Sunday, February 13
Lunavada to Jambughoda – 80 K
Today Jan, Candie and Maureen shared the taxi with me… and once again I got the suicide seat. No one wants to sit in the front seat but I’m getting used to it. I swear that the booming business here is in BRAKES and HORNS – it’s gotta be the most used tools here! Next taxi ride I’m going to try take video with my camera just to show how FUN it is to be on the roads in India….. NOT! J Some drivers are better than others and today’s was pretty good… less horn, more brakes today.
The riders were leaving as a group to the outskirts of town and I was able to catch a picture of them congregating at the road along with a host of onlookers:
While waiting for the taxi I noticed one of the men trying to get my front tire off before putting it in the van. I chuckled to watch him turn the handle on the skewer, not realizing he had to hold the other side of it to really get it loose. He worked on it quite awhile… and NO I didn’t offer to help. I just watched… and chuckled. Someone else finally came to his rescue and the two of them were really checking out my bike… pressing down as hard as they could on the aero bars talking about how it must work. J It must be as foreign to them as so much of India is to me. J
As our route takes a southern turn, we will leave behind the unique state of Rajasthan and enter the state of Gujarat today. We beat the heat and arrived at the Jambughoda Palace by 10:30 am. Our rooms had not yet been assigned so we sat out under a large outdoor dining roof – the roof was made of tile and the beams supporting it were severely sagging and slitting apart. I had a quick exit plan in head should anything give way. This is a lovely setting and our travels here took us further from the desert environment we’ve had lately. The shade and cool breezes are refreshing.
I am feeling much better than yesterday – like I’ve joined the land of the living again. I’m still quite weak but can enjoy relaxing in a comfy chair on the patio. I took a stroll around the property and took a few pictures. They have lovely gardens here with corn in different heights, cabbage and other vegetation that I can’t identify. There are many trees and blooming bushes – very pretty contrast to much of what we see on a daily basis. Whatever is growing in front of this quaint cottage is planted in individual black plastic bags.
I wish I knew more of the plant-life here – I think someone said the the blooming pink bushes were Boganvilia… please don’t hold me to that though.
I heard music and followed my ears to a dance display out on the front lawn… just in time to get a photo before they finished. The men and women were dancing in a circle while the “boys in the band” were playing on the left. They will do another show at 4pm and maybe I will get some better photos then.
Here are the boys in the band – (just in case you are wondering, they did smile AFTER I took the picture and smiled at them). They don’t look very happy in this picture:
