India Day 11

Sorry i have not written in sometime. The internet is difficult and we have been super busy! Haha but lets see, the Camal Trek in the Bikiner Desert was AMAZING! I must admit i am a pretty pro Camal rider! Haha I got to ride the Camal all day and sun tan and feel like an The India Princess with my little scarf and cute Camal! We rode through the desert for 6 hours with a 1 hour stop for lunch. It was fun being in the desert even though it got quite hot.
(Don't worry papa i drank 3 bottles of water that day. ;)) Then we got to stay the night in the Desert and we watched the sunset and it was gorgeous. The sun illuminated the sand to a bright orange and a soft pink and we all sat around and talked and it was really peaceful and a nice bonding moment for us Walden students. :) We all rose with the sun the next morning to a cool morning and a journey back. We all had to ride in the carts though cause the camals needed rest which was fine cause we played Smirf the whole way back and laughed and got MORE tan. After that we drove to Jodhpur. We spent 3 nights there and us girls shopped till we dropped. Literally! It was a blast. They had such cute bags and pants and jewelry it was so much fun.
We also toured the old Palace Fort. It is HUGE! We got an audio tour and it told us all these awesome stories that go along with all my pictures like the canon ball wholes in the wall and the paintings and the rooms. Like the Pleasure Room where the Maharaja got to sit and dine and get entertained by dancers and jokers. It was a gorgeous room much the less. It had stain glass windows and huge couches that looked like cotton candy. Then the last day we were in Jodhpur we went and met the Maharaja's Uncle. He was hilarious. He told us stories of his child hood and growing up in the palace and stories of the parties he went too. And his crazy Nannny who would take him on a drive everyday after dinner and if she saw a donkey being riden and spanked or a horse getting whipped she would stop the car and get out and smack the man doing it! He said they would go out and everyone would see the car and hurry away. Or like when he would go visit his mother and she would try and feed him candy and the nanny would yell at her and say "dont feed my baby that crap!" then the mother would get mad at the father and say "Who's baby is he?!" The Maharaja's Uncle loved his nanny. You could tell by his face when he talked about her. :) After Jodhpur we left on the 23 hour train ride. That was pretty insane. We didnt know we had to take food so everyone was starving and we had to wait till dinner. It was a pretty intense ride. And finally we ended up here in Rishikesh. The first day we were here we went to the Ganges and did the ceremony called Aarti. Where everyone lights a candle in a little flower shrine and sends it down the Ganges. There were Holy men there chanting and people singing and it was really amazing and spiritual. They do this every night and you can sometimes hear it from the hotel which is fun. The second day we got to Raft in the Ganges. It was probably the funnest thing we have done so far for me! We got to swim and go through HUGE rapids! So big that i even got knocked out of the raft on one! Oh geez it was a blast. We got to swim for a lot of it and even though it was freezing you got used to if after 5 minutes and me, Bev, Annette, and Jerry swam while Nate and Eli worked on there tans. It was a weird mix up but sooo much fun. It was a 5 hour rafting trip. 2 hours in the morning, then lunch, then 2 more hours all for 500 rupees which in American money is about 10 dollars. Best 10 dollars i have spent yet besides all the amazing presents i bought for my family!!! :D Then today we went and hiked up to the top of this mountain where there was a temple and then when you looked all around you you could see the Himalayas! Some were covered by clouds but it was still amazing. The hike was a bit vigourous but well worth the panting. :P Even though on the ride back i got a bit sick because the roads are about 10 feet wide and whinding around the whole mountain it was still beautiful while it lasted! Haha but we leave Rishikesh tomorrow at about 5 pm India time and we are headed back to Delhi to fly to Goa so hopefully tomorrow night i can blog again. Thanks for reading! (love you papa, mama, Sara, Abby, Jake, Owen, Emily, Hope, Trey, Tuffy, Paul, Nona, Beau, 8ters, Porter, Ivy, and Chief! Miss you all too! 8 days! :))