suspect it is changing since tourists have been allowed to visit since 1995. Monasteries dominate village life and influence all life and culture. The first four days we were in Spiti Valley the Dalai Lama was in Kaza, a town six kilometres from the school where we stayed in Rangrik. Thousands of people from surrounding areas flocked to witness his arrival by helicopter and lined the streets up to the temple for his formal reception. His Holiness held teachings for the next three days and we attended one morning. Unfortunately our radios could not pick up the English translations but it was exciting to be part of the crowd.
Since there were no children at school while the Dalai Lama was in Kaza, it provided us the opportunity to remove all the old beds and bedding and set up the new beds for their return. All that needed to be added were the pillows which we gave out at our Sunday and Monday photo sessions. On the return journey to Delhi we encountered rain and mudslides which added to the thrill of travel. I can only express my heartfelt gratitude for the superb driving skills of our two drivers: Jeetu on the fourteen-hour trip between Delhi and Manali and to Kalzang, on the eight-hour drive between Manali and the Spiti Valley. What a privilege it has been to be one of the Spiti Valley Three. I would like to close with the prayer the Dalai Lama used in his autobiography Freedom In Exile. I think it fits our founders' philosophy and that of our donors: For as long as space endures |
