Desert Trek

Camels groaning in protest, a blanket of star studded sky's, the ripples of sand dunes, a perfectly rounded fireball that dominates the sky, and good home cookin over an open fire. Words cannot describe the effects the desert can have on a human being. It surrounds you and engulfs you and makes you experience its power entirely. It is difficult, effortless, simple, and complex all at the same time. It's one of my favorite places I've been in the entire world. The Thar Desert overwhelmed me. It gobbled me up, chewed me up, spit me back out and somehow left me wanting more. It's the most honest place I've ever been. There is no hiding or manipulating its beauty, what you see is what you get and the product is exhilarating.

We started our 3 day camel trek with little to no expectations. If we have leaned one thing so far that is India always takes you by surprise and you can't expect anything. What you get is what you get and you just have to somehow find humor in everything. Our English friend Gordon gave us the best advise on our first night in India. "You cant take anything for granted!" We didn't realize how much truth was in those words until we experienced India for ourselves. So we left our hotel not knowing where we were going to sleep that night or what we were going to be eating for the next 3 days. Our only request was that we didn't want the typical tourist camel safari. With Jaislamer city in the rear view mirror, we glanced at each other, crossed our fingers, and with a smile said a little prayer.

The car ride into the desert was interesting. Our driver was flying down the winding roads occasionally slamming on the breaks to go over a random speed bump or honk at a crossing herd of goats. There was nothing but wide open desert sprinkled with a few mud huts and a couple of unfinished Indian construction projects. It seemed like there was no end in sight until we quickly slowed down and took a hard right onto the desert floor. After we stopped we were instructed to grab our packs and exit the car. I took one look around... there were no people, no cars, and only one camel in sight. Without question we followed our Indian driver up over the sand dune which revealed a couple more camels, 2 western tourists, and taa-daaaa... our camel master. Things looked hopeful as we got excited about spending 3 days with some fellow English speaking adventurers. We mosied down, gave a quick introduction and despite refusal, were forced to sit in the shade away from the other tourist couple. I felt as though I was in time out. We then realized the British couple was just finishing their desert trek and it was just going to be us, the camel master, Johnny Walker, and Mr. Rocket for the next 3 days. Joy, joy. A couple of blankets and a small box of food were tied on to our camels, we mounted with no instruction and away we went.

After about 10 minutes of strolling into the unknown (and EVERYTHING was still unknown at this point, even our nameless camel master) I came to realize it was going to be a long 3 days if I was already feeling a burn in my inner thighs. Thank God our camels were considered "small". With no conversation at all we stopped once at a nearby village well to get some water and then we were left with the desert silence and the occasional camel (or Kendrick) fart. A couple hours into our journey our camel master finally spoke. Eureka! And he spoke in English too :) He asked us if we like the sand dune we were crossing. Well yes we like the dune, it looked like every other sand dune we had seen. Well if we liked the sand dune then here is where we will set up camp. When we said here he meant it and we dismounted and waited for instruction. After a few minutes of waiting we were told to go gather firewood. Confused Kendrick and I just looked at each other. I don't know if you have ever been to the desert but collecting firewood is not like at home in Maine. Our camel master pointed his finger and we obeyed. I was collecting some small sticks that were hallow and so dry you could snap them with a flick of a finger. I looked over and of course Kendrick comes over the sand dune with a huge trunk of a tree that still had waxy green leaves on it. We Americans always have to do things the biggest and the best. Little did we know the fire we were making was only a single flame, enough to heat a single pot propped up by 3 sandstone rocks. Sadly Kendricks great find was of no use.

We ventured off exploring and playing in the sand while our camel master prepared dinner. Once we were by ourselves I was really able to let the enormity of the sand dunes over take me. The landscape was utter perfection and completely untouched. We hadn't seen another human being all day, which I thought was impossible in India. We felt like children seeing snow for the first time. We were jumping all around, throwing the silky smooth stuff in the air and even making sand angels. Everywhere you looked you saw the picturesque ripples and folds of sand and you felt like you were the first person to ever walk on them. It was as though we found this new undiscovered, untouched land that man had yet made his mark in. Our footsteps were the first to disrupt the perfect ripples. That probably wasn't the case but it was fun to let our imaginations run wild.

We let the spicy aromas of Indian food lead us back to "camp". We huddled around some warm ashes while we watched our camel master finish the veg curry, fluffy white rice, and mouthwatering chapatti. I admired the simplicity of his cooking and the minimal ingredients it took to make such flavorful food. I was inspired watching him cook as he was filled our ears with the sob stories of how hard Indian life was. It was ironic how he only needed two thousand more rupees to pay off his friend for his new camel. And it was even more ironic how he needed to pay him in 2 days or he lost everything he had ever worked for in his life. He continued and went into detail about the generous tips he had received in the past from western tourists. Kendrick and I know these Indian tactics too well so we followed his story with how we were working really hard to find a job back home so we can save money to build a house. We were young and struggling also so we knew how he felt. His sob stories ended right there and we were relieved we didn't have to endure the lies for 2 more days. We ate our delicious Indian food with our fingers (right hand only of course) while we watched the huge sun sink into the dunes. Before we knew it we were covered by a blanket of stars and the brightest moon I had ever seen. There was no need for the flashlight I had tucked into my jacket pocket. We layed out our blankets on the sand and there was nothing between us and the desert. No structure, no tent, no protection. We let the desert sky engulf us and hypnotize our minds into a peaceful sleep.

Day 2 was exhausting and the desert sun along with the heat got the best of us. We plopped ourselves in yet another sand dune for lunch and tried to get what little shade we could behind a tumble weed. Our final destination was the most famous dune in all on India, the Sam Sand Dune. There was nothing special about Sam's sand dune. It was full of noisy Indian tourists, trash, overworked camels, and relentless heckling Indian children. We prefer the natural, off the beaten path scenery so Sam Sand Dune was not for us. We opted to stay in the desert again turning down the tented resorts set up everywhere. Our camel master informed us it was going to be very cold that night and we would NEED his extra blanket so he was going to stay in a nearby resort. So we found ourselves laying in the sand again with nothing between us and the desert sky. Only this time we had wild animals to worry about and 2 camels to look after. The camel master was right, it was cold that night but it felt refreshing to us. We awoke to the sunrise and millions of unknown animal tracks that lead to our blanket, then back out into the desert. When we asked our camel master about the tracks he chuckled and informed us that we were visited by some jumbo black beetles, a desert fox, and an antelope. Oh wonderful! I'm glad we fully immersed ourselves and become at one with nature. At least there were no signs of snakes, the one recommended item to bring (wool socks) must have scared them off :)