Wow.

We arrived in Udaipur just a couple of hours ago, after a LONG bus ride today. We have spent a lot of time on our bus during this past week, and it feels nice to be in looking forward to being in Udaipur for a few days. We are all mostly well, with some of us dealing with varying degrees of stomach illnesses. Several people have started taking antibiotics, and others are dealing with it by eating (when possible) a very mild diet and having a lot of water to drink. Overall, we are doing pretty darn well, especially since this trip is very physically demanding. It is amazingingly hot, and we are going out and about, climbing hills, walking a lot, all during the mid day heat. We are all drinking liter after liter of water (fortunately they sell liter bottles of water for 20 Rps on the bus).

Some of our recent adventures: today, we stopped to see bats sleeping in several large trees by the road. They were flapping their wings in their sleep to keep cooler. It was cute and fascinating! We also saw wild monkeys along the road, one of them was drinking water from a clay pot, and others were up in trees and just hanging out on the stone markers by the side of the road. When our bus stopped, they all stopped what they were doing and turned to stare at us. Of course, we were staring at them, and it was hard not to have the sense that while we were were shouting "look at the monkeys!" that they were shouting "look at the tourists!" while they checked out our bus. It was really interesting.

We also stopped today at the Jain temple complex in Ranakpur, which was easily one of the most powerful places we have seen yet. These temples are built in the mountains, just as the seemingly endless desert plains finally ended. They were built by Jainists centuries ago, and are intricately carved with literally more than a thousand pillars. We removed our shoes outside, where they were guarded by an old man with a long beard. There was a long red cloth that made a covered path up the marble front steps (which was good because the stone was so hot it hurt to walk on it barefoot!). Inside, there were groups of Jainists who were actively worshipping, and we walked around the huge temple. It was a very powerful place; in a way, it had a kind of strong but calm energy. It felt good to be there. There were a number of smaller altars and steps going up and down all around, so it was easy to get lost in explorative meditation, which a number of us did. What an amazing place.

As usual, we will update again soon!

Martha and Andrea