Greetings blog readers, worried parents, friends of friends and creatures, space aliens of all kinds. We left off in McCloud gang in the wintery little village of the daliest lama and took a day train to bikaner. Avery quaint little desert town, we arrived late at night and not a creature was stirring, only wild dogs sniffing through garbage. We turned our attention towards our hotel, my bloodstained sheets and cockroaches let me know this was indeed a 4 star hotel. upon our introduction the hotel managers stuck a paper mache deer in jeff's face, we were all pretty tired and confused, before we all retired to our infested nests the managers offered me 100 rupees to swim naked in their swimming pool, best 3 dollars i have ever made. The next day we roused slowly and headed for a temple, apparently tourists weren't allow but because of our excellent guided we were able to get in. There was praying singing, drumming, and ecstaticness filled the air as we all looked towards the unknown idol in the passageway and were doused with holy water and tulsi. We explored a nice market place with the cheapest posters in all of India, it was nice to get prices on gifts and food. We saw some historic building and the worlds tiniest painter swooned us with his miraculous eye power as he took tiny brushes on tiny paper and made beautiful pieces. We ahh and oohhhed at the silky textile bed sets for the whole family as the charismatic indian rolled out countless sheets of Indian works. We quickly left to catch our camel adventure, into the desert. We drove out of the city, face to face with camel jockeys and their treasured camels, we all arose into the sky and bounced until our groins were pounded to dust. Under the stars and the flood of cold desert air we ate ten million chipattis and all huddled together for warmth, this is the meaning!!!! of group bonding, the ultimate. We woke up several times in the night and probably nobody slept, but it was worth it to see countless shooting stars and not get eaten by desert tigers. After a long morning, we rode for an hour to have a really long lunch, sitting in the shade many of us discovered the lice in Calcutta had followed us all the way to the desert. The group moped and chuckled as we picked the little critters out of our heads. I still can't decide what is better, lice or leeches? After returning to our hotel, we relaxed our legs muscles and went out for a nice dinner and silly time at a restaurant in Bikaner. Returning only to Eli, who hadn't joined us in the slickest of suits, we could tell he was feeling classy. We all sit the nests early that night so that we could adventure to Jaipur in the early morning. after the stuffy morning on the train jaipur finally arrived, it seemed relatively calm, but suddenly as the day progressed the calm got more and more demanding, and the people did as well, it was impossible to find quiet people always approaching you to buy things it was a crazy mess. We had nice thalis, I met a nice braman man and he was able to show me a nice gem shop. Eli and Tiana went to a fake psychic guru who guessed their lives and I think many just retreated to the hotel. I arrived late not wanting to be overcharged for a night rickshaw and got lost near the hotel. When i returned the group was almost reunited enough to go see harry potter in a ridiculously fancy mall. There was a pigion in the top rafters and wondered if he felt fancy. The movie was great, with a particularly awkward intermission, and close security making sure jeff could not put his feet on the seat ahead. The movie did a great job of making me feel like i wasn't in India any more, I think after the taxi ride home and the first half of the next day we were all glad to be leaving for pushkar.
More coming soon, thank you readers.
Enjoying a lecture about Ajeet's work with Guria to eradicate child's prostitution in Varanasi and beyond.
Bollywood dance poses at an Indian wedding in Varanasi after taking over the dance floor for at least one whole hour.
All the girls so pretty in silk saris!
Becca loving the children (as always) at a artist colony just outside of Jaipur, Rajasthan
Dancing at the artist colony
Noah literally jumping in and chasing all the kids in his horse costume
Lydia making a little clay pot in Jaipur
The group at Amber fort in Jaipur
