Carol's Travels

After breakfast we went to a school at a local village. When we arrived, all of the students were seated in lines outside on the second floor. They sang their national anthem, and the principal made some announcements. Then a few 1st and 2nd graders came up to us and recited poems. Next it was our turn.

We sang “America the Beautiful” for them. Then Ranvir asked me to show them my puppet. Cha-Cha-Cha sang her theme song, “My name is Cha-Cha-Cha from California.” We spoke a little, then sang “Love Surrounds Us Everywhere.” Next, Theo impressed the students when he juggled with his juggling balls. After that, the students were dismissed to go to class.
We each could visit any classroom. Most of us visited all of them. Approximately 35 students were crammed into each small classroom. The classes ranged from kindergarten to ninth grade. The children were very excited about my puppet, so I even got out my peepers. The fourth grade teacher was curious about how I did ventriloquism, so I wrote down my website URL where he could get instructions in the Arts In Education section. I told him that puppets could even be made from socks. Ranvir and the principal went into several classes with me, and I went into some alone until I had entered all of the classrooms. English is their second language, so communication was more difficult with the younger students. My puppet seemed to bridge the gap, though.
After leaving the school the bus drove us to a cooperative where women and men are trained to make handcrafts. Their work is beautiful. I bought a large gorgeous red silk shawl that two women had spent eight months embroidering! It has pictures of animals of India embroidered all over the scarf. After we had finished making our purchases, they served us a delicious vegetarian lunch. Just before we left, I bought a hand embroidered tote bag. This visit was one of the highlights of the trip.

When we got back to the hotel, I went into the hotel gift shop to buy some of the items that I was considering yesterday. They gave me even better prices than yesterday.
We had the rest of the afternoon to relax and pack. Our big suitcases left on the bus later in the afternoon to be driven to the next city. We will take only our carry-on bags early tomorrow morning when we ride the train.
Tonight I hope to see the tiger documentary before dinner.

This morning we got up at 5:15 A.M. We dressed in warm clothes and went to breakfast. At 6:30 we met our park naturalist then boarded the open safari truck to drive through section four of the park. In this wildlife preserve we saw a large variety of beautiful birds, deer, crocodiles, plants, and even banyan trees. There are over 450 species of birds in the area. I especially liked the iridescent feathers of the kingfishers.  

We came back to the hotel for lunch. During this break I went shopping at the hotel store. They have a beautiful selection of fabric, jewelry, tablecloths, and even handmade table runners. So far on this trip the hotel shops have carried some high quality items at reasonable prices.

After lunch we again met our naturalist and went for another ride in the open safari truck. We went to area three this time. We saw even more birds and animals. I am glad that Paul and I both brought our binoculars to see these beautiful animals. About 40 minutes before the park closed, our naturalist heard that there had been a rare tiger sighting. Our truck turned around and raced through the park along the very bumpy road. The guides of two of the trucks that we met said that they had seen the tiger walking along beside the road. The rest of guides in the next three trucks had not seen the tiger. Our naturalist apologized for not spotting the tiger. He seemed to be very upset. I felt sorry for him. I hadn’t expected to see the tiger anyway. It would have just been a bonus.

Dinner was a barbecue, but the only things that resembled barbecue were the chicken and potatoes. As I expected, most of the food served in India has curry in it. Curry definitely is not my favorite spice. We ate by candlelight outdoors at big round tables to lots of laughter among my trip mates.

This morning just before we left the hotel, I quickly checked out another gift shop in the hotel. I bought a silver, turquoise, and coral starburst pendant. Then we got the on the bus to begin our five-hour drive to Ranthambore National Park.

We made a couple of stops along the way. Ranvir pointed out a vehicle that had been built by the man who was driving it. It is fairly common for people to build vehicles like these. He stopped the bus to ask the man if we could ride in the back for a short distance through the small town. That man actually did give us a ride in a sort of pick-up truck in which the back was made of plywood. It was fun riding in this noisy put-put sounding vehicle.

When we reached the hotel closest Ranthambore National Park, I was surprised that it was a replica of a Maharajah’s palace. It was built about fourteen years ago, but it has the opulence of a much older palace.

We had a delicious lunch which was like dinner. Then everyone climbed into the large 4-wheel drive open-air vehicle that drove us to Ranthambore Fort, a spectacular 1,000 year-old fortress. We climbed a lot of steps as we went up to the top. The buildings were impressive. There were beautiful peacocks, deer, and countless monkeys up there. Several buildings are being renovated.

We then rode back to the hotel to relax. The food this evening was spicier than it was at lunch. Hot water is scheduled to be turned off during certain hours of the day and night. It was the same at camp a couple years of days ago.