A Sunday Hike to Baba's Temple

On Sunday the 26th of September we went for a hike in the hills north of our camp. Our plan was to go for a short walk to The Waterfalls wich we though was one hours walk from the camp. We followed the river upstream and after a while we started to wonder how far it could be. Then we met two Americans (the first white people we have seen in Palampur) who could tell us that it would take us three hours to get to the waterfalls. Well, so we would miss lunch this day, but get a nice walk instead.
The next person we met was Baba, a Hindu priest, and we should find out that without him we probably would never have found the waterfalls. He came down the hillside and lucky for us Sara who speaks hindi was there and then he decided to walk up the hills agan to show us the way. With Sara as translator we learnt that he was a Hindi priest and was responsible for the tempel by the waterfalls and that this tempel is very important in this area because it is in honor of the river that brings water to the valley. He has lived in the tempel alone in the hills for the last ten years, but he walks down to the town everyday. When we walked down together with him we saw that he was highly respected and appreciated by everyone we met. He was also very kind and hospitable to us.
This Sunday we met again some of the contrasts that India can offer. They are building a hydro power station in the valley and near the station by the river we passed the shelters for the construction workers and their families;  shelters made by corrugated iron (?) and poorly dressed and dirty kids running around. Up in the hillside near the tempel we walked on the two years old construction road for the power station. The tunnels in the pictures is for the power station. Along the road we passed several shelters left by the workers; India offer a hard life for some of it's inhabitants.
It took us three hours to reach the tempel and the waterfalls, but it was worth every drop of sweat we sacrificed up the steap trail. I think the pictures speaks for itself. First we dank tea and ate boiled corn cobs and biscuits in Baba's house/tower before we had a swim in the ponds by the waterfalls. In the end of the day we had to hurry back to the camp before the staff started on our dinner so we could tell them that we would eat out on a restaurant. We still had time to take pictures of a goat in a tree posing for our cameras. We live an easy life here in India.