Camel safaris, wild packs of dogs, monsoon rains and a broken table.

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Hello,

The last few days of our tour ended in Pushkar where we endured a camel safari, wild packs of dogs, monsoon rains and ended our stay with a broken table!

The first night in Pushkar we stayed at a fabulous place with an actual pool!!! We were scheduled to start a camel safari that night but about 2 hours before our departure the skies opened up and poured heavy drops of rain mixed with snow on us. Our guide said rain or shine so we mounted the camels and prepared for a wet safari. My poor camel boy was shivering and completely drenched. Huge giant bucket sized raindrops and even some snow was coming down on us! Soon came the lightning. About ten minutes of walking and I see Javed (our guide) running down the street to stop us. He called it off and a good thing too. The next day in the paper on the front page was a report of two people dying from a lightning strike. So our safari was postponed for the next day.

Camel riding is not as glamourous as you think. It is the weirdest movement and left me sore for days. That and camels are the ugliest most peculair animals I have ever seen in my life. Mine seemed to have a tick and kept kicking his feet up when I asked Baba why he said that camels are afraid of ants and that was why he kept kicking his feet up! Once we got to the campsite there wasn't much else to do but go to sleep since the sun was already down. Our tent seemed to be smack dab in the middle of a road and I kept waking up to the sound of tractors whizzing by. It was not as rural as I had hoped. Also, we seemed to have attracted the attention of a pack of wild dogs and our camel boys had to stay up all night chasing them away. Ahh, India. Gotta love it.

So our last day together at the hotel and I decide to pop a squat on this glass table in the foyer and end up breaking it into two pieces. The lightest little Asian girl and I end up breaking the hotels table. Well I apologized profusely and got on the bus hoping that I wouldn't get thrown in an Indian prison... No Indian prison for me but you break it you buy it. They made me pay 40 bucks to replace the glass top. Oh well small price to pay for your freedom!

In Calcutta now. I will start volunteering tomorrow with Missions of Charity. Mother Theresa was the most beautiful person I think ever to live. Her story is amazing and I am excited to be part of something so simple but so profound. He devotion to Jesus and her dedication to live among the poor is humbling.

Love you,
Becca

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