Hannah: Rishikesh, Utrrakhand

Our guesthouse

Festivities

Some of the gang

Angel trying to purify himself in the Holy Ganga

Finally arrived in Rishikesh about a week ago. I wanted to come here in 2001 - but I got denghy fever in Dehradun and never made it.

It's a touristy place on the bank of the River Ganges, famous for meditation and yoga. It's full of wierd and wonderful characters - Indian and foreign, some of whom wander around dressed as babas or sadhus, barefoot with dreadlocks and lunghis. The real ones are people who have left everything to devote themselves to meditation - and smoking charras usually and alot of Indians treat them with respect and give them food or money. There's also quite a few fake foreign ones who dress like that just to be cool.

Alot of people come here to do meditation retreats of about ten days or more, where you get up at 5am and spend eight hours a day sitting in the lotus position, meditating. I think the fact that you are not allowed to speak for the entire time you're there, put me and Angel off straight away! ;)

Rishikesh was probably made more famous by the Beatles who lived here for a while and wrote the White Album here. We went to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Asram, where they stayed and it was half derelict (shut down by the government but some old guy lives there and sneaks people in for 50 rupees.) We met someone who lived here at the time said that John Lennon lived in hut 9 and that's where he wrote most of the songs. If you're reading this and you're over 60, you probably know far more about it than we do.

Apparently an English Sadhu, friend of the guy we met, tried to go and see them at the ashram but wasn't allowed in, but a couple of days later, he was walking along the bank of the Ganges late at night with a friend and they heard music and saw a campfire. When they went over, it was all four of them with Mia Farrow and her sister and their spiritual guru. This guy told us that John and another one had taken acid and they gave them some but their guru disapproved so to keep it quiet. He also said that Mia's sister had taken Lsd and had a bad trip and refused to come out of her hut for two days. John sang to her 'Prudence, won't you come out and play'... And she came out and hugged him. Nice stories huh? True or fabricated...still nice.

Our guesthouse is an old ashram and all the rooms face into the courtyard in the centre. We've met loads of people - it's a good place to hang out. We spent alot of time chilling by the Ganges as well. There are little beaches dotted along the bank in Rishikiesh and they're usually desserted. We're also addicted to museli fruit and yoghurt breakfast but they're so big that I can't eat anything else till dinner. We found our new favourite place - Pyramid Cafe at the of a hill AND has wifi! It only serves organic home-produced food and it's amazing! All veggie- no meat at all here- but not missing it yet!

There was a big festival over the weekend for Indian new year, so the town was full of Indian tourists, fireworks, music, people throwing coloured powder etc.

Would've liked to stay longer in Rishikesh- really comfortable here and met some great people - especially our mad old Swedish hippy friend - who is a bit deaf and so just talks all the time so he doesn't have to try and hear. He's regailed us with hilarious stories - he's spent most of his life here and hates Sweden beacuse he says people never smile there. He's been back only once in 15 years and he lasted 3 days!

.... Next stop Sikkim! X

Angel: De Kasol a Rishikesh

Ya estamos en Rishikesh despues de varios duros dias llenos de sorpresas, aventuras y desventuras.

Tardamos 5 dias en llegar desde Kasol. Con la moto recien pintada y lista para el viaje, despues de 6-7 dias en el taller salimos en direccion sur. Pillamos lo que pensamos iba a ser un buen atajo. Los mapas en India no estan a escala y la informacion que uno obtiene de gente de aqui es mejor ignorarla porque te mandan siempre en direccion contraria. Hacen un gesto que es entre derecha, izquierda y to palante y nunca sabes lo que quieren decir.
En fin, decia que el atajo no era tal. Fuimos siguiendo el valle de Kulu hasta que pillamos el desvio, dejamos el rio y el valle y empezamos a subir la montanha por carreteras mezcladas de tierra y de asfalto. Prefiero de tierra casi porque cuando el asfalto es malo hay literalmente agujeros que si vas un poco rapido no hay manera de evitarlos. Cada vez que pillaba uno tenia que mirar para atras para ver si los bultos aun seguian en la moto, y tambien Hannah ;-).

Conocimos un chico israelita en Kasol, Yariv, que se vino con nosotros. La verdad es mejor y mas seguro viajar con mas gente cuando uno va en moto. Subiendo esa montanha la inclinacion era tal que la moto se paraba y no tenia fuerza cuando se sobrecalentaba. Tuvimos que parar varias veces y al final, el ultimo tramo Hannah tuvo que pillar un bus local hasta el puerto, alrededor de 3200m, y esperarnos alli. El bueno de Yariv nos echo una mano con los bultos.
Al dia siguiente Yariv nos tuvo que volver a ayudar porque pinchamos 3 km antes de un pueblecito y tuvimos que desmontar la rueda y llevarla a que la arreglaran. Se complico la cosa y despues de dos intentos y presenciar peleas de un borracho en el mecanico, tractores parando colandose delante de mi para que les arreglasen sus ruedas y demas conseguimos finalmente colocar la nuestra y seguir tirando.

La noche anterior no dormimos demasiado bien, paramos en un pueblo de montanha llamado Banjar, como todos los pueblos en los Himalayas muy tranquilos y sin mucho que hacer. Negociamos el precio de la habitacion y cuando llevabamos 2 horas durmiendo comodamente algo nos desperto que parecia la bocina de un autobus. Un grupo de 7 hombres habia pillado la habitacion(de 2 camas) de al lado y estaban de fiesta a las 2 de la manhana que en India es tardisimo. Los colegas tocando algo que parecia un corneta despertaron a todo el hostal. Los unicos que no aguantaron pacientemente fuimos nosotros, los extranjeros. El problema ahora era el lenguaje y el alcohol. Muy educadamente les dijimos que era tarde y que dejaran de tocar la cornetilla..etc, pero no resulto claro. Querian pelearse con nosotros como en sus peliculas de Bolliwood,(musica, mujeres y peleas), que si la cultura India esto, que si tu y yo fuera...etc. El duenho avergonzado y preocupado nos tuvo que meter en el piso de abajo, escondido y a medio construir, sin ventanas ni puertas. Que nochecita pasamos!!!

En fin, dos dias de conduccion faciles y 300 km mas tarde llegamos a Rishikesh. Es un lugar encantador rodeado de monte, con el Ganges en todo su explendor y aun fresquito y no tan caluroso como la llanura en el resto de India.
La mayoria de los turistas vienen a hacer meditacion o yoga. Es un sitio sagrado por el rio principalmente. Hay templos y babas por todo lado. Musica, ofrendas al rio, celebraciones...etc, todo muy colorido. Nos quedamos hasta el Jueves que iremos a Delhi y de ahi en tren a Darjeeling y Sikkim.

Hemos conocido gente en el hostel, la diferencia con Kasol es que los turistas aqui son de todo lado y no vienen solo a ponerse fumaos sino a hacer actividdes mas espirituales, yoga y meditacion principalmente. En nuestro hostel por ejemplo hay gente de Australia, Francia, Israel, Escocia, Alemania, Japon, Inglaterra y claro Espanha. El edificio del hostel es un templo super antiguo reformado. Pasamos el dia en el rio, descansando, leyendo, o por ahi bebiendo chai(te con leche super dulce) con el grupo de gente que esta en el hostel. Hoy iban a cocinar falafel para toda la penha. Lo dejo ya que si no llego tarde y me quedo sin cenar.

Hannah: On the road from Kasol to Rishikesh

Finally arrived in Rishikesh, home of meditation, and what a journey!!

I'm sitting here in a tree-top bamboo cafe overlooking the Ganga (Ganges) River, - still surrounded by greenery but the hills are much smaller than the huge wopping mountains we've come from.  The river is vast and occasionally Indian tourists go past on inflatable rafts paddling furiously. A constant stream of people and motorbikes pass over the bridge in the distance. The sun's shining and life is good. It's a far cry from the dirty dusty bumpy roads we've traversed to get here!

It's taken six days to get here, - much longer than we originally thought! We left Kasol just over a week ago, excited that the bikes were finally ready, and enthusiastic to get back on the road. We'd spent the previous day doing little things - checking the bike and painting the number plate on. It was nice sitting on the ground outside Rama the mechanic's, industriously drawing on the letters and cutting the only available paintbrush to size - Indian style 'If you ain't got it, improvise!' - Great mentality and man do they improvise!' Tourists kept pulling up on their bikes to see what we were doing. - We even got a couple of offers there and then for our fabulously new shiny bike! The colour wasn't exactly what we'd asked for, but then you never know exactly what people mean when they shake their head from side to side and agree to everything! As an ESOL teacher I should know better than to ask closed questions! It's more pink than crimson but in 'shanty shanty' style, we've warmed to it, - finally named it 'El Rocinante'!

The first day riding, the bikes seemed OK to start with. We'd decided to take a 'short cut' over the Jalori Pass - 3200m up - the highest crossing between the valleys, but as the road got steeper and steeper, our little bike, chugging up the hill with two people and a ton of luggage tied to it, got slower and slower, and finally stopped altogether! It seemed to have overheated, so we found it a little patch of shade and sat on a rock to wait for it to cool down. Our fellow riding companion, Yarif, who was also coming to Rishikesh always has a sweet or biscuit handy everytime we disaster strikes, then we usually have a cigarette and contemplate our next move.. it's become a bit of a routine. The next bit of the road was so bad that Angel had to take me up to the next village on Yarif's 500cc (more powerful) bike. The next part up to the pass, was even steeper. While I was waiting, I'd been chatting to a couple of workers at the guesthouse we'd stopped outside. There told me there was a bus, but only every two hours. After the compuslory chai, we spotted a bus coming up the hill so I told Angel and Yarif I'd jump on the bus with a couple of big rucksacks and meet them at the top. the bus was packed but I squished down in between a young guy and an old lady. She 'namasted' me and I did the same back and then she proceeded to fish a sweet out of what seemed like her armpit, and hand it to me. I accepted graciously, but thought I'd maybe save it for later! Everytime we went over a bump, she let out a high-pitched yelp and then gave me a toothless grin. Everyone on the bus kept thinking it was the strange foreigner and turning around and staring at me, who was obviously smiling back! I got chucked unceremoniously off the bus at the top and waited for the boys, who came over the top looking like they'd crossed the MotorGP finishline.It was all downhill from then on..

The next day also had it's share of fun. Just as we were thinking about where to stay for the night, after a long and bumpy ride through the mountains, we passed a truck and the bike swerved to one side. - Flat tyre! We beeped the horn for Yarif to stop, but in India, it's customary to beep the horn everytime you pass a goat, sheep, cow, person, bicycle, monkey, dog, car, motorbike, rickshaw, truck, bus etc. so he rode on oblivious... it was a good ten minutes before he came chugging back along the road to see what had happened. We managed between the three of us (me obviously holding the bike up in an expert fashion), to get the tyre off. Angel then, as he usually does, left us waiting on the side of the road, while he zoomed off on Yarif's bike to find a garage. (Thank God for Yarif!) He called us about ten minutes later to say that there was one about 3km away and they were already repairing the puncture. We were well-impressed and celebrated with a sweet and a cigarette! When we tried to put the tyre back on, however, it just wouldn't go. Then Angel realised that it was a waste of time anyway, because the air had escaped again! By the time he went off the second time, it was getting dark and we weren't feeling so jubilant as we waited and waited and waited for him to get back. We he did arrive, he'd brought another guy with him to help put the tyre back on. Apparently the mechanic was watching the wrestling with his friends while supposedly fixing two tractor tyres and then some drunk guy showed up and started trying to fight someone else and the mechanic was in the middle of it all, so fixing our tyre - again - was not high on his list of priorities!

In the meantime, a young guy stopped and asked the customary question of where Yarif and I were from. He then asked us about the bike etc. and then offered some food. He said it was for Pooja (offering up to God). He tore the fried chappati in half and gave us half each and then poured half melted Ghee over Yarif's. I declined. We weren't sure if we were supposed to eat it or not, but when Yarif started chewing it and I saw his face, I thought I'd discreetly put mine in my pocket. It tasted disgusting - like he's had it in his socks - or worse! Yarif had wait until the guy had gone, all the time nodding politley, and then go and spit it out.

That night also had it's share of problems! We stopped at the next village and went to the only place we could find: 'Meena's Paying Guesthouse'. Meena's daughter was a hard negotiator and tried to charge us an exhorbitant price for the rooms but Meena herself took a shine to Angel and even kept telling her husband off when he made us fill in more forms and charged us extra for the photocopies of the passports. We celebrated our long, hard day by buying some crisps and a small bottle of rum and coke and sitting on the balcony at the back quietly listening to music on the ipod and looking at the stars. It was all OK until about 1am when I was VERY rudely awakened by some kind of really really loud flute (something like those World Cup things, and people laughing and singing. The noise was coming from the next room and there was only a mosquito net at the top, separating the rooms, so actually it sounded like the party was in the room with us. Even with earplugs, the noise was deafening! I waited about half an hour and then I could take it no more. In true Subwarden style, I decided to march round there and tell them to shut the hell up! When I got there, Yarif had beaten me to it and was pointlessly trying to explain politely that he couldn't sleep and that it was very late. There were at least ten, very drunk men, squashed into the little room! The ringleader however, was having non of it, and was like Scrappy-Doo trying to hit Yarif and shouting that he didn't respect their culture. Meena's meek husband was in the middle, trying to hold them both away from each other. Angel appeared behind me, and one of the other guys, started shouting at him: 'you and me - outside'! I think he'd seen too many movies! It all ended with the manager leading down into a dungeon-like basement with rooms that were half constructed - no walls or glass in the windows - so we had a cold, sleepless night - but at least the music had stopped!

Hannah: Amritsar to Kasol

AT HOME IN KASOL

CENTRE

ME TRYING TO GET THE TIMER RIGHT!

THE GREAT HIMALAYAS!

OUR GUESTHOUSE

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After the smoky, noisy mayhem of Amritsar, we finally arrived into Kasol last Monday; a little town about 2000m up in the Himalayas. We spent about an hour riding in the dark against our intentions as Angel was determined to spend the last little bit of his birthday here.

Kasol is nestled in the Parvati Valley with lush green pine-tree lined mountains in every direction. In the distance you can see the rocky snow-capped heights of about 6000m.

Angel thought it was a perfect birthday ride. We started off at a huge lake, where we'd stayed enroute from Amritsar and the scenery got more and more spectacular as we followed the windy road through the Great Himalayan National Park. It looks more like Switzerland or Canada. You would expect to see black bears catching salmon in the river rather than the monkeys which play around on the side on the road.


Kasol has lots of colourful cafes and guesthouses and cool candlelit restaurants. The shops mostly sell fake North Face stuff and woollen hats and hoodies. There's the choice of traditional tea stalls and dhabas- most of which sell Tibetan noodles and stuffed dumplings. There's also a huge selection of middle-eastern food in the restaurants thanks to the dominant Israeli backpacker population. The locals call Kasol 'Little Israel' apparently - due to the typical groups of chillum-smoking hippies who listen to trance music wherever they go - So not much has changed on the backpacker scene over the last ten years!


Anyway we're gradually relaxing into the slower pace of life- at the moment, we're sitting on the balcony outside our room in the sun, typing away on the iPods, surrounded by half the contents of our rucksacks which are hung up drying around us. Our neighbour is also Israeli - coincidentally, but he is much older - more our age! - and he also tries to avoid the loud groups of his fellow countrymen who are obviously enjoying their first taste of post military service freedom!


He's also just bought a Royal Enfield - though his last motorcycling trip was 15 years ago, so I think we was glad to get reassurance from Angel that he got it for a good price. He's waiting now for a new crankshaft and we're waiting for our new pride and joy to be cleaned up and resprayed. - not sure we'll be able to keep calling it 'The Rusty Rocket' after that! We're also getting new shock absorbers- something which I'm personally very happy about. Bikes were never really built with the pillion in mind! After persuading Angel of the benefits of parting with an extra twenty odd quid for a brand spanking new fully sprung seat and now new shockers too... the ride should be a dream - even on the bumpy roads!


The mechanic originally said it'd be done by Tues but in true Indian style, Tues became Wed and Wed became Thurs so we'll what happens. I'm not too bothered - lovin' this place and I'll especially miss my afternoon tea and cake at the German bakery by the river. We've spent three days trekking to make up for it though!


The first trip which I though would be a gentle meander through the riverside woodland, ended up being, to quote the Rough Guide 'a day's hard climb' to Rashol, a village at the top of a bloody mountain, where the main income is from the production of charras (a resin made from marajuana) which everyone smokes everywhere in chillum pipes. It took four hours of constant climbing to get up there and by the time we crashed into chairs at the first guesthouse we found, we couldn't speak - not just because we were so knackered though, the views were amazing too! To be honest I wasn't sure if I was getting a bit old for this backpacking lark, but I don't whether India is changing, but it strangely seems cleaner than it used to! Not spotted even a single cockroach or rat at all! Fine by me!

Next stop Rishakesh! Xx

Spanish version:

Finalmente cuando Hannah se encontraba mejor dejamos Amritsar con su Sagrado Templo Dorado. Pasamos dos dias conduciendo bastantes horas para llegar a donde estamos ahora, Kasol. Decidimos ir los 400 km totales por carreteras comarcales con poco trafico y paisajes mas bonitos, las carreteras Nacionales son una pesadilla, camiones, coches, jeeps, motos, bicis, cabras, vacas, tractores que vienen en tu direccion y en tu carril...etc. Ademas el diesel y el polvo es mucho peor por tanto trafico, se mete por todo lado y parecemos indios al final de un dia en la moto.

Paramos a dormir al lado de un lago enorme en un hotelito que yo pensaba era una casa abandonada. Al fin y al cabo una cama y una ducha era todo lo que necesitabamos y lo tenia, osea que despues de negociar el precio(aqui se negocia/regatea todo) sin ninguna fortuna para mi nos quedamos igualmente. El dia de mi cumple fue otro dia largo. Las carreteras en la ruta que elegimos no eran tan buenas, una moto de motocross habria venido de maravilla. Finalmente ya entrada la noche llegamos a Kasol donde llevamos una semana de relax.

La moto de momento se ha portado genial, hemos decidido pintarla y hacer otros arreglillos, como nuevos amortiguadores, filtros...etc que la haran mejor y mas segura, ademas de mas apetecible para otro turista el dia q la vendamos.

Kasol es un pueblecito en El Valle de Parvati, ya metido en el parque Nacional de los Himalayas. Hay mogollon de Israelitas que viajan despues de terminar la mili. Estan todo el dia fumando hashish y con musica trance!! Pesadisimos!! A parte de eso el Valle es alucinante. Restaurantitos locales y turisticos con todo tipo de comida, rio salvaje, cascadas, baños termales naturales y demas. Hemos  hecho algo de trekking. Hay plantas de hashish por todo lado, en nuestro jardin, en la carretera, en el templo etc. Pero mejorl es un pueblecito en El Valle de Parvati, ya metido en el parque Nacional de los Himalayas. Hay mogollon de Israelitas que viajan despues de terminar la mili. Estan todo el dia fumando hashish y con musica trance!! Pesadisimos!! A parte de eso el Valle es alucinante. Restaurantitos locales y turisticos con todo tipo de comida, rio salvaje, cascadas, baños termales naturales y demas. Hemos  hecho algo de trekking. Hay plantas de hashish por todo lado, en nuestro jardin, en la carretera, en el templo etc. Pero mejor no tocarlas. Los locales lo usan como negocio y aunque parezca silvestre no lo es. Es mejor no meterse en lios, ademas ni fumamos ni nada.

Desde el balconcito de nuestra habitacion vemos picos nevados de mas de 6000 m. Un paisaje como decia brutal. Estamos super relajados, pasamos el dia en la terraza disfrutando las vistas mientras desayunamos, pasando el dia leyendo, o de paseos o simplemente no haciendo nada. Mañana nos dan la moto y nos iremos en direccion sur. Vamos a Haridwar y Rishikesh. Lugares sagrados en la ribera del Ganges. Mas en el proximo blog.

Angel: England to Amritsar

Angel: We left London on a sunny day a week ago to arrive to a very busy and wet Delhi. Straight into the night train that very same day. Trains are relatively comfy and definitely interesting in India, bunker beds, windows open all night with fresh air and 3 rusty dusty fans for every 6 beds, jungle views outside, tea and food offered all the time, even throughout the night :-/...etc.  It was a bit of a pain of a night really, there was a pilgrimage to somewhere near Jammu in the North and the train was really busy and noisy all through the night. 


We arrived to Pathankot in the morning, from there we took a 4 hour bus journey to Dharamshala(McLeod Ganj), our final destination. It is a nice hill resort in the Himalayas where the Dalai Lama lives. There is a big tibetan community that lives in exile. The Dalai Lama lives there for the same reason. Chinese authorities see him as a political/religious thread and would put him in jail as soon as he steps into Tibetan territory.

We stayed in Bagsu, a smaller town again in the mountain, amazing views, waterfalls and great food. Tibetan food is great, we have had plenty of momos, hhmmmm, it's a bit like Chinese dim sum. It started raining lots being end of Monsoon season but seems to be receding now and the heat took over again. 

We bought a Royal Enfield!!!! Now is when the adventure starts! :-) After long time negotiating with a mechanic guy that I rented bikes from in previous occasions we bought a vintage 91 model Royal Enfield. They are like Harleys, Triumphs, very nice looking and very noisy bikes. Originally British but India bought the company and brought it to India in the late 60's. Ours is a bit old and rusty one but rides really well. We are gonna fix the body work, travel through the North, Nepal, Sikkim and West Bengal and take it down south to sell it to another tourist in Goa in about 3 months before we leave India. that is the idea anyway.

We arrived in Amritsar yesterday, back in the planes, really hot. It is the centre of the Sikh religion. The place is called The Golden Temple, one of the holiest places in India, with thousands of pilgrims visiting the site every day . They feed about 10000 people every day for free, no matter what religion, race or nationality they are. It is part of their religion. Had some food and even drunk holly water. I keep drinking purified water from temples and hotels. Hannah keeps telling me off saying I am gonna get ill but I haven't, she has been careful drinking only bottled water but she instead, poor thing got ill today.  It must be my Spanish wilder genes and stronger immune system that is keeping me sound and safe. She is not gonna like this comment. Anyway. Gotta go back to check that she is fine.

I'll try and upload photos, not sure whether I can do it here in the blog. Otherwise I'll do it on my facebook page.

Translation:
Llevamos una semana ya en India. Cuando salimos de Londres el dia era bastante soleado, llegamos a Delhi y nos recibio el monzon en su maximo explendor. Lluvia, charcos y barro por todo lado. Estuvimos en el Gran Bazar que esta justo al lado de la estacion donde teniamos que pilar el tren cama esa misma noche. Para que quedarnos en Delhi, ya hemos estado varias veces y es sucia y no muy atractia. Salimos por la noche para Pathankot, una ciudadita pequena de alomejor medio millon de habitantes. Aqui lo que no pase de 10 millones es un pueblo!!. En fin, la noche fue no la mejor noche que he pasado en un tren, pero dormimos porque estabamos cansadisimos de tanto viaje. Los trenes estan guay, o son interesantes si lo prefieres, ventanas abiertas, puertas abiertas, un banco almohadillado de camastro, tres ventiladores por zona de 6 camas y 500 indios sentados cada uno donde puede, (sin respetar sus billetes generalmente) otros tantos pasando vendiendo te, cafe, comida...etc.

Llegamos por la manana a Pathankot y de ahi sin perder mucho tiempo pillamos un bus de 4 horas a Dharamshala, que era nuestro destino. Realmente McLeod Ganj a 10 km de Dharamshala. Es un pueblecito que esta en la montanha, region de los Himalayas. Verde, mas fresco, con vistas impresionantes, comida y alojamiento baratisimo y buenisimo dentro de los standards del mochileo. hay una poblacion tibetana muy grande. El Dalai lama fue exiliado alli hace muchos anhos y no le dejan volver a China. india les ofrecio ese pueblecito y se han afincado alli.

Nos hemos comprado una moto!!!! Una Royal Enfield clasica, como la de la pelicula de diarios de motocicletas del Che Guevara, algo asi. Ibamos a ir a Laddakk y cachemira en el norte, pero el frio al estar tan alto(pasando puertos de mas de 4000m) y los deslizamientos y demas nos han hecho replantear la ruta y hemos venido a Amritsar, ciudad nsagrada de los Sikhs. Tienen el Templo Dorado que es alucinante. He puesto fotos en un album. Hannah la pobre se ha puesto mala y lleva un par de dias casi sin salir de la habitacion. esta mejor. Tiene un veterinario que la cuida. Tiene suerte que no tengo termometro. ;-)

salimos manana para Kulu y parvati Valley donde nos vamos a quedar de tranqui por un poco. Es otra vez himalayas, pero no muy alto. verde y pueblecitos con riachuelos y restaurantes rurales y poco mas. A descansar y a aclimatarnos, especialmente Hannah despues del imprevisto.