easy camel rider

Well not too easy! We made out way out to the desert city of Jaiselmer which is about 50km from the border of Pakistan. I have never actually been in the desert! It is really pretty phenomenal to see things survive in this dry, still landscape. We managed to organize a camel safari with our hotel manager who happens to own a camel farm. Camel safaris are the thing to do out there, so we had hustlers of all kinds in our face about taking one from the instant we got off the train. But we had been warned about the safari guides by friends along the way that that they are known to molest and rob their clients. So ultimate precaution was taken!

Our journey through the desert was admittedly campy. A bunch of white tourists with broad billed hats and sunscreen clad, riding camels through the parched desert. I know, I know! How silly. But it was so much fun, I don’t even care if it was text-book. Getting on the camels we were pretty nervous because those things lift you about six feet in the air! And one of our friends fell off the camel on his first try getting up! Riding the camel was relatively easy, similar to riding a horse. Only slightly more groin-abuse.



Mid-afternoon, we stalled under a tree where our guides made us lunch. The mid-day heat out there is absolutely unreal. There definitely is a claming breeze, but it is such a hot breeze that you feel like your skin is being lacerated when it comes at you. We saw a fair amount of animal carcasses lying about - a reminder of what can happen to you out here without water or direction. At a certain point, my camel waddled over to a pile of goat bones, picked up a skull, and proceed to chew on it for the next hour. Our heat-induced delirium out in the desert was our first glaring signal that we seriously chose the wrong season to visit India!! 45 degrees Celsius. Enough said.

At the end out of our six hour ride, we ended up at a scenic sand dune at sunset that made the heat of the day absolutely worth it. For one of the first times since I have been here, I was utterly alone. With nobody around to stare at us or sell us on something, I finally felt the decompression I had been craving since I arrived. Experiencing the stillness of sand for miles and miles put things into perspective. Honestly, I was getting down on how hectic the transport and urban movement has been. The first week of being here has just been a process of accepting that things here are the way they are. And I am in no position to be critical or judgemental just because I am routinely frustrated that I rarely get what I want! But that is not all there is in India! There is quiet to be found!



We camped out on the sand dune through a chilly desert night. More campy times between us and our guides had us singing folk songs from our respective countries around our fading campfire. Our guide some songs from Rajasthan (the state that Jaiselmer is in), one of our British friend was singing Cornish tunes. I chose the Dead’s “Friend of the Devil”. Ha! Gotta represent American folk.