Me & My Babies

[Alternate Title for Thomas: My Babies & Me]

Reading Time

Sarah Rimicci is the most avid reading-encourager I know. When her babies were born, she took a book to the hospital to start reading to them. Wow! Some of our favorite books have been gifts from Sarah and her boys. Unfortunately, at normal reading time (before Luis goes down for a nap or the night), he has lately been too tired to sit for a story; he literally points towards his crib and sort of grunts/whimpers. But Luis has taking a new interest in the books in his room as something to play with. This picture was taken on Friday.

Today, he was flipping through "Miss Spiders Tea Party" - one of my favorite books. He paused frequently to kiss the page. (He's in a big kissing phase.) I was so pleased to watch him play with and be interested in the books that I mostly don't care about the wet pock marks on every 3rd page.

Chapati's

Most days, Shabina makes chapati's for us (a heck of a lot like a flour tortilla). Luis has taken a very keen interest in the small rolling pin that she uses to roll them out. It's become a daily battle for who gets to "play" it - Shabina or Luis. Shabina is a great sport about it. On Thursday, she compromised by letting Luis help her. He loved it!

One Heck of a Week

Next week is going to be a busy one for us here in India. On Tuesday, Jules and I are doing the ONE-DAY trip to Agra (where the Taj Mahal is). Our flight leaves Mumbai at 7:15a and we return to Mumbai about 23:00. In between, we take two 2-hour plane rides and two 3-hour (I hope not longer) car trips. Yawzah! It's going to be quite a day. Especially if the drive from Delhi to Agra is at all like the drive from Jaipur to Ranthambhore! Unfortunately, Diego has to work and cannot join us. Fortunately, Pauline can come and spend the day with Luis.

Then, on Thursday morning, Luis, Jules and I fly to Cochin, in Kerala. Diego will join us that evening. We'll have three nights in Cochin before returning home on Sunday afternoon. Monday evening, Jules flies home (Bombay-Newark-Houston-Panama City-Medellin!!) and Diego flies to Abu Dhabi. He'll be there for a conference most of the week. By the time Jules gets home, she will have racked up TONS of flight miles.

I promise pictures and a write up from both trips.

What Does the Bird Say?

Yesterday morning, Luis and I were looking at the hawks, crows, and pigeons out his window. He was watching them all intently. I asked him, "What do you see?" He responded "Awww, Awww". As in CAW CAW - what the crow says! It was a very cool moment for me. I always assumed that the first animal sound he'd immitate was Ashley (Several years ago, my friend Sarah's son, when asked what a dog says, would pant loudly like Ashley). But it's really not surprising that he would get the crow's call so fast - we hear them ALL DAY LONG.

For you skeptics out there, he did it again this morning for Diego.

Additionally, I'm pretty sure he said a version of "bird" yesterday, too. Wow! Luis with words. A little hard to imagine.

Happy Valentines Day!

Diego is always very sweet and thoughtful to send me a beautiful bouquet on Valentines day. This year was no exception. The delivery guy showed up at 8a with this gorgeous arrangement of flowers.

(I commented to Jules that the delivery guys start early in Mumbai! Turns out that several of the guys in Diego's office ordered from the same place. My friend Erika also received flowers. She read the card before accepting the flowers, "Dearest Mary, all my love Diego". The delivery guy had to go back down to his bike and get the right arrangement for her. Oops!)

Luis - The Little Helper

Luis has, for a very long time, been interested in the broom. Most mornings now, while I'm getting his breakfast together, Luis goes over to get the broom and then walks around the apartment with it. When Parvati is here, he really, really, really wants to help her and often gets a bit cranky if she won't let him.

And, Luis likes hanging out with Shabina in the kitchen. (Though this is actually Mom's kitchen in Annapolis.)

Since we've been back from our travels to the US, Luis has taken a shine to the gardener. Luis will sit inside the sliding glass doors and watch the gardener work on the patio. Yesterday, Pauline and Luis were playing outside and he walked over to the hose and started "watering" the plants. When the gardener came later on, I showed him Luis's new trick. The gardener LOVED it.

He asked me to get my camera to take a picture (mind you that he speaks NO English and I speak NO Hindi - so it was mostly through hand gestures). So I did. There were several cute ones, including this one. I printed it up for him and gave it to him.

Any chance that Luis will be this helpful when we move back to the US and I am the cook and I am the maid and I am the gardener??

Aunt Jules is Here!!

Diego's sister, Jules, arrived Thursday night from Colombia for a 3 week visit. We last saw her in July, just before moving out of our house in Falls Church. It's great to have her here. Luis, while he probably doesn't remember her, is already smitten with her.

Last night, her second night in Mumbai, she met up with some people she knows through her blogging work, and went out to a concert and then to two different very hip night spots - one here in Bandra and the other in Juhu. She's officially more cool than I am. It took me almost 3 months to get to those two bars!

For those of you who enjoy the See India parts of this blog (Dodie and Todd), you'll be glad to know that we are heading Kerela (the southern-most state of India), for 4 days at the end of her stay. We're also looking to get up to Agra for a visit to the Taj Mahal. The Agra trip may end up being a whirlwind one day trip (fly to Delhi, train to Agra, see the Taj, train back to Delhi, fly to Mumbai). Either way, they'll be lots of pictures.

A Sampling of Luis Pictures!

The other night, Luis found this winter hat that Sarah loaned us for our US tour, and then sent back to Mumbai with us as a souvenier. I would put it on him and he would pull it off. But then he'd give it back to me to put on again so that he could pull it off. I didn't quite get why the game was so much fun, but Luis was having a great time. I need to start getting both of us used to Luis wearing hats. The sun is so strong and so bright here, that when we're out in the day it's essential.

Luis is doing lots and lots of walking these days. It's been almost two weeks since he started doing LOTS of walking. At first, he looked a bit like a drunk baby, kind of weaving and wobbling his way across the room. But he's getting much better. He walks with purpose and determination now. He can manage the change in terrain of the throw rug and the padded mat in his room (though door jambs still throw him a bit). One thing about walking -now he can slip away, unnoticed. When he crawls fast - as he does when he's sneaking away - his hands make a loud slap, slap, slap sound. But when he walks, he makes almost no noise at all. This means more work and more diligence for Pauline & me. Of course, you can always hear him when he stumbles and falls...

I bought this little wagon/cart at IKEA in the US. I learned the hard way that it needs to be properly counter-balanced. Luis enjoys pushing it from one end of the living room to the other. He hasn't yet mastered turning the cart around or even changing directions. He get's quite frustrated when he dead ends into a wall or piece of furniture or person. He just pushes harder. All things in good time. Luis also has discovered that he can put things into and take things out of the cart. He's only done that a few times, though. I'm wondering when he'll discover the cart as a transportation option - for moving his toys around the apartment??

I also bought this toy at IKEA (I LOVE IKEA toys - no lights, no mechanical sounds, no batteries!). Luis hasn't taken to this one quite as much as the cart. And he spends more time pulling it behind him than pushing it. He also will push it in front him while he ambles along on his knees - kind of a funny sight to watch. Here he was dragging it around before bedtime. You can also see in this picture the main "thoroughfare" that Luis likes to cruise with his walking toys. Just behind where I'm standing is Luis's bedroom. At the far end of this picture is our bedroom. The living & dining room are to the right. (You can see Luis in his fuzzy pj's. See the next post about how cool it is here now!)

Juan Felipe bought Luis this little tool set for Christmas. It's been a big hit since (it went with us to Rock Hill, Atlanta and No. Va while we were in the US, and it lives amongst the most coveted toys. Diego is a little jealous that Luis has a tool set to play with while Diego's is in storage!

A Cold Spell

For a long time, I've talked about the temperature in Mumbai - Hot, REALLY Hot or Not So Hot. Well, this past week, it's been chilly. The temperatures at night get down into the upper 50's and by day, it's only in the mid-70's. While compared to what the temperature is like where most of you readers are it's not that cold, for Mumbai, it's record setting. One day this week, it was the coldest it's been in almost 50 years. And what's more, most people here don't have any means of keeping warm. Anwar said the other morning that, "Never have I worn or owned a jacket." He said it with pride. That night, he gladly accepted a gift of Diego's old parka/ski jacket. (Anwar now rides his motorcycle 30 minutes to and from our house - and finds it quite cold.) I find myself wearing socks around the apartment and a sweater in the mornings and evenings. This picture shows me in my sweater and Luis in his fleece vest on Friday (he pulled is socks off almost immediately after I put them on).

It stayed chilly all day. So that night, I pulled out Luis's fleece PJs for him. Since the buildings don't have any insulation (the walls are concrete & brick), the windows aren't even remotely close to air-tight and the window A/C units gust in cold air, it is usually the same temperature inside at night as it is outside.

Most people around here are bemoaning the cold weather. "It's too much cold," they say. I feel fortunate that I have sweaters and warm blankets and what not to keep warm. And, knowing that the temperatures will be 110 and higher in a couple of months, I can't help but SAVOR each and every cool day we have.

Rajasthan Photos - Amber Fort

More pictures to accompany Mom's Post.

This is the main entrance to Amber Fort

First courtyard built (with each Maharaja to move in, the fort was added on to)

Wall around Amber Fort (reminiscent of the Great Wall of China - just not quite so long - only~ 18km)

Mom, Luis, Diego, and me, inside the Fort

Rajasthan Photos - Hotel & Pink City

Here's my attempt to get pictures up from the 2nd half of our Rajasthan Trip. For more details, see previous post by Mom. (All pictures are posted small, but can be clicked on to make full-size)

Jaipur, The Pink City - Bicycle rickshaws

More Jaipur - A group of ladies in saree's

Alsisar Havali Courtyard - Great for afternoon tea/coffee and general relaxing

Upstairs Courtyard - Great views of the city & Fabulous sunsets

Hotel Courtyard & Pool (For anyone going to Jaipur, I HIGHLY recommend the Alsisar Havali!)

We all enjoyed first class on Kingfisher!

This is the Palace that sits in the middle of the lake (though I forgot the name and can't find the guide book)

These are elephants that work at Amber Fort (taking tourists up to the main entrance) - apparently their shift was done for the day and they were headed home

This camel was, I presume, available for camel rides outside of Amber Fort. I was craning my neck out the window to get a good picture of him. His handler saw me, and kindly moved the camel so I could get a better snap. And then, the handler crossed the street to ask me for a tip for his kindness.

Rajasthan Trip Report - Jaipur (Guest Blogger Croom)

Mom wrote up her Jaipur trip before she left (she left late late late Tuesday night). I haven't even started it. So I'm going to share hers with you. I would have posted this 3 days ago when she wrote it, but was waiting to have time to post pictures to go with it. Still haven't found that time. Here is her report. Pictures to follow in a day or two.

Here at long last is Part II of my travels to India. On Wednesday the 20 something of January we flew from Mumbai to Jaipur, an hour and a half flight on a wonderful airline called Kingfisher. It had the best service I have ever had on any airline. When we got to Jaipur there was a driver with a sign saying "Rincon." He drove us to Khem Villas, a lovely tented/cottaged place just outside Ranthambhore National Park, and the TIGER preserve. (More details of this can be found on Mary Croom's blog, www.diegoymaryrincon.blogspot.com) It was a lovely place, with 4 tents, 6 cottages and 4 rooms in the main lodge. We were in 2 of the cottages, Diego and MC in one and Luis and I in the other. It was a lovely spot, with gorgeous plantings, a small lake, and walking paths, all surrounded by fields of corn and mustard plants. The first night we were almost the only guests, the second there were about 8 others, so we had wonderful service. The owners, Usha and Goverdan something-or-other were delightful. He is a doctor whose family is from that area. His dad was active in the founding of the park and the organization which encourages the protection of the tiger population in India. Usha was lovely and quite interesting to talk to. She is from a very conservative family in Udaipur. She told us about family customs, her education and the life they live in this very remote part of India. They have started an English medium school in the village (principally so their children could go, I think) and give scholarships to many of the local children, especially those whose parents worked at the hotel.

At night there was a pit fire next to the lake where we had drinks before supper and got to meet the other guests. On Thursday, MC and Diego went on the first game drive and were blessed with seeing a tiger. MC and I went in the afternoon and did not. Those who have been on African safaris might be disappointed with these game drives, because there was not much game. However there was much to be fascinated with. For me, I was most impressed by the force of the monsoon in this very interior region. The monsoon ended in October there this year, and you could see wide swaths of land destroyed by the force of the water, with large trees uprooted and such. Also in the park were beautiful lakes with ancient hunting lodges and mosques and tombs from the times of the rajahs.

On Friday morning, Diego and I took one last game drive, we all had lunch and got back in the car for the drive back to Jaipur. We took a different route, and if I had not known better, I would have thought we were in a different planet in a different century. For at least the first hour we saw more camel-driven carts than trucks OR cars. The roads were barely one lane wide, so someone had to pull off to the side so the other vehicle could get by. It was a very agricultural area, with enormous fields of mustard (which, by the way is a beautiful sight- yellow flowers on bright green stems about 2 feet tall), wheat and corn. At every tiny (4-5 mud-brick huts) village there was a well with a substantial hand pump. Often children were there washing clothes, if not there were women there pumping vigorously for their daily needs. The women were dressed in bright saris of every beautiful color under the sun. Each woman wore large thick silver anklets, even in the poorest towns. Several had large and heavy loads carried on their heads, held in place by a circlet made of thick cloth as we have seen in Kenya and Tanzania. We saw cow patties drying in the sun in great number and in patterned circles. There has been a government initiative to encourage their use as fuel, as there is certainly not enough fire wood for all. We saw men resting on charpoys (just like in a Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth), groups of men squatting in the dust playing cards. There were MANY goats everywhere, and cows wandering everywhere and sheep, too. One thing that struck me was the fact that the driver honked gently (and incessantly) to warn of his coming: for cars, trucks and people, but also for camels, cows, oxen, sheep, goats, dogs and even for birds, so strong is the respect for every living thing.

The 132 Kilometer trip took 4 hours. The last hour was tough, with too many heavy trucks and not enough room on the road. The road did expand to 2 and finally four lanes, but the traffic increased exponentially. All the buses looked about 50 years old and were FULL. The local matatu/dolla-dolla was a very old jeep, what looked to me like a 1950's vintage, crammed with people. The most crowded on had 6 people in the front seat, with two people sharing the steering wheel and 12 or so people in the back. Amazing. Also on the road was an incredible assortment of vehicles, make-do trucks from tractors and things I have never seen before, but made to carry things. The regular trucks all also look like '50s vintage, gaily painted with a sign saying "Goods Carrier" in fancy script.

We arrived in Jaipur about 5:30 and drove straight to our hotel, which was a town palace built about 1900 and beautifully restored in the '80s. Lovely courtyards, high, high ceilings in every room, exquisite marble inlaid floors and art-deco tiles decorating the walls in the bath, which had an at least 7 ft. tub. Our rooms were on the third floor, no elevator of course and the last 10 steps without any *gasp* rail at all, (needless to say, I held on to MC or Diego every time we went up or down) opening onto a roof-top area with tables and chairs and room for Luis to crawl around to his heart's content. Soon we began to hear a symphony of calls to worship: it turns out that Jaipur is 30% Muslim. Some were loud speakers, but definitely hi-tech ones, not the raspy tinny ones we heard in Zanzibar. MC and Diego went out to supper, and Luis and I had room service.

The next morning we engaged a car and driver to see the sights. The first stop was to the Amber Fort/Palace on the outskirts of town high, high on a hill overlooking the city. On an adjacent hill was Jaiger (pronounced Tiger) Fort which was surrounded by an 18 Kilometer wall that looked much like the Great Wall of China. As we approached the Amber Fort, we were immediately impressed with its size: huge. Our driver let us out and we got in line to ride ELEPHANTS up to the entrance. It was an amazing experience! MC, Luis and I were on one, and Diego on another. It was about a 15 minute ride and I was delightfully scared/thrilled the whole time. The fort was started in the time of the Moghuls and finished in Hindu times, so the architecture and decorations were mixed.

We first went into the Hindu temple and saw walls of silver, sadhus, priests and worshippers and suddenly bells began to ring and huge drums rolled. Wow-ee! We visited the public spaces, the Zenanna, the Rajah's quarters and more. It was enormous and awesome. Formal gardens, tall walls, arches, inlay, mirror walls, marble inlay, archways overlooking the city. And a zillion tourists from every corner of the earth. Everything is ocher colored, just like the surrounding lands. It was easy to imagine scenes from "The Far Pavilions."

Oh, and by the way, the main rajah in the 18th century had 12 wives and over 136 concubines.

On our way back to our hotel we saw a surreal palace built in the middle of a lake, a pleasure palace built in the 18th century. We drove through the old walled city of Jaipur and saw the palaces and old homes there. One palace is said to have 5,000 windows, all covered by jalis (where our word "jealousy" comes from), arabesque-y coverings so the women of the harem could watch what was going on in the street, without being seen. That afternoon, while Diego and Luis napped, MC and I went shopping, and was it fun. And we flew home the next afternoon. A wonderful, fabulous, educative and fun four days with MC, Luis and Diego. And I didn't even tell about riding the camels at Khem Villas!

The last installment with my adventures to Goa with Suzanne will be written from 231 Meadow Gate Dr, as I leave at 240 AM for home.

Rajasthan Trip Report - Khem Villas

I take a bit of ribbing for not posting more about life in India. Ten days ago, Mom, Diego, Luis and I went up to Rajasthan and spent two days at Khem Villas near a Tiger/Wildlife Preserveand two days in the city of Jaipur. It was a fantastic trip. I've done a write up on the trip to post here. I am posting in parts, as I got a bit verbose with the write up. Also, I posted small pictures for the sake of space. You should be able to click on any of them to get a better view.

After a 90-minute flight, we arrived Wednesday afternoon in Jaipur – a city of 4M people; a small town next to Mumbai. The airport was tiny, reminding me of airports I’ve seen in the Caribbean. We got our bags together, found the driver that was sent for us (by the Tented camp we were staying at near Ranthambhore National Forrest), and set off for Khem Villas. The temperatures were much cooler in Jaipur; maybe about 60 F. But people were dressed for winter. There were lots and lots more motorcycles in Jaipur than there are here in Mumbai. Though there were still 2, 3, and 4 people on any given bike. The men tended to wear wool wraps around their bodies and warm scarves around their heads & necks.
The car was very quiet. Mom, Diego and I were trying to take in the scenes around us and even Luis seemed interested in the world outside the car. It didn’t take us long to get out of the “big city” of Jaipur; though there were “suburbs” for about another 30 minutes. Once out of the city, the road was a two lane road FULL of traffic. There were small cars and big cars, Goods Carrier trucks, people on motorcycles and people on bicycles, camel-driven carts and people-led camels, people on foot and a few people on horses. While the road had two implied lanes (no markings), in fact often both lanes had cars going in the same direction! Passing in India is not the same cautious endeavor that it is in the US. Cars jump up and around the car/truck/camel/bike in front of them – sometimes as many as 4 or 5 vehicles – before narrowly scooting back into their own lane in order to narrowly miss a head on-collision. I had certainly seen some wild passing in Mumbai. In Mumbai, the speed of the vehicles is pretty slow (because there is just so many of them). In Rajasthan, the cars were going 40-, 50- sometimes 60-mph doing this crazy passing game. I found it better to look out the side window than the front window.
Just at the edge of the “suburb” area, I look back in time to see Luis vomit all over himself. I call up to Diego, who is in the front seat, that we need to pull over. He starts to say that it’s not a good idea, the road is too busy, there are too many people on the side of the road, we should go a bit further. Luis vomits again and I tell Diego we have to stop NOW.
We pull over. The configuration of the car was such that we needed to pull the bags out of the back (hatch-back type car, not a trunk) in order to have some working room on getting Luis cleaned up. I’m still not sure how we got his clothes off of him without making more of a mess, but we did. Mom got him changed into new clothes and I started to work on the car seat (also a mess). Diego told me to take Luis and stand on the side of the road with Mom, such that the car was between us and the traffic. He then undertook cleaning off Luis’s car seat (which was on the traffic side of the car). Our driver very sweetly went across the street to get us some water to help with the clean up.
While standing there, holding Luis with Mom, I start to look around. I saw people and camels and dogs and goats and cows and more camels and more people and cats and more dogs. There are people in shops, men playing cards, women carrying great loads on their heads, women sweeping, all kinds of people walking by. I’m trying to take it all in, thinking that the scenery of people in India will never be boring to me. And suddenly, I realize: we are the spectacle in this scene, this white family standing on the side of the road with great big suitcases sitting on the ground and a man cleaning a car seat while his wife and mother (in law) stand by the side of the road and the driver drinks some water. Welcome to India.
I should mention here that Diego did an amazing job cleaning up the car seat considering all he had was a baby wash cloth and 1L of water. Turns out, his family took loads and loads of road trips when he was growing up. And his twin sisters would almost always, without fail, get carsick. At least once. Each. Diego has lots of experience in such situations. Thank you Diego!
After we got everything cleaned up and back on the road, the rest of the drive was great. The road was two lanes (sometimes a bit less) all the way to the Tiger Camp. There would be great stretches of nothingness, barely a tree, and suddenly a small village would pop up. Usually, it was just a few concrete buildings on either side of the road. Then, there would be a stretch were what looked like a rock foundation for a small strip of shops had been started. But there wasn’t anyone working. And there wasn’t anyone within miles. We saw a few buttes and some had small forts situated on top. Under different circumstances, it would have been fun to have taken the whole day to make the drive, stopping to see more of the various sites. Then, there would be these vast fields with what looked like a plant about 4’ tall with a delicate yellow flower. With the green green green of the plant and the blue blue blue of the sky, the little yellow flowers were spectacular. We asked the driver what they were: mustard plants. I know, the irony!
At some point, the driver turned on some music, very low. It took me a minute to figure out what it was – Toto’s Africa!! Then, we heard some Dancing Queen, Bettie Davis Eyes, You Make Me Feel Like Dancing, and a dozen other early-80’s classics. Diego was convinced that someone had found a mix-tape he’d made 25 years ago!
We arrived at Khem Villas, tired and eager to be out of the car. We were greeted with warm towels to wash our hands & face, a small glass of juice and warm smiles. I had reserved two cottages for us. The place is described as a luxury tent place and it was luxurious. The cottage had a spacious bedroom with a HUGE bathroom attached. There was a big, shaded porch and an open sun patio with each cottage. The finishing touch was a private outdoor tub and shower. It is by far, the biggest tub I’ve ever seen. Apparently, when the place was being designed, the British-half of the investor team insisted on big, big outdoor tubs. The Indian-half of the team thought it was a waste of money. As it turns out, all of the European guests RAVE about the tubs.
Luis had an early dinner of yogurt, toast and a banana (what he basically ate the entire weekend), and was off to bed. Mom graciously invited Luis to stay with her in her cottage. That the next morning was the first morning since Luis was born that I wasn’t listening for him to wake up. It was both great and made me a bit nervous. Although Mom invited Luis back for the next night, he didn’t sleep so well and it ended up being Mom, Luis and ME in her cottage – with Luis and me sharing a bed.
We used the babysitter/watchman trick we learned in Lonovala and had someone come and sit on the porch listening for Luis while we enjoyed drinks around a fire pit (it was about 50-degrees out) and then dinner on the veranda with little coal pots under the table keeping us warm. The highlight of the evening – at least for me – was crawling in to bed and discovering two hot water bottles (one by your feet and one at your back) warming the bed.
At 6a, we had a wakeup call the included coffee and toast. Diego and I were headed out on a Tiger Safari, while Mom and Luis stayed around Khem Villas for the morning (we weren’t sure if the safari would be Luis-friendly; it wasn’t). My strongest memory of the safari is that we saw a tigress walking on the road in front of us, maybe 30’ up. My second strongest memory is of how cold it was. I don’t know what the temperature was, but I’m pretty sure it was near freezing. Khem Villas provided us with a big wool blanket (to wrap around you as you would a giant towel) and a hot water bottle to keep us warm. Both were god-sends. Total, we did 3 safaris. Each adult got to go on two, and stay with Luis during one. Having been on safari in both Kenya and Tanzania, I was disappointed in our safari here. At Ranthambhore, I saw one tiger (yes, very cool, even if it was just one), one mongoose, one hyena, one wild boar, one special kind of owl (whose name I instantly forgot). The only thing we saw in groups was deer. They were beautiful, but didn’t quite meet my safari expectations.
It was nice, though, to see a different landscape of India. Ranthambhore (check out this webiste to learn more about the park) reminded me a lot of the US Southwest –Arizona, New Mexico area (probably Colorado & Utah too, but I haven’t seen those states with my own eyes). There were treed areas and open flat areas and small buttes and streams (mostly dry, but they get VERY full during monsoon season). Mom and Diego saw a beautiful like on their safari (each time, we were in a different area of the park).
The area of Khem Villas was lovely. According to their website, “Khem Villas is established on land that Goverdhan purchased in 1989 and converted into a wilderness area planting indigenous trees and creating open grasslands and small water bodies, spread over an area of 10 acres it has become a habitat in itself.” The camp had been carefully laid out so that each cottage or tent had some privacy while the entire camp was not very big. There were smooth stone walkways that connected the main building (where we ate our dinner), the fire pit/sitting area (where we had breakfast and early evening cocktails), the cottages and the two small lakes (very, very, very small lakes). Usha and her husband Goverdhan run the place and are in and out during the day. But each night, they joined us guests around the fire pit for cocktails and stories. It was a peaceful and beautiful place to spend two nights. It would have been nice to spend several more…
On Friday, before leavings, we signed up for the 30-minute camel ride. It was definitely a tourist trap, but an interesting one. Diego and Luis headed out on one camel, with me following behind. We walked out of the camp and down the road a bit to a large open area at the foothills of Ranthambhore Park. Being up on the camel wasn’t that different from being up on a horse – except that with the guide holding the reins, there wasn’t much left to hold on to. The camel laid down for us to get on it – folding it’s legs up underneath itself, getting very low to the ground. The standing up part (and later, the laying back down part) was a bit hairy. The camel moved in a big of a jerky way, first straightening his front legs (such that you were certain you would topple of the back) and then straightening his rear legs (almost pitching you over his head). Somehow, the laying down part was similar, but with three stages – a front, back, front pitch. After our ride was over, we asked if Mom and I could go back out for a short ride. For reasons that are still unclear, I was instructed to get off my camel and onto Diego’s camel, and then Mom got on my camel. For the second ride, we only went about 5 minutes up to the gate of the camp and back. It was short, but it was fun!
After lunch, we packed all of our stuff back in the car (with some extra water) and headed back to Jaipur.