Camel Farts and Happy Hearts

Last weekend, I went with my friends Ben and Maddie to Jaisalmer, a desert town in Rajasthan that is close to the Pakistani border. It was about a 13-hour bus ride - we took the night bus and some serious sleeping pills. The city was very beautiful - all of the buildings were the same dusty color as the sand on which the city is built. There is a large fort at the center of the city, and we spent our first day wandering around the labyrinths and exploring the intricate Jain temples within the fort. It was very hot, sunny, dry, and dusty compared to Udaipur, which by contrast is nestled in a hilly terrain and surrounded by cool lakes.

We enjoyed spending our first night in Jaisalmer in a sweet little hostel with very helpful owners, and we shared a room for a whopping 120 rupees (the equivalent of $3). It even included free chai! I dined on yummy Western food (toast with eggs and pooridge) for the first time since I have been in India, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The main reason we went to Jaisalmer was to do an overnight camel safari to the Thar desert. We booked our safari through the hostel owners, and left in jeeps the second morning (Saturday) of our trip. The jeeps dropped us off in a village where our camel guides met us with all of our food and water. We rode for a few hours in the morning and stopped for chai and lunch under a shaded tree around 11:30. We took off again around 2 and rode until about 5pm. There were no sites to see along the way, only barren desert. As Lonely Planet warned us, most of the safari was not through beautiful rolling sand dunes like we might imagine. In most of Rajasthan, the desert is dry, rocky land with shrubby bushes and occasional trees. Still, the landscape was stunning in its own way, and it is amazing to think that people can live off of land like this at all.

One thing I learned on this trip is that I don't really like camels very much. In fact, they might be one of my least favorite animals, which surprises even me, because I am normally such an animal lover. But I quickly learned that camels are very smelly - they fart and burp a lot - and since I was at the back of the camel line during the first few hours of the trip, it was most unpleasant. Also, they are very ugly, ungraceful animals. Their bodies have weird calluses and knots everywhere, and their necks and faces are almost dinosaur-like. And worst of all, a camel is not a comfortable ride. Now, two days later, my booty is still bruised and my inner thighs still are still sore.

During much of the trip we rode silently, as the desert lends itself towards serious thinking and inner reflection. Of course the silence was often interrupted by loud farts, or a guide yelling at me, "Madame, control your camel!" as my steed plunged through the bushes to itch his belly. And sometimes the little boy who helped guide us would sing traditional Rajasthani songs as we bounced along.

Our final destination were sand dunes (the name I can't remember) where we ate dinner and slept. They were very beautiful and stunning, though there was only a small patch of them in the middle of the otherwise rocky terrain. As the sun set it became cooler and cooler, and the evening was very pleasant. Our guides cooked our dinner, which was the same as lunch - chapatis and vegetable curry cooked over a little fire. One local villager even brought us cold-ish beers. The moon rose very bright, and it lit up the desert like a streetlamp. We could see everything so clearly. When the moon disappeared around 10pm, the stars were brighter and more numerous than I have ever seen. Even the white smear of galaxies were bright and clear. It was very magical.

Ben brought his mandolin and played music as night settled in. With only ourselves to talk to for two whole days, we had many interesting conversation topics, such as - whether Brad Pitt is a down-to-earth good guy or whether his fame and sex appeal have gone to his head, restaurants in Montreal, the geography of modern nomadic cultures, "why are dinosaurs for kids?" (Maddie's question), long religious debates, if we could be a color what would we be, the mentality of pack animals, and how to make a spreadsheet out of your past relationship patterns. All very interesting.

Around 8 or 9, our guides laid out blankets on the sand and we cuddled up in our fleeces and socks and tucked ourselves under heavy blankets. There were no tents, though on some tours you can pay extra for this if you want. So we slept like this on pillows of sand under a blanket of stars - very romantic. The night was the best part of the trip by far, even if the air was colored with the wafting scent of incessant camel farts.

The next morning we were up by 630 eating plain toast with our chai. When the sun rose at 7 we were off on our camels again... unfortunately. It was a long, painful ride on the second day. We rode until lunch time - again chapati and vegetable curry - and were happy to see the jeeps come just after lunch. At the end of the trip my face was gritty with layers of dust and sand, but there was no time for a shower as we jumped right back on the overnight bus to Udaipur at 4pm on Sunday and arrived at 5am on Monday. Long weekend, great trip!