Next we ventured northeast toward the Himalayas to the medium-sized town of Rishikesh where two of the schools we were scheduled to visit are tucked in between the foothills of the Himalayas and the Ganges River.

This is a prayer spot in Rishikesh by the Ganga river. People pray to a statue of Shiva, as legend says the river came out of Shiva's tears.

Lucy: Rafting down the Ganga was one of the most memorable events of my life. I've only been rafting one other time, and it wasn't very fun. I wasn't exactly looking forward to the rafting in India, but once all ten of us had piled onto the raft, with paddles in hand, a smile formed on my face. The fact that we were about to swim and float down such a holy river made me extremely excited. About half way down the river the guide told us all to jump out of the raft. Malia grabbed me and dived off the raft, pulling me with her. The chilled green water engulfed me, and I rose to the surface. "It's freezing!" I yelped. Malia just laughed. My mom, Malia, and I swam over to the man in the kayak that was there if someone fell out of the raft. My mom sat on the front of the kayak while Malia and I sat on the back. The kayak was practically under water. It was really funny. After we all got back in the raft, the guide told us that we were approaching the second biggest rapid, "the rollercoaster." I'd never gone down rapids that big, and it was only the second biggest. It was a blast, and we all got soaked. My favorite part was being in the very front of the raft, leaning forward. This was because there weren't enough spots for people with paddles, so two people just had to sit in the middle. When rapids came, these people had to go to the front and lean forward on their knees. They got the most soaked. Then we stopped for a quick lunch and were on our way again, down the river. Then came the biggest rapid. It had a huge hole in the middle where the water rose up around it and looked like it was coming towards you. We were all screaming, or at least Bree and I were, and we barely missed the wall of water. The raft glided over the side, tilting as if it was going to flip. Luckily, it didn't. Then we floated safely to where we got off. We all wanted to do it again!

We were treated like delegates, like ambassadors! First at Jyoti, which means "light" in Hindi, the school for disabled kids - kids with no ego who responded to us with open smiles and hair braiding (plenty of long blond hair in our group :)

We joined in with the dancing, stared in awe at the "fashion show" of saris - the young women of the school dressed in all of their finery for the benefit of our students...

The shool put on an elaborate sari show for us. We got to see all kinds of saris.

Hali: Getting the saris in Rishikesh was a long, interesting experience. After getting the fabric, we went to the tailors for a fitting. The next day we went back to get them, and we finally got to put them on. This is my most vivid memory.
There are different saris for each region of the country. They have different ways of folding them.

Tyler Yates (alias Chai Baby) observes: After hiking uphill for six hours and then walking up 308 stairs above Rishikesh, the temple at the top was my favorite place in the world.

His name is gopal and he let us and others hold his cobra and boa constrictor.