Mind blowing. The whole crazy thing. Varanasi known as the oldest most spiritual city in India —filled with everything all at once all encompassing: dirty, stinky, good smells, disgusting smells, grossness, incredible beauty, fresh produce, beyond gorgeous temples ... everything exists all at the same time intermingled. The good, bad, ugly, beautiful, fresh and disgusting. You find it all here. ⠀ It’s so dusty and dirty in the main streets that women commonly wear full head wraps similar to a burka but in beautiful colors. It wasn’t for religious reasons it’s just that dusty, dirty and grimy. ⠀ The traffic cray to the max. Finally get to the long winding alley way that we will have to maneuver for quite a while to get to our hotel. ⠀ Walking the narrow alley you contend with people, motorcycles (watch out these are small alleys) smells from delicious to more disgusting then you can imagine, too many wild dogs -some looking almost dead, some cows and monkeys, and all the feces that go with it, human, dog, cow, monkey and oh gross I just stepped on a fresh dead rat... moving on.... ⠀ The alley eventually dead ends at our hotel... thank God it’s nice and a solace in the craziness ⠀ We all get our rooms. All different but with balconies and Ganga River views... oh and complete with monkey 🐒 💩💩💩 ⠀ We stayed in that night and enjoyed a very delicious meal at the hotel rooftop restaurant. We had no idea what would be in store for us... the whirlwind ride varanasi would take us on...... ⠀ Homer asks, “How long are we staying here?” ⠀ —-> I reminded the group that it’s in the uncomfortable the real growth is available and it’s up to us to either get distracted in the uncomfortable and miss the growth or reap the higher life reward by embracing all the messiness and sit in the uncomfortable and look it straight in the face ——which we did... and surprising to all of us Varanasi ended up being one of our favorite experiences in India. That’s what I call being opening and embracing everything. 💝 ⠀ #SpiritualJourneys with #CindyEyler ⠀ #indiaspiritualjourney #growthintheuncomfortable #gangariver #whatisvaranasilike #varanasi #ttavel #india #travelwithpurpose (at Varanasi - काशी - बनारस) https://www.instagram.com/p/B1fo0knF4_o/?igshid=1dp27nb95mph2