I had a nice send-off from my host family. We were supposed to leave around 9:00 but we were delayed by over an hour because the zipper on Elizabeth's suitcase broke. While we were waiting, one of the hosts took Bernie, Rajiv and me to the post office so we could buy stamps and mail postcards. The host was laughing because he didn't understand why we would want to send postcards when we could just send email. We tried to explain that it's kind of sentimental.
When we met back up, we all piled into this huge 12-passenger van and set sail for Bijapur. En route, we stopped at a town called Nipani. It's a small town and we did a mini-presentation for their mini-Rotary club. Nipani is famous for its tobacco crops and so our gift from the Nipani Rotary Club was a carton of beedies.
"None of us smoke," we told the Rotarian with the gray beard. "It's bad for you."
"Bad? I have been smoking for forty years and I am very healthy!" he replied, coughing black phlegm into his handkerchief. He henceforth became known to us as Smokey.
Smokey and a few other Rotarians took us to a school that they sponsor and then back to their club, where all the men proceeded to drink beer and smoke beedies. The women were inside preparing lunch, and us three girls were pretty much left to wonder what we were supposed to do. After lunch we toured their Rotary blood bank, and then left again to visit another fort. I guess we finally left Nipani around 5:00 PM.
Kids from the Nipani Rotary school.
Smokey says, "Come on Bernie, all the cool kids are doing it!"
Bag o' blood, anyone?
We drove for a couple more hours, playing with fruit and getting punchier by the minute. Then Misty came down with a fever.
Playing with "Agent Orange"...
... while Misty gets sicker and sicker.
We stopped off in this really crappy town so that Bernie and one of the hosts could take her to a hospital. The rest of us ended up sitting in this little dive of a restaurant being stared at by patrons. It must have been the equivalent of a greasy spoon diner. We sat around being miserable until it was time to leave.
No Happy Waitresses at the Indian diner.
"Quit it Smokey, cows do not smoke beedies!"
So we drove for an hour and then stopped again at some strange little village where these poor people were making sandals to export to Germany. It was pretty late at night, we were all tired, confused and cranky. We finally arrived in Bijapur after 11:00 PM and we were taken to our new hosts. I was totally exhausted.
My new family seems cool. It's a young guy, his pregnant wife and his parents. They were a little bummed that I didn't want to eat dinner at 11:00 at night. We sat around in their living room staring at one another until my host's brother and nephew came over. Then we all stared at one another some more until I finally excused myself to go to bed.
The room is tiny and it's gonna be another bucket bath for me this morning. Fortunately we're only here for two nights. The house is really small and my room is right next to the living room so I can hear all the commotion, both inside and out. Right now, for instance, I hear outside some loud trucks, a Muslim mosque calling people to prayer, a dog, a goat, and some guy coughing and hocking loogies really loudly. Lovely.
I think we're all reaching out tipping points. Elizabeth had a meltdown yesterday and it feels like it's all getting to be a bit too much. I try to remain positive - it's just a couple more weeks - but sometimes it really tests the strength. We chug along...
1 comment:
Get some rest, and enjoy the remainder of your trip.
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