101 Hours of travel

Long story short.  tuesday the 19th took a ferry in huge swells at noon from zanzibar to Dar es salam.  got train tickets first class sold out so we were in second class sleeper.  Train was delayed 11 hours finally left station at midnight and headed out.  right after the zambian border the train ran out of gas, 12 hours later more gas.  Then the brakes were sparking setting the savannah on fire, 4 more hours. 

Needless to say three nights on a train with a constantly rotating cast of cabinmates (all women) ranging from two teens with a baby brest feeding non stop to a 26 year old woman who was fasanated with our nightly 'American rituals" of cleaning our contacts and such.  she asked us all kinds of questions about the US such as do we know homosexuals? (it's an abomination) to her asking about naked runners and if everyone has a gun.  We probably left her with the impression that we are all gun touting, homosexual mounting, naked running Americans.

On thursday night we got off that god forsaken train and headed by taxi to lusaka and the yesterday a 6 hour bus ride to livingstone.

This morning we got up early and headed to the FAlls.  It was amazing and we had it all to ourselves only took us 5 days to reach it!!!  There is barely electricity and hardly internet so I'm sooooo sorry to all those for not answering iit email (it doesn't open) and updating fb. 

I'm now headed to meet my class on an 18 hour hopefully good shape bus in Windhoek.

Zanzibar

Hi guys for the past four days we have been laying in the sun on Zanzibar island.  The first day we arrived here we stayed in Stone Town which is an old walled city made by the portugese to begin growing their own spices.  We walked around the town looked at old forts, visited the market and watched the sun set over the ocean with dhow boats in the background.  The next day we took a tour of a spice plantation which was not what we had expected, some villagers from just outside the town had set up their own tour and the tour ended with a tour of their village which was not expected and very sad.  I purchased some spices to deal with my guilt. 

That evening we headed north to the beaches and have spent the past few days dining under the stars, laying on the beach and enjoying the sunset.  Tanzania has an electricity outage every day and hot water and internet are very hard to come by.  it's a whole other world that makes me see what huge benifits we have living in the US of A.  Speaking of the United States there is Obama everywhere.  Villagers carry him on the purse, wear them on the skirts, and even name shops after him.  In stonetown there is an Obama barber shop that has a huge mural of his head and an american flag.  This is one of the few places I have traveled where being from the USA is grand!!

Tomorrow we get on a train to Zambia for two days to see Victoria Falls

I'm not Lion

wow wow wow
That's all i have to say about the past few days.  We were picked up
at our "hotel" in Arusha and wisked off into another world.  We set
off in a 4 x4 across Tanzania where we saw things I only read about or
saw in zoos!!  There are more zebras and wildebeast than you can shake
a stick at and they are just roaming everywhere thousands.
The first evening we were parked nexted to a river at dusk and there
was a herd of 22 elephants, 100 zebras, and a family of baboons all
drinking and relaxing.
The second day we were watching a lion in a field when she ambled over
and laid down next to the car for some shade!!!!  We also saw two
ostriches doing a mating dance which is an elaborate dance of waving
wings, laying on the ground thrusting and being coy.
We saw the footsteps of the first humanoid and the place where
evolution was first throught of!
Every night we retired to a safari camp where we had a private cook,
hot showers, and a spotless tent with proper beds!!
Today we tried to make the journey to Zanzibar but we missed the ferry
due to a run in between an elderly bus rider who called the cops on
our rough bus driver (this had nothing to do with us).  So we will
take the ferry tomorrow to zanzibar tonight we are staying in Dar Es
salam.

Giraffe's Sneeze

After this years Air India debacles and my family's cancelled American Airlines I didn't hold much stock in my flight to Nairobi but I was wrong.  After Sankat and I had dinner at O'hare i breezed through security and took off on Turkish Air to Istanbul.  11 hours and three movies later I landed in Istanbul long enough to brush my teeth and marvel at the guy selling Turkish delight in a funny outfit that I had only previously seen monkeys wear, when I boarded my second flight I was greeted with an exit row seat with no neighbors!!

I cleared immigration with ease and a taxi driver from my hotel greeted me holding a sign with my name on it!  On the drive to the hotel i saw five zebras grazing on the side of the road.  When I arrived at the hotel liza was already there and we crashed!!  The next morning we went on a epic walking journey to find a bus company to take us to Arusha Tanzania. As we neared the center of the city more and more people wanted to sell us a safari and telling us that the bus company we wanted to us was closed!  after a break in a coffee shop we did prevail with two bus tickets to Arusha (the company was open).  

We then went on to be proper tourists and went to the giraffe orphanage.  there we were given handfuls of feed and we hand fed the giraffe's!!  as another traveler was feeding the giraffe it sneezed and I was in it's path.  That was a first.  below the giraffes there were warthogs scurrying around picking up the leftovers.  We then went on a small walk through the bush were there was actual giraffe tracks and scat, I've never seen that on a trail!!

Today we got up went to the bus and after the driver's prayer we set out on a five hour bumpy drive to Arusha.  We found a place to sleep tonight and are setting out tomorrow on a three day safari of Tanzania's national parks and the birthplace of mankind.  

A Hostage Situation

One of the first things I said to Sankat when we decided to get married in India was that I wanted an elephant.   If I was going to go all the way to India to get married I wanted to ride in on an elephant (you can't do that in the states no can ya).  I thought that this request would be so outlandish that there was no way that it could be granted.   Little did I know that I would be taken seriously and the quest to find a elephant would be become a major conquest for the Patel family over the next year.

When I arrived at the Garba Sankat's family had a elegantly decorated elephant waiting for me.  This gorgeous elephant came complete with a headdress, and elephant trainer and of course an umbrella guy (because what elephant would be complete without an umbrella guy).    Alright the umbrella guy wasn't really a guy but a small child but hey no ones to young to work in India, plus weddings are a family business.  Also it was pitch black outside so one did not need an umbrella in theory but hey no elephant is complete without and umbrella boy!

While we were waiting to head to the Garba everyone was taking pictures with the elephant and the elephant would do this neat trick of grabbing money with his nose and giving it to the trainer.  Once everyone took pictures with the elephant, and the elephant had made more money than a stripper in a frat house it was time for me to get on top and ride into the event.  I had created such a big deal about riding in on an elephant that I had to get up there without hesitation!!!  Now came the problem of how I was going to get on the elephant.  The elephant was kind enough to kneel down for me but he of course was still about six feet taller than me!!!  There was no ladder to be found so I grabbed his tail and Sankat shoved me up there Indian Choli wearing and all!!!

I paraded down the street the elephant, trainer, umbrella boy and all.  We arrived at the Garba and I waited a while up top for all to see.  Then I said time to get down, but the elephant would not kneel.  Sankat's uncles were all huddled below yelling up at the trainer the trainer kept shaking his head.  Then the trainer pulled out a cell phone.  My mom asked "why is Selina not getting down."  Sankat replyed, "oh she's just enjoying the view."  I began to realize that I was not going to get down without the trainer making more tip money.

The situtation began to get tense as the uncles got on their cell phones and the elephant trainer got on his to call his supervisor.  After much negotiation and not too many rupiah's later I was back on the ground.

All the Single Ladies

One of the many traditions surrounding an Indian Wedding is the Garba night which is the dance party the night before the wedding.  Typically both sides of the family would spend months preparing Bollywood style dance performances that would be performed at this event, but because Sankat's family alone was preparing both sides of the ceremonies they didn't have the time to prepare the dance moves.  So Sankat and I were asked to perform with our friends.  The closest I ever came to Bollywood dancing was knowing a friend who once took a class so I decided that we would entertain with good old American pop music!!!

Over Thanksgiving break I invited some of my friends over to my house to choreograph where we drank more bottles of wine than 8 counts planned so when we arrived in India, needless to say I had nothing planned.  After being delayed by Air India, measuring outfits and bangle shopping we had about two hours before the Garba before our dance practice to even begin.

I had to go to the salon to get my hair done for the Garba so I put Amethyst and Gina in charge of rounding up the girls and beginning dance practice.  Amethyst and Gina are my two friends who have watched a music video in the past five years and their moves really resemble a hip hop dancer!  Most of my other friends' dancing experience has occurred in bars at about two am after several cocktails or hippie dancing at a Rusted Root concert. 

When I arrive back at the Raj Path Club there are about 15 women dancing in the courtyard.  As Gina and Amethyst are calling out counts there is construction going on in the background.  Now construction in India is done completely by manual labor and is not gender biased.  As my friends are learning Beyonce's moves there are women barefoot in saris hauling buckets of sand on top of their heads.  As they are going back and forth to the dumping site of the dirt they are peering into the courtyard gaping at us dancing and as they are walking back and forth we are straining our necks to see them work, both of us fascinated by each others actions.  They were probably going to be much more successful at hauling dirt than we were going to be at this dance performance.  

20 Minutes in a Bangle Shop

As a gift to our wedding guests who traveled around the world my mother in-law bought traditional Indian wedding outfits for everyone to wear to the events.  Now in Indian nothing is off the rack, you go to the store and the salesman waits on you individually and brings out the fabric in the colors  you desire as you sip on a cold coffee or a Fanta.  Then after you make your selection the tailor takes your measurements and custom makes your outfit. Due to our late arrival the tailor is going to have to measure and make all of the outfits in less than 24 hours (taking sweat shops to a whole new level).

My mother in-law bought all the fabric in advance and the girls just had to choose their colors but this is very important because no Indian celebration outfit can be wore without bangles.  As everyone selected which colors they wanted (with very little bloodshed) Sankat had promised all the ladies they would get to go pick out and buy their own bangles to match, but since we were so far behind schedule I had to hurry off to the salon, Sankat had the pleasure of escorting 15 American women to the bangle shop.

Now for those of you who have never been to an Indian bangle shop or even know what a bangle is here's a brief Bangle 101.  Bangles are bracelets that are worn around your wrists, they are worn about 5-10 on each wrist.  They must be sparkly and coordinate with the colors in your outfit.  When you dance they knock together and make a pleasing sound.  Now in Indian or at least in Ahmadabad only men work in the shops.  The men in the bangle shops have long nails (much like a coke dealer) that are used to quickly move the bangles (another addiction) to put them onto metal rods in various color combos that are amazing and cost 1 million rupees:)  

Picture this 15 women in an Ahmadabad bangle shop the size of a large closet with two men behind the counter and Sankat's cousin's wife (Bhabhi) to translate.   So the translation occurs like this Girls tell Sankat (English), Sankat tells  Bhabhi (Gujarati), Bhabhi tells bangle guys (Gujarati).  Now you can imagine what gets lost in translation. . . and there's 20 minutes to make this happen.

There's nothing more shrew than a Bhabhi and Sankat in a bangle shop trying to haggle a deal with the bangle salesman.  "We buy all these bangles, see so many women, but you give us half free, ok."

My Bhabhi is a hero because she managed to get all of our friends (and their friends back in the States) outfitted in bangles, Sankat got a little taste of what it means to be an Indian woman, and the bangle shop guys will be able to buy that plasma TV they wanted!!!!