Varanasi and Dysentery

Varanasi seems like a million years away but still worth a little blog action. Julia and I headed there after Lucknow and arrived in hot, sticky, stinky but still charming, old and compelling Varanasi. One of the oldest cities in the world and a site where if one dies you gain instant moksha or spiritual enlightenment. So there are tons of hella old people hanging around waiting to die. People carry the bodies of their deceased wrapped in gold and silver foil down to the burning ghats and ceremoniously burn the bodies near the Ganges. The Ganges; so sacred and purifying. And... full of crap. Garbage and dead bodies and all kinds of hella nasty shit that I'm not about to tip a steel boot into. Took a boatride in the evening one night and got to see some people bathing and doing rituals. Went to a puja one night which is this i don't know what ceremony the priests perform every night. Complete with incense and bells clanging and people nonstop taking pictures of me on their cell phones. Met some really nice people and spent an evening with the power out wandering through creepy darkened alley ways in Varanasi trying to find the guesthouse. It was intensely hot, but a great little city. Julia and I ran into like five Sadhanans and three of which were at our same guesthouse, so we got to chill on rooftops and eat overpriced slow ass food and chat in the evenings.
And then I get back to Delhi sick as a dog with stomach amoebas churning and whipping about my intestines. And so I went to the hospital in Delhi in case it was something because I knew I'd have to sit in Vipassana for ten days
and didn't want to be sick.
And that was an interesting experience.

Get to the hospital.Sit down at this table with a doctor. Tell him my symptoms. He writes a prescription. I get the prescription filled and some blood drawn. They sign the sheet and send me on my way. I don't even pay. They don't even ask my last name. And this is a nice ass hospital. The whole thing took about twenty minutes.
Oh India.
So i get back and check out the prescriptions and find out that what they've given me is for three possible ailments. Baccilic Dysentery, Amoebic Dysentery, or Giardia. I narrow it down to bacilic dysentery because of my symptoms and fever. Dysentery in Delhi. So much fun.
Then I took an overnight busride from hell to Dharmsala for some much needed silence and meditation and for hopefully the antibiotics to kick in.