Villages

In the morning, the hotel owner Mr Bantu offers me a village safari. I decline. He says Rs. 200 + 50 for food. I think it over during a shower and agree. Only two other passengers, six hours by jeep. Not a bad deal. No buying pressure. The food was a little plan for Rs 50, but I'd skipped breakfast so no complaints.

Briefly, the villages are made up of castes (what might be thought of as subcastes). One village makes only pots, another specializes in some type of rug making, another one is very protective of animals and plants.

I was talking with a very (overly) chatty friend of the guest house owner. He asked me to guess what day it was. I had just written my journal, so I knew. Today was 8 Feb, and since 2 Feb was a saturday, today must be friday. He said I was wrong, but I was stubborn. But in my room, I checked. Whoops, he was right. I guess I got confused because my train left Jodhpur on the 7th and I slept all day on the the 8th. So even though I hadn't seen the city, it was already evening of the 9th and I had a train to Jaisalmer in a few hours.

I didn't have many Rupees so I paid my hotel bill partially in USD, I also paid for part of a night because I stayed about 12 hours past checkout time. At least I didn't miss the train.

Call me psychic, I predict it will be freezing on the train. But I don't have a chance to buy anything warmer. Believe me, this will be high on my agenda of things to accomplish in Jaisalmer, no doubt. In another few days I will ditch my Lonely Planet India (I have a separate book for South India) and a couple other books. I'd like to clear a little space in my luggage.