On the edge

I'm sitting in an internet cafe in Mussoorie right now, owned by a sikh guy who sounds almost american, and who has taken it upon himself to educate us in hindi hip-hop. It's not bad. The street outside is probably 10 feel wide, and has deep horizontal grooves in it for traction purposes. Oh, did i mention that we're on the top of a mountain? Across the street is a man in plaid pants, lifting a burlap sack seemingly 80 or 90 pounds on his back, and putting the strap over his forehead to keep the bag on, and keeping his hands free. I guess school just got out because there's tons of 'mountain children' as Rae says walking up the hill back to their homes. Horns of motorcycles, motor-scooters, trucks and cars are constantly blaring to notify each other of their presence as they go around the tight and treacherous switchbacks up the mountain. The roads here are sort of similar to those in Yosemite, except that cars go into the other lane frequently to pass each other. Driving here is SO dangerous, and it looks like there should be constant accidents, but there aren't. On roads as narrow as 7 feet, two cars going opposite directions will get within a centimeter of each other, while being on a 60% grade. Also, they're all stick shifts, and the cars never roll back - i don't understand how they do it. Indians are the the best drivers on the planet.

Anyway, I'm in this internet cafe as part an excursion downtown to get a few things. Downtown is about a 20 minute walk from where we're staying, which is at the top of the mountain. We're literally living on the edge - the clouds aren't anything distant anymore, we're stuck in them, which means the the view isn't as impressive as it could potentially be. However the view is absolutely incredible. We see all of mussoorie on a relatively clear night, wrapped around the roads that wind their way up to us. It's so nice to get out of the city - Mussoorie is super lush and green - i've never seen so many bugs in my life, we're getting used to it. There's also the monkeys, which are very territorial and are known to get very close and screech at you, sometimes even attack if they feel threatened. the trick is not to look them in the eye, show your teeth, or challenge them, and you'll be alright. Just in case, Camden and I went into town yesterday to get canes to double as weapons in the event of a monkey attack. They're also pretty stylish.

Aight i gotta go, but hopefully we'll get internet at the place we're staying today and i'll be able to tell more.

Namaste