Right now I'm about 150 km from the Pakistan border in a beautiful town called Jaisalimer. We're staying in the old fort palace, and being treated like queens and kings. Saw gazelle, goats and plenty of cows and camels along the desert road. The locals are all very friendly and helpful, seem pleased to see tourists, and are eager to chat with us. Having men around (ok, hasher men, but still better than nothing) makes me feel more comfortable striking up conversation with the local Indian men who are so interested in the "western women." One guy tonight wanted to tell me all about his infatuation with the famous American actress, Sharon Stone.
The last place we stayed in, Bikenir, had a rat temple and a camel breeding farm that we visited. The Hindi believed these rats were the reincarnation of their relatives from a neighboring town so they worship and respect them. They also feed them a diet strictly of carbos and sweet milk to keep the male rats sexually weak so the population is kept under control. The whole place was a bit too strange for me, and I didn't much care for the rats running over my bare feet. No shoes were allowed in the temple. The camel breeding farm was very nice though, and I'm looking forward to riding one tomorrow when we go on our safari in the desert.
No mishaps have occured, except the life of one sacred cow that happen to wander in the path of our train up to Bikenir. I slept through the event, but my other hasher friends reported seeing random cow parts dragged along the bottom of the train, and apparently it struck the water pipe to the toilet, since there was water all over the floor. Never a dull moment!
I am still waiting for my email account to open, (it's been 20 minutes) so I don't think I'll be able to read, let alone send, many messages back to you all. Just know that I'm quite alright here and having a phenomenal time!
All my love, Carla
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