7th and 8th of March, 2023.
Unfortunately, my Camel Safari is nothing as I imagined. The feedbacks online say so many amazing things about it, and recent ones! But for me, it was really just fine. Actually, the Camel Safari and the Holi it all happened in the same day.
Two friends from France want to go to the desert and do the “Holi” program. My host, Jalam, finally send me to go with them. It is kind of good so I can also celebrate Holi.
We celebrate in the Fort. The three of us were accompanied by a friend of Jalam who can speak English and know about Jaisalmer History. He worked with tourists before. How do you celebrate Holi? Everybody grabs a package of Gulal (coloured powder), and you must spread in one another’s cheek. Apart from that, you can also spread in the rest of the body, and throw in the air. Some people also use water pistols or colourful water. And that I didn’t like and tried to avoid as much as possible. But the real tricky part is how to avoid the “Holi mood”. I believe that the fact that our guide was an elderly man, helped us to deal with that “Holi mood”. But what is that?
Well, because Holi is to celebrate the victory of good over evil (mostly related to Krishna as well), you should not be angry at anything, there should be no fights at all, and just “be happy”. Some people even say that during Holi everything is allowed, everything is OK. Now, the tricky part is that, of course, some people take advantage of that. And by some people I mean men. They will try to hug you at all costs, with the excuse that it is Holi. And even being a Brazilian, the land where everybody hugs everybody, I am not used to be hugged by drunk people. At least I will refuse as much as I can. And, unfortunately, that’s another thing during Holi: as almost all parties and celebrations, people make it an excuse to drink. I respect all believes and religions, but there is no way I will let a drunk stranger to come and hug me. Our guide told us that, after spreading the Gulal in somebody’s face, if a man would try to come and hug us, we should gently put one hand in their chest, as a sign of “no”, and that should be OK. I think that, in the end, it worked fine. But then again, I don’t have long blond hair and blue eyes. Ops!
Please, I don’t want by any means say that everybody and all Indians see and celebrate Holi in that way. Of course not! I am sure there are a huge number of Indians who just play and celebrate Holi in the most friendly and respectful way as possible. And we found many of them that day too, who would simply come and spread Gulal in our faces, and even hug us, but in a amiable and respectful way.
After having lunch in the guide’s house (he lives inside the fort), we could go back to our accommodation to quickly take a shower, change, and go to the desert. And that’s when things started to get complicated. In order to save money, and space, the company puts too many people in the jeeps. It is freaking hot and sunny, and you don’t want to be scratching yourself against a stranger, for quite a long ride, into the desert, and mostly when you paid for that. Luckily, everybody else was nice: a group of three amazing Indians (I will write more about them later); and a young couple, also Indians.
Rambo, my camel, is the largest animal among them all. When he stands up, I go all the way to the 7th floor! It is a bit scary, to be honest. I didn’t feel that much safe because there is nowhere to hold apart from this kind of handle connecting all the carpets you are sitting on it. It is right in front of you but you can barely grab it with one hand and that’s it. If your camel step wrongly and you are (for any reason) unable to grab that handle, there’s nothing between you and the floor, which in my case was about 2.5 metres. Not so great.
We do a very short ride until the camping spot. The locals who walk the camels didn’t talk a word with us. In the reviews, I read about the interaction and how they, supposedly, could speak English. If they do, they were not in the mood. No explanation about the desert or this life style what so ever. Nothing, niente, nada. The dinner was tasteless. By trying not to make it spicy, they make it tasteless. I don’t know what I was expecting, and believe me, I am used to eat anything and very simple food, but I was not happy with dinner. Then the worst happen: There is a prediction of rain for the night. Sleeping under the stars, on the traditional desert bed, the metal frame ones, was a part of the trip I was very excited about it. No tents or anything blocking the immensity of the universe and its shiny stars. Nope! We had to depart after dinner, and drive to a guest house nearby, where we spend the night. How disappointing! In the end, it didn’t rain at all.
We go back to the desert next morning to have breakfast, do some more camel riding, and visiting some spots nearby.
The breakfast is again not so great. The same for the camel ride back: way shorter than what was promised. But OK, for that I actually feel sorry for the camels. In the end, they shouldn’t be doing this at all, right?
We then visit a beautiful fortress and a lake. Simple places but part of the local history.
And that was it.
Clearly, I was not entirely happy with the whole experience. I think that, in my head, it would be a more adventurous, really down to desert experience. Perhaps this had to happen just to remind me that, we should not explore these poor animals like this. They should be living free wherever they want, doing whatever they want. We are the ones who created this fake logo that: “This is their purpose in life”. I’ve heard that from people who try to defend horse races as well. When animals are not born in the wild, when we reproduce then for whatever are our means, they were not supposed to do this or that. We bred them for that. It is our fault, our responsibility. And we are the only ones to blame.
P.S.: The adorable 3 Indians who I mentioned before are the couple Lakshmi and Paul, and their friend Sathy. I met them again another day by the Big Tree Café and it was awesome! We spend a long time chatting and had a great time together! They are such lovely souls and I am very happy we met again! When we were walking back to our accommodation places, the boys surprised me with some chocolates! How sweet! And then they were surprised by how overwhelmed I was by their gesture. Paul actually was the one to introduce me to some also truly wonderful people from Kerala, this wonderful family with whom I would stay in my future travels South. And for that, I will also always be grateful to him! Right now, Lakshmi and Paul are in their journey of backpacking around India! It is a wonderful journey and you can check it out via their Instagram accounts: @travellingdentist94 @_thetravellingcoach
10 Years Around the World 