July 9, 2007 - Varanasi, India

Some facts about The Ganges River:
+ Ganges means "Great Mother" in Hindi
+ Over 60,000 people bath in the river each day
+ Over 30 large sewers flow directly into the river
+ The water is septic - no dissolved oxygen exists
+ The fecal coliform bacteria is 1.5 million per 100mL of water. In water safe for bathing, this should be less than 500.
+ The ultimate wish for Hindu's is to die at, be buried at, or cremated at The Ganges River in Varanasi. This is why there are dead bodies floating in the water.
+ There is absolutely no aquatic life, living in The Ganges River. The river never smells, because nothing is alive.

The reason people bathe in The Ganges River is to cleans their sins. I figure I need all the help I can get, so this morning at sunrise, my Indian friend, Bhati and I woke early to take a dip.

Bhati told me to go first by walking in, plugging my nose and head under. My vision was only wadding up to my knees. But, "when in Rome..." Surprised by how clean the water was, after my dip, I continued to swim around in the deep water for a couple of minutes. In the last couple of days, we have seen three dead bodies in the water - I was very conscious of this throughout my swim.

Essentially, today I swam in spiritually blessed sewage water in order to cleans my sins.