Spirit of India Day 11 Jojawar

Tuesday April 19^th

Today we had a fairly long drive of six hours, but it was broken into two by a lunch stop at another decent heritage house restaurant. Although some people tire of the bus rides, sitting on the bus is no problem for me. I love looking out the window at the the things that go by. My only regret is that I can't stop and take photos! So, you have to make do and try to get shots out the window, sometimes it works. In the first half of the trip we were on a dual carriageway that was under construction which made it bumpy and very busy. There were trucks everywhere. Many of the trucks were loaded down with hunks of marble, from rock size to really big pieces. So obviously there is mining in the area. A lot of the trucks have “Horn Please” painted on the back of them, and the Indian drivers oblige. The sound of honking is continuous. The honk as they approach, as they pass and when someone is coming towards them.

We arrived in Jojawar about 2:00pm. This is a small town of about 20000 people. We stayed in the heritage house of the family that used to be the landlord of the area. The house is large with two inner courtyards, horse stables and a pool. The rooms are beautiful and mine comes with an indoor swing and a bathroom with saloon windows that look directly into the dinning area!

The house is in the town, so after settling in, I went for a photo walk. The town is not as touristy as Pushkar, so I was able to see a regular town and watch what the people were doing. Interesting to see blacksmiths, tailors, cows, fruit vendors, bicycle repairmen, barbers and all the other activities that were going on.

Then back to the hotel for a quick swim, before our village safari. Sameer reconditioned two 1930's Chevy safari jeeps for the landlord. They both seat eight, four benches for two, plus a driver. Amazing beautiful old vehicles. We loaded up and headed out through town. We felt like colonial royalty driving in these huge cars, down the narrow streets as people and cows had to get out of our way and they all stared at us. Then we had a great drive on the country roads through the dry fields. We stopped at three really small villages and had the catch to walk around amongst the villagers, see their homes and animals and take photos. Really different to see these villages as compared to Delhi and the other big cities. We stopped as at a local pilgrims shrine, where our drivers served us tea and biscuits, just to complete the image of being rich and important. On the way back Sameer drove one of the vehicles and I road shotgun. Great activity.

When I got back to the hotel, I was exhausted, combination of heat, a bit of Delhi belly and maybe being dehydrated. I lay down at seven and woke up at eleven. Slept right through dinner and drinks, which I didn't want anyway. So, I got into bed and slept until seven. Sometimes you have to stop and listen to your body.