Another chapatti?

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At last: India!

The first thing you need to know about India is that no matter what you do, how much you take care of yourself or how much you try to ignore the sellers on the street: you are going to be scammed at some point…
Delhi, where we finally arrived to in India, was a complete chaos (not unexpected, because everybody said it was going to be like that, but then again, nobody can expect that much chaos!) As we arrived to the airport we almost fell for the common taxi scam. We paid for a pre paid government taxi, but a “non-government” taxi almost got us into believing him to take us with him. Luckily we managed to escape to a prepaid taxi that, after stopping in a few other hotels that were not the ones we wanted to go to but the one the taxi driver was going to get a commission for, took us then to a dark alley (it was 4:30 am, so pretty much all the alleys were dark and menacing) that led to our crumbled hotel. There we were going to meet Natalie and Scott to start our journey together through India the next day. The alley was a meter wide, and crumbled with different hostels and guest houses, and the first question that came into our mind was: “Is this where we are going to meet them, is this the place they booked for us?” To make things worst, the hostel was closed, and we could see through the glass door the people in charge sleeping the night away on the floor. After some shy banging on the door without getting any response, a French woman (another soon to be guest of the hostel) came marching up the alley and banged on the door like her life depended on it, and screamed for them to open the door. We had to stand back as she demanded this and that to the still sleepy host. She obviously had been in India before, as she soon told us.
That was our first lesson in India, don’t be shy and demand what you need or you wont get it!

First impressions of India: chaos (as said), traffic wild enough to get you killed from a heart attack (and nothing else apparently, because we didn’t see any traffic accidents), noise (traffic related most of it: horns are a way of living in Indian traffic), garbage (everywhere), and obviously cows (religiously eating the garbage.) Without the cows India will be the biggest dump in the world.
That afternoon Nat and Scott arrived, so we decided to take the next bus out of Delhi to Agra, home to the famous Taj Mahal. That’s when we fell to the first one of many little scams that make India the funniest place to barter in the world: we came down from 500 rupees to 400 on a local tourism agency to travel to Agra, for an air con bus with comfortable seats for the 4 of us, and a short three hours and half trip to Agra. Result: we ended up in a 7 hour trip tightly squeezed together on two wooden benches next to the seat of the driver, who wouldn‘t stop using his horn!!! Welcome to India!!! Hahaha!!!
The India experience will be incomplete without it!
No worries. It’s part of the same India that we learn to love just as much as hated it then.

Agra was very beautiful. The Taj was an experience on its own. It’s really amazing to see so many people visiting the most impressive and romantic tomb in the world. The moment we crossed the entrance to finally see it has no price… (Well it does, because that’s where you hear somebody from your left telling you that you have to pay for the right to take photos, and that you can’t take the video camera near the Taj!) Anyway, it’s very impressive to actually walk that same marble that so many walk every day. It doesn’t feel real to be here. The Taj Mahal!!!
The colours and the settings of the city on witch it stands started to form an image of this amazing India that we were about to meet: A mixture, without much conflict, of ancient buildings with modern ones. Street food stands next to very expensive restaurants (with no necessary difference of flavours). Smells that fight with each other to gain a second of your nose: spices, garbage, flowers, fried food, animal disposals, human disposals, incense, and many more form a unique sensation that after a while is no longer unpleasant and becomes part of the scenery.
Another little incident: As we got out of the bus from the hellish journey from Delhi to Agra, we were immediately confronted with some rickshaw drivers as to hire them to take us to the Taj. Finally, and after the proper bargain, we came to a deal: a full afternoon with us, taking us everywhere, and then back to the train station where we were supposed to take the next train to Rajasthan. Everything went smooth until the point of coming back to the train station… The whole time the drivers tried to convince us to take a bus to Rajasthan (of course, a bus from which they would get a commission for). So when the time came for us to go back to the train station, these very peculiar drivers decided to take us to the wrong station: the bus station! Driving slowly on the hopes that we would miss our train! A little stressful, but nothing too much, when we faced them with angry faces and slightly loud voices they took us to the train station, and luckily with enough time to catch the train, anyway. That cost them the tip, of course.

From there, we travelled to Rajasthan (northwest of India), to the city Jailsamer. Where we took a three day camel ride to the sand dunes of the Great Thar Desert, near the border of Pakistan, and we slept under the cold bright stars of the desert.
But before that, we took an afternoon to enjoy the city, walk the little streets and payed a visit to the huge Fort that watches over the city, where we enjoyed a beautiful sunset in the desert and a nice Thali dinner (local plate with curry, rice and other sauces and vegetables) on the roof top of a local guest house inside the fort.

On the desert camel ride we discovered that anything is possible in India, except …. half a chapatti (a round and thin bread made with flour and water that were provided religiously with every meal until nothing else would enter our stomachs! And every time we couldn‘t eat any more they would ask again: “Another chapatti???” to what Natalie once asked: “Half a chapatti?”, only to find out: “No! Anything is possible in India, except half a chapatti!!!”, and we were given another one of them!) “You happy? Me double happy!” - as they always say.
The food was nice (nothing too much and a bit repetitive, soupy vegetable curry), and was cooked by the guides while we usually waited in the disperse shade of a desert tree and the camels roamed around eating from the few bushes available. There we had a chance to make our own chapatti (harder than it looks to make them round and even!), Scott became Mr Beer Man, Natalie got to ride the camels Mark and Chelly (pretty weird considering that her parent’s names are Mark and Shelley!) and we all got to wear turbans!
The sunset on the dunes was unforgettable, and so it was experiencing the life of these desert people, to whom many western things are as uncommon as their life is to us. On the first night we played duck-duck-goose, sang songs (in Spanish and English) and played hand games around the fire, and they loved it! (So did we!) We were also surprised to find out that the main guide (a 22 year old) was married to a 9 year old and he was very concerned with fact that he was going to have to wait to have children!
On the second morning we woke up to watch the sunrise, and we were already feeling the consequences of riding a camel… I have to say that the ride cost me a fare share of pain! In the end I mastered enough to make my camel run at will (his, of course, hehehe) And Amanda couldn’t even control if the camel was going or stoping, or even to walk in the same line as the rest!
We also visited some local villages, where every child would ask us for a pen, a candy or rupees; or even some of the clothes we were wearing! Nat distributed some balloons among the children (cleverly brought for the occasion, and later on our travels through India we discovered that they are also very handy to stop crying children on trains and bus rides), and we had a chance to see local school students practice a parade before us.

Back to Jailsamier, where we had our base, we were planning on spending a night on recovery from the camel ride, but our plans were quickly chopped by the lack of train availability, so we were forced to travel that same night to our next destination: relaxing GOA!

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Photos

Nat and Scott at the Taj
Look at the shoe covers on their feet! Everything to protect the Taj!

Gonzalo in Sleeper Class
Always easy to sleep on a moving train when you're tired!

Gonzalo poking his head out of our hotel room
That's what I call hotel with character!

Jailsamer Fort overviewing the city
The view from our hotels roof top restaurant

This way?
Come inside! Look only? No need to buy! Just look!- Marketing lines in the street of Jailsamer's Fort