Gosh darn, I had this whole long post that I even wrote in Word so that I wouldn't lose it but my stupid computer just shut itself off for no reason. Poo. So I'll summarize so you won't worry that I've fallen off the face of the earth.

I got to Varanasi on Tuesday morning. While some aspects of it, like the beautiful old temples and buildings and the religious life focused on the Ganges river are fascinating, I've mostly been overwhelmed by the constant haranging of the rickshaw drivers, hawkers, beggers, kids, and sketchy men. I was ready to move on to my further destinations on Thursday but when I woke up from my post sunrise boat ride nap, my lower back hurt and I didn't feel well. A trip to see the doctor at the local hospital seemed to indicate that I had a kidney infection but I would have to wait for a final test that would be ready until Sunday. I wasn't happy with this prospect but I'm dealing with it. I basically haven't left my hotel room in the last two days and have found copious amounts of sleep to be best cure. After getting the tests back, it seems that I didn't have a kidney infection, but just a bad cold or flu with back pain. This has not been the most fun stopover and it's disappointing that I've lost these additional days here but this is one of those things in life that I can't control so I have to just go with the flow. Either way, I feel much better and will probably get to finally leave here tomorrow and go meet another volunteer in Rajastan. I'll repeat that I feel much, much better and I will be fine. I hope that you all are having much better health than I am and I wish you well. Peace and I'll be seeing some of you in about 2 1/2 weeks!