One Lap Around the Earth ... attempt 1: Pushkar, Camel Safari and Really Cute Kids!!!

India is amazing, but I wish for one day only the power would not go out, and the flies would go away. I am sitting at the "Funky Monkey" cafe right now waiting for the power to come back on so the flies will leave me alone. WOW! It just happened! Maybe this means I have good Karma? Anyway - Kale and I are currently enjoying Pushka. A little about this town... It's a holy place. The food served here is strict vegetarian, and alcohol is prohibited. BUT marijuana is legal, and you can order it as a "lassi," which is similar to a fruit smoothie. It is listed on menus as the "bhang lassi" or the "special lassi." These marijuana-laced beverages will run you anywhere from 40 to 80 rupees (90 cents to $1.80) and they are very strong. Kale and I haven't tried one yet, but we are thinking about sharing one before we become Buddhist monks for 10 days. Yes. We are going to enter a Vipassana meditation center for a ten-day retreat. We will not be allowed to talk for ten days. It should be interesting. Kale and I will be separated because males and females are forbidden to interact during the ten-day retreat. We enter our monkship on October 12, and it ends on October 23. Between now and then, we plan to just enjoy Pushkar.

Back to Pushkar - it is a sacred Hindu town, the main pilgrimage site of India and one of it's oldest cities. Pushka is home to the world's only Brahma temple. Brahma is the Hindu god of creation. There are more than 500 temples that surround Pushkar's focal point, the sacred lake. The sacred lake is surrounded by 52 bathing ghats where Hindu pilgrims go to cleanse themselves of sins and disease. Tourists can walk down to the lake for a blessing, and receive their "Pushkar Passport," and since this includes a donation, there are several locals here that pretend to be priests so they can bless you as well as take you to the cleaners. :) However, if you have your passport you get left alone. The passport is a small orange and red string wrapped and tied around your wrist, kind of like the red Kabbalah string. Kale has his passport, and I do not.

This photo represents the southwest corner of the lake. One the right is Sivitri Hill, and if you look closely, you will be able to see Sivitri Temple on the top. Kale and I are going to climb this hill tomorrow morning. I'm sure the experience will be lovely, and we'll be able to take some photos of the entire town of Pushkar once we reach the top.

Yesterday we had scheduled a short camel safari and dinner with a local man named Kalu. We left Pushkar at 3pm and rode into the desert/hills for a couple hours. At one point we stopped to let the camels take a break and have a drink of water, as well as to give our butts a rest. After the break we took off again for another hour or so until we arrived at Kalu's family farm. Here we were greeted by his mother, grandmother and a five kids. Mum gathered a table and chairs for us and made us fresh chai tea. We sipped our tea and talked for a while then she was off to prepare a fantastic feast. While she was cooking we were talking and playing with the kids. Their ages ranged from 3 to 12, 2 boys and 3 girls. The kids were great, they were so happy and playful. One boy was happy doing his own laundry, he was 6. The little girls were the really playful ones, they would take our hand and lead us up a flight of stairs along the side of the home to the roof, their bedroom during summer. There we played dizzy time, picking them up by their arms and spinning around until we were both dizzy, you know the usual games you would play on a roof. Don't worry, there was at least a small wall around the edge. The kids were fearless and happy, they didn't have a tv, video games, or toys. They did have a wide open yard and fields to play in, along with camels to ride. They found stuff to do, they created their play instead of having it created for them. They were the most well behaved kids we have ever seen (aside from our lovely nieces, nephews and godson of course! lol). One boy, Vikrm, was Kale's camel guide. He is 10 years old and works for his uncle Kalu. He just helps guide the camels on the tours. This boy was very intelligent, quiet, kind and very soft spoken. He was a true little gentlemen. After we ate dinner, which was a combination plate of chapatti, dal fry, aloo gobi and basmati rice, we followed mum and Kalu's two sisters into a small room to look at Kalu's wedding pictures, as well as other family photo albums. Whenever we would run across a photo of someone who has passed away, they would point and say, "him/her...die." There wasn't any sorrow involved with telling us this either. "He - die ... she - die ...my brother - die ... my sister - die ... my father - die." The statement was very matter-of-fact, and said without any sadness. We laughed about it later and now every now and then we say to each other, "he - die." HAHA

Here are some photos of our camel safari:

Kale and Vikrm