Day 15 - Monday/Somwar - Shiva's Nature Trail

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Up at 8 for breakfast, later than the rest of the group - one advantage of my placement is it's the one which starts the latest, so I get a little longer in my bed than the others! Had some tea and toast, a quick shower, and then set off to the Day Care Centre with Krishan. As the minibuses are needed by the others in the group, and the placement is within "reasonable walking distance", that's how I'll be getting there every day. It takes 30 minutes to walk, and by the time we arrived Krishan and I were teeming with sweat!

When we arrived, we were mobbed by the children, shouting "Namaste!" and "Hello Teacher!". It was then that we met the Angarwadi (Day Care Centre) assistant, who informed us in broken English that the Teacher hadn't yet arrived, although it was one and a half hours into the school day by that point, so she probably wasn't going to arrive. I felt this was a bit out of order, to put it lightly, but there wan no point complaining and Krishan and I just shrugged and got on with the task in hand. We played with the children, and did a bit of ABC's with the older ones, then helped the assistant serve the meal at 11. Each child in an Angarwadi or Government School gets one meal a day, provided by the State, although this is very basic - usually just lentil or chickpea broth. We then helped clear up and keep the children happy while the assistant tidied the kitchen, and played with the kids until about 12:30. Absolutely drained and dehydrated, we picked up Nikki and Karoline on the way, then walked back along the beach to the camp.

In the afternoon, Kai, Keith and I had arranged to go on a walk with Shiva. He took us a few kilometers up the coast, pointing out various plants, birds, insects and other wildlife along the way, the names of most of which escape me. The most memorable sights however, were the large owls, two breeds of kingfishers, a blue-tail bee eater and a harris hawk, plus dozens of butterflies. After two hours walking, we headed back to the bar, where we had a beer before dinner.

Dinner was the usual offerings of rice, veg, dhal and chapatis, which is getting rather boring to say the least! We then had a brief meeting to discuss everyone's experiences and opinions after their first day, after which we crashed in the rec room. A few people headed to the bar later for a couple, but I was drained after the day's experiences and headed for an early bed at 10 instead.

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