Camels

In Pushkar (our favorite yet) we swam in the pool, ate hummus and pizza, lounged and life was good. And then it got great. We were beckoned off the street by Kalu, "Camel safari?" Why, yes, certainly. After looking through his pictures and guest comments we decided this was the trip for us. Flash forward to the next day 4 pm, and we meet our trek associate, Arian from Australia. Super nice guy, 23, here for a school/work assignment orignially and was now traveling by himself. We walk with our 2 guides to our three camels down the street. Camels are big! Paul takes the camel with no guide and Arian and I both mount our camels and are hoisted 6 feet in the air. If youve never seen a camel get up or down, youtube it, it's quite the scene. We walked for 1.5 hours through desert, mountains and groves, then took a respite in the desert sands. The locals came out and played a who-knows-what while his daughters danced. It was truely a magical experience to watch. The we rode another 1/5 horus to Kalu's house. On the way we passed wild peacocks, the usual goats/cows/dogs, small villages ("ello!"), and finally rode into his drive way where we're greated by his entire family with a hot chai with fresh goat's milk. We actually saw them milk the goat and put it in the chai, delish!

An hour or so later 2 Israeli guests joined us. The men sat outside and chatted and the girls got to look upon the kitchen while Kalu's wife (of 5 months!) and mother cooked up an amazing homemade dinner. They made chapati (kind of a wheat tortilla), aloo (potato curry), rice, and dhal (lentil curry). We all ate together in the darkness with our hands...let me be specific, our right hands. I'm still trying to get the hang of this; it's usually 2 parts mouth, 1 part ground. Then after we washed up we head up to the roof where the camel trekers slept under the stars. Kalu came up with his 2 brothers and a drum and serenaded us to sleep. Well most of us. I was up listening to the neighbors bollywood soundracks and barking dogs, but regardless was a totally magical evening. The next am, we wake up, drink some chai, have bananas and sweet parantha (chapati fried in ghee/butter) and rode our camels back to town.

It was truely the best best best thing we've done so far. We met an amazing family, new friends, and had an unforgettable experience. We hopped on a 5 hour bus the next day to Jodhpur. More on that later...