The good, the bad and the ugly...

Namaste y'all.
As the title suggests, this is the order I choose for this post.
First, a heads up to some folks:
Mom - Cad $1 = 41 Rupees in India (although the conversion we've been getting is around 38...darn)
Cassie - Hey, I appreciate all book suggestions, maybe I'll look for that around here to read while travelling. Hope you're doing awesome! :)
Danielle - So with all the crazy coup d'etat shit happening in Thailand are you still going to be able to go? We've been trying to follow the news however we can. The paper today said that although the president admitted he is no longer president things seem to be getting back to normal and the city is working again, even under the new military rule. I'll be looking out for more news...keeping my fingers crossed for you!
Cory – Email me back about the ride to Dharmsala/Rishikesh!! Sweet
All those who comment - Thank you. Much love is felt.

This morning, bright and early, we arrived in Jaipur...but I must backtrack a bit first.
Jodhpur, the blue city, was a very nice place. A fort we visited gave us a beautiful view of the city that really gets into the spirit and everyone paints their house blue... (not like at home where we can say, "ours is the blue one"!!) We stayed in a fancy hotel (well Rs1000 per night (CAD$25)is considered fancy)and everyone there seemed to hang out in the lobby and stare at the white folk, mainly us. Many people have asked about my "sadhu hair" (only religious men have dreadlocks here) and wondered if it means I am a holy woman. Logan says yes..tehe.
Even more people have asked what I have on my chin. I tell them it is a piercing like many of the ladies have on their noses. It amazes them that someone would do such a thing...if only they knew what other piercing I had!!! I even had a guy at a gas station today try and pick it out. Oh man, I made it very clear that I was not to be touched and was insulted. This was the first man who has tried to touch me...and Kumar said he was a stupid man that "did not go to school because his Hindi was very bad". He seemed like a scum-ball to me too. I quickly “Purelled” my chin and labret…ewwww.
Oh mom, you’ll like this. A few of the children have asked me “what happened to your face…mosquitos?” I them explain how in Canada and the US where people have white skin, they get pimples and its very common…like a disease but I can’t give it to them. They think that’s pretty odd. I did a puja (devotional cleasing…ish) in the Pushkar lake yesterday and the man helping me said all will be good, “good life, good family, good love, luck, wealth and even get rid of mosquito on face…” Muahahaha….sweet…I got God on my side now! Yes, the funny part is it’s been better than ever since we arrived in India…imagine if they had seen me a few weeks ago! Ok, enough about my face…
Jodhpur had a delicious retaurant called “on the rocks” where we went several times…looked like an exotic club somewhere in the Caribbean. Cheap too. We’ve noticed the best restaurants are the cheap ones…don’t know if it’s the food or our perceptions, perhaps a bit of both.
After two days in Jodhpur, our journey took us back East to Pushkar, a destination we were very excited for! It is a very spiritually-important place for the Hindus and all is vegetarian-only. Also, drugs and alcohol are banned. We stayed in a very nice hotel with a huge garden in the back. Mostly roses (used as offerings to pictures of Gods) but also chili plants, lime/mango/papaya trees and get this…eggplant plants!!! I have never seen these things before…it was awesome. Logan and I share a passion for growing plants and food. By the end of our walk around the garden, I had roses, eggplant flowers, hisbiscus flowers and other flowers I didn’t know in my dreadlock bun, care of Logan. T’was fun! There was a swimming pool at the hotel, but it wasn’t overly inviting…
Early in the morning in Pushkar, Kumar took us the base of a mountain and said, nice temple, Brahma’s wife. We weren’t sure what to expect but began the trek up this huge mountain. It took us 1.5 hours to climb the darn thing only to realize the temple was a brick house with a scary statue with LED lights all over. Very cheesy. But we made our offerings (given at the base) and took some great pictures. I believe it was about 1500feet up or something….going down was tough on the knees….but it was all worth it I say. Then we went to town and visited a Brahma temple. Also cheesy, but I can appreciate. We bought pomagranates (mmmm very delicious at Rs.10) and Logan got the juice all over his white pants. But, for any of you interested, grapefruit seed extract can do some amazing things. After much scrubbing, I got it mostly clean!
After the Brahma temple the men insisted we put our offering of roses inside the Pushkar lake. So we walked down and were separated (still close tho). A man made me recite a mantra after him and explained all the different things in a place I would be offering, color powder, rice, roses, marigolds, sugar and spice. It was very nice until he asked me to make an offering to the temple. I said ok, 200 rupees. Then, of course he said, no, 3 gods so 3 x 200 or 5 people in your faily so 5x 200. Ugh. I threatened to walk away and told him he was being pushy and so he stopped…for a bit. Then I made my offering to the dirty dirty lake (full of crazy-looking snake-like bugs and large fish) and gave my donation…but he insisted I said 300. I laughed and walked away…man, it’s annoying. Logan got suckered pretty good…but I’ll let him tell you himself. Later in the evening we walked to the lake and listened to some nice music and I bought an anklet that jingles every step I make. It’s fun…many ladies here wear them.
For dinner that night, since we knew if was Kumar’s son’s birthday, we celebrated and Kumar bought some beer (it had to be brought some elsewhere since no booze in Pushkar). Logan and I reluctantly drank it…and ate way too much… J
Ok, here’s the ugly. Logan seems to have gotten sick afterwards. The drive to Jaipur today was difficult for him. We had to stop every hour or so for him to “toss his cookies”. He is mostly dry heaving but that’s because he hasn’t eaten much. He always feels well after though, for a bit, which is a good sign. I got him a fruit salad this morning and he ate the bananas and apples…hopefully he can keep it down. He’s still in good spirits though. If this persists, we will visit a Doctor. We are still drinking a ton of bottle water and today we’re just taking it easy. I will sit outside and read/do yoga and he will sleep. I don’t want to worry you too much, I think it is a mixture of the alcohol, heat and food. I’ll keep you posted and make sure he takes homeopathics and all the other good stuff I brought. Perhaps we will call home soon. Oh, and I am feeling as good as always, just some nasty moon-cramps!
So I should return to the hotel and check on him…
Much love, Namaste