A homecoming of sorts.

Dec 27th
Hope you are enjoying your Christmases and pre-New Years holidays. I've been hearing all of your reports of massive snows, from the midwest and even Seattle seems to be buried!! Thanks for your emails, wish I had time to reply but thanks so much!

Today is I think the 27th, a Saturday, and since my last email we've travelled down south from Jamnagar, through Rajkot, where we stopped to visit the Ghandi museum (he was raised in Rajkot), and then headed on down to Junagadh. Ann and Jamie have finally been initiated into the "this is how it is to travel in India" Club, I am afraid...

Our first bus to Rajkot was pretty nice, luggage storage below, lots of seating... but there were no "luxury" buses down to Junagadh, so we found ourselves slammed like sardines into a rickety old tin can of a bus... and as usual, angered everyone immediately by having so much luggage (trying to fit it all on your lap is quite difficult)... people continuing to cram on the bus, wagging their fingers at us shouting things in Gujarati, climbing over us and cramming themselves into every nook and cranny...

But it is funny how easily you can charm an angry, weathered, rough Gujarati audience by trying out your (horribly pronounced) Gujarati phrases that you've got written down on a tiny cheat sheet in your pocket... (I keep getting more folks to add to my phrase book whenever I have time to sit down and chat, and whenever they understand enough English in order to translate). So I just bursted out the "Kem cho!" (how are you) and they all turned and giggled, and started hurredly chatting and nudging each other, then I asked their names, and started trying to pronounce the numbers and count to ten, and it was like a magic potion! The tension was relieved for the other 2 hours of the ride. Funny that we couldn't speak at all to any of them, but I had recited the numbers... what a convo eh. But it led to smiles and warm glances and we avoided getting our heads chopped off on account of our bags.

In addition to the "local Indian bus initiation," Jamie and Ann also experienced another classic Indian adventure... trying to visit a historical, beautiful, religious site while being followed by a large mob-like pack of young Indian boys... maybe about the ages from 12-19 I would guess. We climbed the famous 10,000 steps of Girnar Hill in Junagardh, up a beautiful teak mountainside, complete with swinging monkeys, however we were at all times surrounded by a pack of 20-30 boys on the small narrow staircase that took 3 hours to ascend. Luckily not touching us, but talkign, laughing, taking HUNDREDS of photos on their cell phones of us, asking us endless questions in Gujarati, and always the famous, "MADAM MADAM MADAM HALLLO ALLLO ALLOO!!! WHICH COUNTRY MADAM WHICH COUNTRY" aghhhhhhhhhhhh!! I tried trying my Gujarati phrases but unfortunately this only invited more interest and the mob would only grow, and of course I ran out of phrases and the pack would turn back to jeering again. They just see so few whities here, even fewer Americans, so were quite the spectacle. I am kind of used to this from my last trip, but Ann and Jamie had to learn the art of both ignoring and also YELLING at them to "bus jiaa!!" (stop! move along, go away!) With a few stern flicks of the wrist and angry looks.

I joked that maybe we should try charging for the photos, and offer to be in a photo with one of them for an extra charge, but that brought a few chuckles from the boys and no reprieve. Ah well. Such is life traveling in India to less foreign touristy locations. People barely speak any Hindi in that town, let alone any English, so it was quite a game trying to get our business taken care of (but also more of an adventure). THe mountain was quite beautiful, with elaborate Jain temples near the top, covered in domes of white marble mosaic, glittering and shining in the hot afternoon sun against the green mountainous background. The hill was also scattered with Hindu temples and Sadhus, looking quite rugged in their meditative caves with wild hair and painted bodies.

We were quite tired from the climb, but marveled at even the older Indian women making the slow journey in their bare feet (with toe rings of course), carrying sacks of unknown items on their heads, balanced perfectly throughout the chaotic, crowded climb and descent.

After Junagadh we had planned to travel on to Palitana, another mountainous see of old temples, however the travel time turned out to look not-so-appealing, and we opted to head back up north to Bhuj, and spend 6 days up here and chill before we have to get to the Medical Camp just south of Bhuj in Mandvi.

The long journey up to Bhuj (by more comfortable private bus), was like a homecoming for me; I was here in 2005 with Kim and Jamie (another Jamie!) and we had such a wonderful time in our short exposure to the tribal villages, that I am ABSOLUTELY THRILLED to be back here. Traveling on the bus through fields of pregnant cotton plants, dotted with colorful women in saris carrying silver and brass pots stacked 3 high... camels packed with nomadic worldly possessions and adorned in flash and glitter... motorbikes whirring around us carrying women in flowing colors... oxen pulling wooden carts of fluffy bags stuffed with cotton, and 10 people riding atop the comfortable cusion... ah India.

I have so much more to write, but am as usual out of time and ready to hit the sack, so I will say ta-ta for now, and will write more soon. The wonderful, most gracious, old historian of Bhuj, Mr P.J. Jethi, whom we met back in 2005, has kindly set us up on a four day itinerary by taxi (the old, 1950's kind of Indian black taxi, as always in this country) to visit a good spattering of tribal villages around the area, which are famous for myriads of textile, pottery, and metal work, and today we visited the local police station to get government clearance to be so close to the border of Pakistan.

I CAN'T WAIT!!! (wish you were here Kim!!)

This place (Bhuj) is a magic wonderland of tribal cultures, converging in a colorful rich history, making me wish to someday find a way to live here for a bit... can I make it happen someday??

To be continued... tribal village reports to follow.