Another successful weekend of playing sustainable urban farmers! Mark’s batch of yogurt last weekend was so delicious that he made a second batch and it turned out even better! Live active cultures, no hormones, etc. Just plain delicious yogurt the way it’s supposed to be. He’s getting really good at this! He also made another batch of cheese. This time he didn’t press it into a shape so it was kind of the consistency of ricotta and it was AMAZING with some homemade apple jam poured on top!

A couple of weeks ago, with the help of our friend Rich, Mark brewed his first batch of beer. It’s an Anchor Steam clone and supposedly that’s a pretty good beer (I’m more of a wine girl). I’ve mentioned this to a few people and some responses are “Aren’t you scared you are going to blow up your house?” and “isn’t that illegal?” Let’s clear this up. It’s not like we’re distilling moonshine in our basement. It’s BEER. It’s fermented, not distilled. So basically it sits for a couple of weeks while the little yeast do their work. Distilling is a whole different process that I’m unfamiliar with, but I imagine it involves overalls, a long beard, a thick backwoods accent and as little teeth as possible. No my friends, that is not what’s happening over here.

Saturday was bottling day and Mark was so excited to finally see if his beer was actually…..well….beer! Apparently a little sugar is added to the mixture before it’s bottled and that’s what creates the carbon dioxide (bubbles). Rich came over and the two of them bottled five gallons of beer while only partially destroying the kitchen. It was actually pretty cool to watch. They tested the beer and were quite impressed with themselves. Actual Anchor Steam is 4.9% alcohol and Mark’s will be 4.8% so he did REALLY well! Especially for his first brew!  I might even try one in a couple of weeks when they are ready to drink.

Rich is also making some wine. That process is less involved in the brewing step, but a lot more involved in the fermenting process. So the Shiraz he’s making now really won’t be drinkable until around July.

I think I’ve convinced Mark (wasn’t hard) to make me some wine. I’m a cabernet girl, but in the summer I really do love a nice white or rose’. So next weekend he’ll start some Sauvignon Blanc that should be ready by Summer.

With all the preserving and brewing going on over here, we decided to step up our basement remodeling plans and I can’t wait to add all the shelves and fill them full of homemade goodies and wine!

While the boys were playing brew masters I decided to go out and play with our chickens. I love going in their coop and hand feeding them weeds and dried worms. I’m finally able to pet them a little more and I just love watching them scratch around play in the dirt. I ended up cutting the grass so I could give them all the clippings to play in. It was so very peaceful to sit there and watch them try to pick all the bugs and seeds out of the clippings. I also noticed some honey bees (our neighbor is a beekeeper) in our yard and this year instead of shooing them away, I welcomed them into my garden and even started some snapdragon seeds in hopes to keep them coming back all year.

Mark’s been reading a book about fermenting. The book includes information and recipes about such foods as sauerkraut, cheese, yogurt, etc. He got so excited about fermenting after “brew day” last weekend that now he’s decided to try his hand at cheese making. You can imagine my surprise when Friday night after work he asked if we could please go to JoAnn Fabrics. Really. Apparently he needed cheesecloth because he was determined to make cheese that night. So off we went for cheese making supplies which consisted of cheese cloth, milk and vinegar.

It was like a science experiment in our kitchen! I had seen farm cheese made before. It was Amsterdam several years ago. All I remembered was the smell, but I was pretty sure it took longer than one night. While we were in Cuba, every dinner was followed by a dessert of homemade farmer’s cheese and homemade fruit preserves. I didn’t know how Mark was going to do it, but I knew I HAD to see and taste this!

Recipe is pretty much this: slowly bring milk to a boil, remove from heat and very very slowly stir in ½ cup of distilled vinegar. You’ll be able to see the milk separating pretty much instantly. After just a few minutes of stirring, pour this mixture over a colander lined with cheesecloth. Squeeze the water out of the cheese and in about an hour the cheese is hard. VIOLA!! It worked! And it was GOOD!!!!!!  We used local, organic milk so it was about a $7 block of cheese, but you can use whatever you’d like. I think next time we’ll add some herbs and more salt. If you didn’t make it into a block or ball you can leave it in chunks and you have ricotta!

 

My mom picked about a million blueberries from her bushes last year. We ate blueberries all summer until we just couldn’t eat them anymore. So she ended up freezing about 25  containers full of berries as well as several containers of apples from her trees.

It was time to practice those preserving skills I learned last summer! Mark and I headed over there yesterday morning, sugar and jars in hand. After a long day of cooking and jarring we ended up with one hundred and eight jars of jam!

Whew! We were exhausted. But how exciting! We learned all about how the sugar and pectin affects the stiffness of the jam, how the heat from the jam and warm jars seal them, etc. We used about half the sugar, if not less, than the recipe called for so that left a lot more great fruit flavor, but it’s just a little less stiff then regular jam. No worries though. It was SO tasty on Mark’s cheese during lunch and was even more tasty in the cobbler we ate last night and this morning! Note to self….jam making somehow makes my pants shrink.

We stayed up until after midnight making the last of the jam and I fell asleep thinking about all the soup stocks, veggies and beans I could preserve and how I can’t wait for the farmer’s market so I could get some good deals on great food and preserve it for winter.

But making jam isn’t all we did. I make three more quilt blocks for my very first quilt I’m making. Quilt making runs in my family and I’ve always really wanted to do it, but never had the time. I certainly don’t have more time now, but I’ve had such a great time making this quilt that I’ve made it a point to work on it. It helps that I’m taking a class where my mother is the teacher and I don’t want to disappoint her by not doing my homework.

Remember the sauerkraut Mark made last weekend? Well, it had been fermenting away in the kitchen for a week so we decided it was time for a taste test. We took it with us to my mom’s and as soon as they saw we had homemade kraut, they started making sausage and took out the spicy mustard! I must admit, I was a little nervous to eat the kraut. I mean, I KNOW that all sauerkraut is fermented and I’ve eaten it a ton of times. Afterall, I DID live in Germany for a few years. But there’s something about seeing the process and knowing it’s been sitting out on the counter all week. But after everyone took a bite and raved about it, I decided to try it and I’m so glad I did! It was so great! There was still a nice crunch to it and the texture was perfect. Mark’s going to let the next batch sit for an extra week in hopes to make it a little more “sauer”. My mom loaned him her Korean kimchi pot so he can make even more the next time.

Which brings me to tonight.

Along with our week’s meals, tonight Mark also made another batch of kraut.

He’s also making his first batch of yogurt. Yep! That’s right. Live active culture yogurt. Can you believe it? This sustainability thing is really opening my eyes. I’m a city girl from South Florida, I thought yogurt was some kind of super hard thing to make and it could really only happen in a lab or by professionals (laugh if you want). But right now, in our kitchen, there is a big batch of yogurt with no hormones, no sugar and unpronounceable words, aside from the culture names. We won’t really know if it worked until the morning, but how cool is that?!

But just in case the yogurt doesn’t work out, we are boiling some eggs as a backup breakfast plan. Nothing like fresh chicken eggs from your spoiled backyard pets! We happen to have a carton of cage free organic eggs in our fridge, can you tell which of these eggs came from the store? Gives you something to think about…….

I decided to give sauerkraut a try. After watching several different videos, I opted for a small batch method in a mason jar. I’m really just dipping my toes in the water with this, so who knows how it is going to turn out. The recipe was extremely simple. To make it, you need the following ingredients.

• White Cabbage
• Sea salt
• Caraway seeds

I shredded a single head of cabbage and mixed with a tablespoon of salt and handful of caraway seeds. Immediately the smell was amazing. The caraway seeds really lend a beautiful aroma to the mixture. I mixed it all by hand and squeezed the cabbage to try to bring the water out of the cabbage. I then covered the bowl with a towel and let it sit for an hour. Then I crushed the lettuce again and let it sit for 3 hours. I probably should have let it sit overnight, but at this stage I added the cabbage to a jar, covered it with a cabbage leaf, some water, and finally added pressure (with 2 shot glasses) to keep the cabbage below the water/brine level.

Hopefully in a few days I will start to see some fermentation working.

This next adventure is going to definitely be somewhere new for us. We’re going to discover and learn new things, meet new people and even try new foods! Where is this exciting place?? It’s called SUSTAINABILITY! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainability

Before you think we’ve lost our hippy loving, liberal, wheatgrass drinking minds, let me explain.
It all started when my mom asked us if we’d like her two chickens so she can take off in her RV for who knows how long and live a gypsy life. We sure love the fresh eggs and knowing where they came from, how the chickens were treated and what was in those eggs was a bonus so we quickly said yes.

While building the chicken coop, my mom and Tom also built us some raised beds around our deck where we planted tomatoes, cucumbers and a variety of other veggies. In anticipation of a bountiful harvest, I decided I should learn how to preserve food. So off I went to a class out in the country on making herbal vinegars, preserving tomatoes and making jelly. I was all set. Too bad there was absolutely nothing to harvest. Everything died. Turns out veggies aren’t really happy growing in rocky, red clay mud. In order to actually grow anything we’d need to turn that dirt into black gold….compost! So we began scrutinizing everything we put in the trash. Can it be fed to the chickens? Can it go in the compost pile?

A few months later I started seriously thinking about retirement. Yes, we’re putting at least 10% in our 401K, but I just “celebrated” my twelfth year anniversary at work and I have enough in my 401k to last about one full year. Nice. Really?? And I still have 35 years before retirement. The combination was slightly depressing. Mark and I are smart, creative people. SURELY we can come up with a genius plan to retire early and spend our days having fun together without relying on winning the lottery to do so. Did I mention Alabama doesn’t even have a lottery?

I began researching the subject. Have other people been able to do this? How? Mark found a book called ‘Early Retirement Extreme’ about a guy that retired at 33. Yes! Maybe it is possible! So we began reading it.

The concept is that you can live very minimalist and cheap while saving and investing. Some of his concepts are a little extreme or not really feasible for our location, but for the most part the idea and philosophy of what he is explaining makes pretty good sense. Eat at home, fix what you can by yourself, pinch pennies, watch for sales, purchase quality instead of quantity, evaluate your needs vs your wants. Look around at all the crap you own and ask yourself what you really NEED and what was just a waste of money. Make paying off debt a priority, don’t charge anything. These are VERY basic concepts and things we should all be doing anyways. But it’s so easy to just accept you’ll have a car payment forever and a mortgage is just a part of life. That your credit card will always have some type of balance on it and that if the sink breaks, you call a plumber because that’s what they are there for.

I don’t know how to explain it, but the combination of thinking about retirement and reading this book really got us thinking and “lit a fire under our butts” so to speak. We registered on Mint.com which is a site that you can load all of your banking, retirement and loan accounts on, evaluate where you are spending your money and set goals. When we saw how much money we were wasting on restaurants and general stuff that we didn’t really need it was a little sickening. Was the $65 for sushi every week even worth it? You can even see how much money you’d save by paying off loans early based on your current interest rate. We have really great interest rates on our cars and mortgage, but why spend an extra several hundred to a thousand dollars if we didn’t HAVE to? It’s not like we are rolling in money, but with dual incomes, no children and a modest home, we should really be able to live debt free with ease. Luckily we only have one credit card that is paid off every month, but even still….why don’t we have one that offers cash back or frequent flyer miles? Just another example of wasted money.

So back to sustainability. It just so happens, that saving money, saving the planet and preparing for the zombie apocalypse all have the same things in common. Learn to do with what you have, be resilient, make what you can out of things you already have, grow your own food, have some chickens, maybe some goats (still trying to convince Mark on this one) and above all DO NOT WASTE.
So for the past two weeks we’ve made a huge stride towards these goals. We cooked with whatever food we already had while spending minimal on groceries. We’ve researched and are preparing to have a successful garden with our black gold that’s been cooking all winter (now with added chicken poo!). Mark is learning to brew his own beer and wine (cause you know….that’s a must) and next weekend we’re having a preserve-a-thon at my mom’s where we will proceed to make 96 jars of jam from leftover fruit she has had stored in the freezer. Mark’s even going to make sauerkraut this week in an attempt to become more familiar with the preserving process.

I know we must sound like a couple of hippies, but if my plan works (insert evil laugh here), my MINI will be paid for by year end (two years early), Mark’s brand new car will be paid for by next year and our house in 5-7 years instead of the 27 left on our mortgage. Meanwhile I’m about to start learning all there is to know about investments. I’m a pretty intelligent accountant that loves technology. My learning about investments might just be like Neo discovering the matrix! Will we retire by age 40? Maybe. Will we live a better life learning all we can about feeding and fending for ourselves? Absolutely. It’s kind of a win win!

JELLY CLASS

ONE OF OUR GIRLS!

OUR GARDEN THAT DIDN’T GROW

Monday, January 24, 2011 –

The weather in Pushkar is very nice. Though cold at night and no heat, daytimes normally warm up into the 70’s. The sun is always shining and the air is nice and dry (good, because this helps tame the mosquitos during monsoon off-season)!

So today was a beautiful day to walk around Pushkar lake and visit some temples.

We have to remove our shoes before walking down to and around the lake area. It’s a sacred, holy area and shoes are considered dirty and disrespectful. Nevermind all the pigeon and monkey poo all over the steps and between my toes…it’s the SHOES that are dirty. Go figure!

I’ve never seen monkeys out in the wild, other than from the van on the drive in to Pushkar. I was so giddy just to see them hanging around the lake grooming themselves and each other as they people watched. We even saw a baby hanging on to it’s mommy!

You have to hide your camera around monkeys and not carry anything in your hands. These monkeys are so use to people and tourists they will steal your stuff and hold it ransom for food. Smart little things. So as cute as they were and as much as I really wanted to snatch one up and hug it and squeeze it and call it George…..I had to resist my urge. Not only do I want to keep my camera, I’d also like to keep my rabies free status!

As we walked down the marble steps to the lake, we saw people swimming, sadhus offering blessings, kids playing, cows wandering up and down the steps and several temples along the waterfront.

 

 

We noticed a very large family staring at us and talking. I looked over and a young girl stood pretty close to me, almost hoping I wouldn’t notice her. I realized her father was taking our picture. Vikas told us the parents had been trying to convince the children to come say hello to us. So I looked over at this beautiful, shy teenage girl and reached out to shake her hand. As she shook my hand the flashes started. It was like paparazzi everywhere and everyone wanted their picture with us and wanted to shake our hand. What in the world? One lady even handed Meg her baby for a photo. It was kinda unreal! I mean, there are other white people in this town, though strangely none by the lake. Surely they aren’t mistaking us for celebrities?

Vikas told us they are villagers and this was probably the closest they’ve ever been to a white person. So they were a little excited about it. How cool and totally weird is that?! We said our goodbyes and continued our walk along the lake.

We entered a temple dedicated to a water god. It’s not a deity I had heard of before so I can’t quite remember the name. It was a beautiful, colorful, ornate temple and it was so fitting that our first temple to visit along the lake was to a water deity. I love it when things just happen that way.

We walked as far along the lake as we could and stopped at a few humble altars people had created along the edge of the lake.

At the other side of the lake we stumbled on a tiny restaurant with all outdoor seating under a pavilion that was decorated with beautiful furniture and textiles. We had a little snack as we watched the enjoyed the view of the lake and the nice, cool breeze through the pavilion.

 

It wasn’t long until we needed to head back to the room in order to prepare for our afternoon dance class. On the way a young boy stopped me and said “you very good dancer”. YEAH! That totally made my day! A total random stranger stopping me in the street for a compliment, that just doesn’t happen every day!

There are about 20 students from all over the world taking our class. These women come to Colleena’s school for months at a time to study dance. They take classes for up to TEN hours a day.  I can’t imagine what it would be like to drop everything and move to India to study dance. Yes please!

After class we headed to the Brahma temple. Brahma is the supreme deity. The ONE that all else stems from. Hinduism can be a little confusing. But basically they believe there is ONE supreme being. All the separate deities aren’t really separate at all. They are just one aspect of the Supreme that they are praying to specifically. For instance, if you want to get pregnant, you don’t necessarily want to pray to a male deity. You want to pray to a mother deity, a goddess, one that understands your wants and needs and will help you. It’s all the same, it’s just that each aspect of the SUPREME is represented differently. The protector, the warrior, the nurturer, the giver of knowledge, of love, etc.

So back to the Brahma temple…..Brahma….the Creator. So why is there only one temple in all of India for the supreme deity? Well, from what I was told, a sage placed a curse on Brahma (revenge of some kind) so he could only be worshipped in one temple. Now, how a sage can place a curse on God is beyond me, but there are questionable stories in all religions so I just go with it.

We arrived just in time for evening puja! How amazing is it that I stood in the only Brahma temple in all of India, witnessed the puja (dedication and offerings) and got Prasad, a sweet snack blessed in the temple!  I absolutely love how these magical things happen in life.  I love the awesome feeling of knowing you are exactly where you are meant to be and at the exact time you are meant to be there. It’s like the universe is saying, “Keep goin’ girl! You’re on the right track!”

Sunday, January 23, 2011 –

Today started with a pretty relaxing morning. Meg had something stuck in her foot from the previous night and one of my return flights got rescheduled and would cause me to miss another so we got off to a slow start.

Eventually, we wandered out for a yummy breakfast. Breakfast in Pushkar (and maybe all of India) is interesting. For instance, I had a bowl of brown rice, black chick pea type beans, broccoli, spinach and sprouts all cooked in a hot garlic sauce. The other breakfast options were sandwiches and pancakes (they were really crepes). There was always the toast and jam option.

In the afternoon we had our first class of the week. It was a four hour workshop covering the basics of American Tribal Style Bellydance.

The school that the classes are held in is in an old temple. WOW! Dancing is such a spiritual experience for me so being able to dance in an ancient temple was an amazing feeling!

We begin each dance class with a puja. A puja is basically a “thank you” to all the elements we need in order to dance. It stems from Indian classical dance and is a type of moving meditation. Some people even see it as a prayer.

I’ve been lucky enough to do the puja in the FatChance Belly Dance studio in San Francisco, the birthplace of ATS and now in India…..in a temple….in a region where a lot of belly dance originated!

After class we met Mark and Ling Shien for dinner at a Tibetan restaurant that was outside under a HUGE tree. It was a pretty cool place. The entire restaurant was outside.

Jet lag hit me and I started falling asleep at the table so we didn’t stay long after we ate. Time to head back to the hotel where I fell asleep to another crazy, music filled, wedding night in Pushkar.

Saturday, January 22, 2011 –

I woke up at 5:30am after a solid night sleep. Way to beat jetlag! The sun wasn’t up yet so I decided to take the opportunity to watch it rise from the rooftop. It was COLD so I layered up and headed to the roof.

As I stood there I heard music playing from all different areas of town. Nothing like the crazy party music of yesterday. This was soft, beautiful music coming from temples all around me.

I watched people start their day. Men riding bikes to work, a lady sweeping the front steps of a temple with what looked like a handful of long straw and groups of women in beautiful saris entering one of the temples for morning puja. Watching Pushkar wake up was a side of the town I didn’t get to see yesterday. It was so peaceful.

We spent the morning at the terrace restaurant drinking chai and eating breakfast. I took score while Meg and Jasmine played scrabble. It was a nice, calm way to ease into the day. I needed that.

Tonight is our first performance. I didn’t want to bring any expensive costuming and jewelry with me so we just HAD to go to the market to buy some. YAY! Along the way we stopped for lunch and started getting sleepy so we grabbed some bangles and headed to the room for a nap.

A couple hours later it was time to get ready for the show. Megha has been busy the last few months making some beautiful costuming. I got to look at it all, try it on and pick out my favorites. Since this is a holy town we had to cover our bellies. That makes getting ready a little more complicated. We ended up wearing these gorgeous burgundy and gold dupattas draped over us. We wrapped them around our bellies and over our shoulder similar to a sari. I must say, we looked SO pretty!

As we walked through the streets of Pushkar everyone kept yelling out how wonderful we looked and they were asking where we were from. I’m sure “America” is the last thing they expected to hear. So now there is a town in India that thinks Americans dress like ATS dancers. You are welcome America!

We reached the hotel where the performance was and it was a little unbelievable. The building was very old and the courtyard where we were going to dance was open to the sky. We get to dance under the stars! There were multiple stories and there were people standing all around and on all levels. The place was packed with locals, tourists and students.

As we walked towards the back of the courtyard I noticed a bunch of Rajasthani gypsy musicians sitting in front of a big fire pit playing some wonderful, traditional music!

When we finally made it through the crowd we saw them! REAL Rajasthani gypsies decked out in full traditional dresses getting ready to perform! The music started again and then the gypsies randomly came out and danced one or two at a time. The whole night was really more like a giant party.  I can’t even explain this. I can’t do it justice. I hope in my whole life I never forget what I saw tonight! I got some photos, but even if I recorded the entire night it would never capture the beauty and energy in that courtyard on this magical night!

 

Our performance had live music by two of our dear friends from San Francisco. Mark and Ling Shien Bell of Helm. What a treat! OK…..dancing under the stars, around a fire pit, to a big crowd with gypsies all around us, dancing to our favorite musicians….LIVE and in INDIA!!! AAHHHH!!!

Our performance was on FIRE! (literally too, but more on that later).  We were dancing with live musicians that we had not seen since last May and dancing completely in sync and I had not seen or danced with Megha in four months. Complete improve and awesome energy! The crowd went crazy!  The gypsies were yelling and clapping for us and towards the end a crazy sadhu, holy man, danced himself into a frenzy and landed in the fire pit. Sparks and wood flew all over the place! Luckily no one was hurt and the man was escorted out. The fire was back in control and the band began to play again so we continued dancing. Somewhere there are photos and videos of this and I really hope I see them one day!

Now, as a professional dancer, I have been trained and even experienced in what to do if the following things happen: the cd or ipod mess up while in the middle of a set or play the wrong song, a finger cymbal flies off into the crowd, your jewelry gets stuck on your costume or a dance partner’s costume, you get smacked in the head with spikey bracelets and even if you trip or, god forbid, you lose pieces of costuming while you dance. But never, ever, has the subject even come up about what to do if a holy man topples over in a fire and nearly catch your musicians on fire. Seriously Megha, what kind of teacher are you?! Hehe

The night went on for hours. Fire dancers, sword dancers, more gypsy dances and plenty of amazing music. The entire experience was so surreal. It’s like I’m living in a dream and the travel channel at the same time! Oh, and of course there was a cow walking around in the back all night. It was one of the best days of my life! I only wish Mark was here to share it with me.

It’s almost 1am and between jetlag, my nap this afternoon and this natural high from the unbelievable night I just had…..I’m barely sleepy!

Tomorrow we teach a four hour workshop so I hope to get another good night sleep. So good night journal!

Oh….and Megha got rammed by a baby cow on the way back to the room tonight, but she’s a fast learner so she was able to dodge him. I really shouldn’t laugh “butt” it’s so darn funny!

 

 Friday, January 21, 2011 –  

I’m sitting on the last plane to get to Rajasthan and I’m watching the most amazing, pink and orange sunrise over India.

Last night, when I arrived in Mumbai, I went through customs, got my luggage and then proceeded to the exit. I knew Vikas was going to pick me up but as I walked closer to the door I realized there was a sea of Indians and I had no idea how I was going to find him. Usually he’s the only one in our crowd. Luckily I stood out in the crowd. Vikas spotted me and waived me over. So much excitement!! I’m so very happy to have someone meet me at the airport! I would otherwise have no idea where to start.

The hotel car was waiting so we threw my bags in and headed to the hotel. The flight to Jaipur leaves at 5:50 am and at this point it’s almost 1am. Meg and Vikas got a hotel room close to the airport so we could get at least a couple hours of sleep before our morning flight.

As we reached our floor on the tiny, old fashioned elevator, Meg ran out of the room and squeezed me. We were hugging and jumping up and down like little school girls who had not seen each other all summer.

We talked about my flight, my fancy upgrades, how exciting this trip will be and how we really needed to be sleeping since we have to wake up in less than three hours. I was not sleepy at all, but I managed to rest a little. I laid there daydreaming about our journey to Rajasthan.

So here I am, about to land in Jaipur where our driver will meet us for the final part of the trip…..a three hour ride through north India desert, to a holy city, where a town of 400 temples will be my home for a week! Unbelievable.

Later that day……

The drive to Pushkar was an adventure all on its own. I saw everything from women in full saris working construction, to camels, cows and even monkeys! I saw men with giant turbans and big funny mustaches that curled up on each end. I saw people literally living on the side of a road and even saw brand new high tech schools being built. What a variety of lifestyles!

We were starving so we stopped at a “tourist” spot along the way. As adventurous as I am and as cultural as I’d like to think I am, I really didn’t want to spend my entire week on the toilet suffering from “Delhi Belly”. Stomach issues are apparently an absolute for tourists. So much so that my doctor gave me a prescription specifically for traveler’s dia……um, stomach problems. Not only is the water not really safe, even for Indian residents, but sanitation is virtually non-existent (at least in the rural areas). So I just ate one little pakora (a little fried veggie ball) and some packaged banana chips. Pre-packaged foods with European standards are a pretty safe bet for first timers. It’s better to ease my stomach into the food and let it adjust before just pigging out on channa masala, naan and all the other yumminess I really wanted.

We arrived in Pushkar early afternoon. The taxi couldn’t drive all the way up to the hotel until the trashman and cows decided to move. No one is really in a hurry around here which is funny because they sure do drive like they are! We eventually made it to the hotel. We walked through a giant, ancient looking door and into a beautiful courtyard that was sprinkled with fresh rose petals. There was a beautiful fountain in the middle and if you look up you can see several stories with vines and flowers growing all over. At the very top there was a restaurant and a terrace. Gorgeous!

After climbing five flights of some scary stairs, walking across the rooftop and then down one story, we finally arrive at our room.

It’s actually a little flat (apartment) that has an outside terrace as the hallway. A really interesting and different flat from any I’ve ever seen. Meg and Vikas’ room had a huge bed that took up most of the room and a bathroom off to the side. Off our outside “hallway” was another bathroom and a kitchen that doesn’t have an oven or stove. Most people cook on a propane camp style burner. The last room was mine. YAY! Glad to have my own space. It’s a simple room with a twin bed and a little fabric lamp hanging just over the head of the bed. It reminds me of the rooms you see in movies. Usually they house a nun or monk or Julia Roberts away at meditation retreat finding the meaning of life (Eat, Pray, Love). I love it! It totally adds to the experience!

By now I was tired. I think the last time I slept was business class in Chicago two days ago. What day is it?? So anyways, that little rickety twin bed looked like a cloud in heaven and I couldn’t wait to lay on it. But I really needed to stay up so I could get on the right sleep schedule so off we went to find some lunch! We ate at a rooftop restaurant across from our flat. We had stunning views of the mountains and temples all around town. So beautiful!

Our friend and hostess, Colleena, dropped in between classes to say hi and pointed us in the direction of the market. Hmmm….that will keep me awake!

I know I’m IN Rajasthan, but I don’t think I had prepared myself to see so many beautiful textiles and jewelry! Tribal jewelry to die for! Even saw some pieces that I’ve seen before on famous dancers and have drooled over. Banjara cholis, beautifully decorated dupattas and clothing.WOW!

Colleena told us never to buy on the first day. That’s a great idea. I like to scope it all out and then decide what to go back for. I found so many things that I love, it’s best to narrow it down….at least over one night. I wonder how much I can actually pack to take back home?

The streets of Pushkar are fascinating. Most men are in traditional clothing which is a wrapped piece of cloth that comes up between the legs. I think it’s called a dhoti. Women are dressed from head to toe in amazing, sparkling saris and jewelry.

Not long after we entered the market we heard a lot of loud music and saw some kind of a parade headed our way so we stopped and waited to see what was going on. WOW! I’m glad we stopped! Around the corner came a huge band called “Krishna Band”. They were all dressed up in suits. As the last band member passed us I looked over thinking that was the end. Oh no, it was the beginning. Around the corner came several beautiful women in full Rajasthani clothing balancing some kind of lantern or pot on their head. About 100 women followed them. Those women were dressed in their best saris and wearing exquisite jewelry! We had no idea what was going on, but we heard them randomly around town for the rest of the day.

 

 

Vikas and Jasmine headed back to the room while Meg and I wondered through the market. In most shops you must remove your shoes before you enter. In India feet are considered dirty (well duh). But not just dirty, more like “unclean”. For instance, you never walk into someone’s home with your shoes on and certainly never a kitchen. You never put your feet on a book as this is disrespectful the Goddess of knowledge and learning, Saraswati.  You also never point the soles of your feet towards anyone. They should always point away from anyone and any sacred object. Needless to say I am totally buying a pair of Indian style sandals. My velcro strapped Sketchers were a pain to take on and off all day.

Many of the shops we went into had the actual workers in them. Some were in the back and others were sewing right in front of the store, practically in the street. There is something that feels so good about buying things from the person that made it and knowing the money is going directly to them and their family.

I had really been trying not to get too excited about shopping in India. I was so disappointed after the market in Egypt that I didn’t want to get my hopes up about India. Now I’m in complete awe and want…..no…..NEED everything I see!!

Merchants are also very friendly here. Noone was rude or pushy. When you told them “no thank you” they were fine and not one person so far has begged us for money. That makes this market the best one I’ve ever been to!

But there are two dangers you need to watch out for:

Rule number one – Get out of the way. Motorcycles and cars swerve left and right barely missing each other and all the people in the street. When you hear them honk or see them coming MOVE! After a day here I think I’m kind of getting the hang of dodging them.

Rule number two – Don’t mess with the cows. Yes. It’s true. There are cows just roaming the streets doing as they please. Big ones, baby ones and of all colors. It’s actually kind of nice seeing this revered animal walking the streets of a holy city in India. So back to rule number 2….get out of the way. Cows have a personality too. Some are sweet and look like you could just run up and give them a big ole hug and others look pretty cranky and just want to be left alone.

As we stood in the market square trying to decide which street to take next, a cow (with horns) walked up behind Megha and rammed her in the butt! I grabbed her and jerked her out of the cow’s way. Once I was sure he wasn’t going after her again I busted out laughing!! HAHAHA! She was ok, just a little sore, but “holy cow” that was hilarious!! For the rest of the afternoon she walked on the opposite side of the street whenever we saw a cow. We talked about what it could mean? Here we are in India, in a holy town and a holy cow just rammed her in her bum. Surely that is spiritually significant? Let’s hope it’s some kind of a blessing.

We were getting hungry and I really needed some hot tea so we headed back to the hotel. We had no idea where we were going, but everyone is so nice here that we soon found ourselves being escorted through the streets by a very nice, fully mustached Rajasthani man in colorful turban. From my previous country experiences I just knew he was going to want money after he took us to the right place, but nope. In fact, he told us about his camel safari business, gave us a card and told us that if we were interested to contact him directly so he could save us money rather than us going through the hotel and paying their fee. Camel safari is suppose to be one of the “must do’s” in Pushkar and I really hope we get to go on one!

So back at the hotel, Megha and I decided to relax at the hotel’s rooftop restaurant with some masala chai (black tea with spices) and have a little snack. We sat there with our tea listening to the music and parties going on in the streets below and watched the sunset behind the mountains and temples. It’s rare that I get to watch the sunrise and the sunset in the same day. Especially after such a rare and amazing day!

After tea it was time to prepare for our dinner with Colleena and our two friends from San Francisco that were also in town. This meant it was time for my first shower in India (and since I left home for that matter). So, there aren’t many showers in India and certainly not many bathtubs. Oh yeah…..it was time for my first bucket bath. Meg gave me the rundown and tips and soon I was squatting down pouring cups of water over me and scrubbing away. I felt a little weird at first. I mean, I’m not even in a stall….just butt naked, squatted right there in the bathroom next to the toilet and sink trying not to fall over and trying to figure out how to get this water everywhere it needed to go. But I managed and at least there was hot water. I’m not sure if it was the fact that I had not bathed in two or three days, that I had not slept in almost 48 hours or that I had been walking through a dust filled market all day (often with no shoes), but that bucket bath was great!! It was so refreshing and I felt just as clean as I would have after a shower. It was just a little more complicated because I didn’t know where to hang my loofah, how to rinse my hair and how to get dried off and put my clothes on while standing in a floor covered in my bath water.

Soon we were making our way through the streets of Pushkar to find Colleena’s house. There aren’t house numbers or street signs in Pushkar. Our directions were something like “go to the town center, turn left by the men drinking chai and then turn by the laundry place”. I never saw the chai drinkers, but I knew it was time to turn when I saw the man ironing clothes on a stone table with what looked like an old-fashioned, cast iron well….iron that was heated by some kind of non-electrical source. It was pretty fascinating. Wonder what he would say if he saw a western style iron with multiple fabric settings, heat settings and steam?!

After walking through a tiny alley and yelling out Colleena’s name, we finally found her!

We enjoyed an evening with our friends discussing music and dance and planning for the show tomorrow night. After we ate, Colleena turned on some music and I slowly began to fade. It hit me. I haven’t slept since the Chicago flight and it’s finally time for me to get to sleep with the hopes of beating jetlag. I’m quite proud of being able to make myself stay up this late. I just hope I can sleep all night.

Back at the hotel we prepared for bed. I found a big yellow lizard friend in my room so Vikas kindly removed him while I explained to the little fellow that he was welcome to eat the mosquitos outside BEFORE they made it into my room. I caught a cricket and let him out too. After a final critter sweep I climbed into my bed.

Megha had told me to pack ear plugs. I didn’t really understand why until I realized all the music and parties of the day were still going on and didn’t sound like they were going to stop any time soon. Tonight is a full moon and considered one of India’s many auspicious days. These are days when big events like weddings happen. Weddings in India are a HUGE, ornate and very loud event. After two days without sleep I think I’ll be just fine. After all, it’s a celebration and I certainly have a lot to celebrate too, but I’ll be doing so in my dreams. Night Night.

Thursday, January 20,2011 –

Almost there! In 55 minutes I will get off the plane and step into a country so different it will be like walking into a whole new world! But let me back up a bit. I was upgraded to business class for the Chicago to Brussels part of the trip! WOW! Champagne before take-off, three course meal with real dishes, red wine and for dessert they brought around a cart full of ice cream and toppings and they would make you a customized ice cream sundae! I opted out on dessert. I really needed to get as much sleep as possible and I knew if I was hyped up on sugar that would never happen. So I got out my duvet, pillow and face mask, pushed the little reclining button and was soon laying down, totally flat. I passed out and didn’t wake up until breakfast. I slept almost the whole flight. It went by so fast!

I arrived in Brussels and didn’t have a very long layover so I grabbed a couple bottles of water and within the hour was on my third flight. Whew!

Brussels to Mumbai is operated by Jet Airways. They are an Indian company, so even though I am a well seasoned traveler and was stuck in economy class, I still found this flight to be pretty fun. This airplane was so different from any other that I’ve been on.

All of the signs are in Hindi and English. Our meals and snacks were Indian food. For dinner I had sag paneer and lentils with rice. There was even a little container of spicy mixed pickle! I even had a tiny packet of the traditional after dinner “mints” which are a combination of seeds, fennel and a few other herbs.

No business class for me on this flight. In fact I’m crammed in a window seat, the crying babies woke me up and I’m pretty sure I can’t feel my toes, but WAHOO!!! None of that even matters because in 36 minutes, after two days of travel, I will be in INDIA!!