Spring break in France

Last spring break Jeremiah met a couple while trekking ABC. They stayed with us for awhile before heading to their next destination on their year of travel. I had just confirmed I was pregnant and they too were newly pregnant. This spring break it is our turn to visit them. Their home is near Toulouse, France and is part of her family home and farm. It's been just amazing visiting, playing with babies, drinking great coffee and food (the cheese - swoon).

Tegan got to see lots of cows with their calfs and many chicks. She also got a kick out of seeing mice eating the chicken food after watching Ratatouille.

More to come about the places we've visited, the food we've eaten, and our next stop - Paris.

 

New Hampshire

We finished our east coast trip in New Hampshire, and like our trip 2 years ago, visited Kate and Jeff's farm as well as Jeremiah's aunt and uncle's lake house.  In contrast to the first part of our trip this was considerably slower paced, a nice way to end our time there.  And to round out our modes of transportation for the trip (plane, train, bus, subway, car, taxi, and boat) Tegan added tractor (ok, it was stationary but that didn't seem to bother her).

Feeding chickens

Helping wash purple and red radishes for farmer's market

More veggie washing

Adult and toddler food

Kathmandu zoo

Tegan's playgroup goes to the zoo once a week.  Awhile back we decided we should check it out too; while not as bad as I was expecting, it's nothing to write home about.  So why blog it then?  Because these birds were amazing and big (and I might add, not fenced in as we found out when they walked straight for us).

Cow puja

Marigold garlands and tikas all around for these cows at Tihar

Free range

On our way to a hike this weekend we passed a common sight - chickens roaming in and out of houses and shops.  

Fishing at the market

This girl is hooking turtles with a small pole and loops 

taped to their shells - the night markets never cease to amaze

Holy rats

Before I even stepped into the temple I knew I wasn't going to like it.  I hesitated before putting my bare foot down, hiked my pants up, and thought about what exactly I was going to be stepping on and contemplated turning back.  I looked up and saw the temple filled with people calmly walking through and decided if they can all do this, I can too.  While everyone in the temple was praying to their god, I was praying that I could keep it together enough to not scream if a rat ran over my foot.  Ahead of me I saw a man jump away and decided I could allow myself that much if one got too close.  Behind me Sanjay was reassuring me, again, that the rats are holy so they won't bite.

These little guys are everywhere.  They cover the edges of the room and crisscross the floors between people's feet.  They climb gates so when you turn your head there are rats at eye level.  I'm not sure what I had expected but it wasn't what I saw.  I do know that when I had read the word "rat" in the guide book in my head I had pictured the rats in pet stores - nice and clean.  These weren't like that.  We are told some of them were feeling hot and resting, though I'm not so sure they were simply sleeping.  Death is certainly the fate of these rats if they chose to escape the temple; they are only holy when living inside.  But why would they want to leave when they rats are fed a steady diet of sweets and sugary milk?  

Jeremiah handled it much better than I did.  He seemed as calm as the others and was willing to stop and get close to them to take pictures.  We searched unsuccessfully for the extra special white rat that is supposed to be very lucky to see.  I personally was glad to leave the temple and I'm okay if I never experience that again.

Cows and Camels and Monkeys, Oh My!

Summer break is over and we are now back to school.  We've only been back a few days but it feels good to be getting back into a routine of some sorts.  We had a fabulous time in India and have been sorting photos and retelling stories to our friends and family.  One of the things in India that continually blew us away were all the close encounters we had with animals.  The sightings started slowly, goats and cows pulling carts in the busy markets of Delhi, and quickly gained momentum.  By the end of the trip we had seen rats, camels, goats, elephants, monkeys, peacocks and cows... lots of cows.

Soon after setting out on the highway we saw herds of goats and sheep crossing the road.  Cars slowed to a stop for cows who decided that the road would be a good place to stop for a sit-down break.  Water buffalo crossed the road with cars weaving between them (our driver informed us while he laid on the horn that cows will move for cars but the buffalo just stand their ground).  This highway traffic is different from what we are used to, but not too far out there.  When we got to town it was the same story though.  Cows, goats and pigs just kicking it in the road, in front of stores, crazing on piles of garbage.  This means that while walking through town you would have to walk within feet, inches even, of cows and bulls with big horns.  We wondered with all these cows roaming around town, how did their owners know where they were?  The answer is that Indian cows (and their owners) are smart.  The cows are milked in the morning and then let free to roam town to find food.  Cows are holy in India so often food is left out for them.  They may also sift through the trash on the street or find some patches of grass.  Then in the evening they find their way home to be milked again.

I had one close encounter with a bull when I passed too closely and it turned its head and his horn got me in the arm but this is nothing compared to the camel ride that left me sore for days.

Camel sightings became frequent a few days into our trip and we just couldn't get enough of these weird looking animals.  Up close they are pretty big and intimidating so our camel rides had me nervous.  We got on successfully, I let Jeremiah get on his first to test the waters, and held on as the camels get themselves up from their folded sitting position, first standing up on their back legs then straightening their front legs.  It was a rocky start and we had to hold on tight.  We headed out to the dunes to watch the sunset.

My camel and I were doing pretty well together despite the fact that I didn't have a guide sitting with me.  He stopped a few times to get a roadside snack of leaves and berries but with a few tugs I got him back on the right track.  I become aware that we are suddenly in the middle of a bunch of cows when out of nowhere a cow comes headed straight for my camel.  Trying to avoid being hit by the cow my camel maneuvers out of the way and in doing so nearly knocks me off.  I slid to the right and my glasses fly off my head.  It's quickly over but my heart is racing.  Visions of the camel falling on top of me had flashed through my head.  I gripped with my legs so tightly that I felt like maybe I pulled a muscle.  I got props from our new friends who were impressed that I stayed on and didn't freak out too much.  Over the next few days I had some very sore leg and ab muscles.

Needless to say after my cow and camel interactions I was nervous the couple times we came across groups of monkeys, especially when they were fighting amongst themselves; I am happy to report we had no run-ins with the monkeys.  They were pretty cool to watch though.  Apparently there is a monkey god and many people feed the monkeys in tribute to the god, so there were many groups around some of temples we visited as well as in the holy city of Pushkar where we were visited by a bunch them during dinner.  They were content with their meal of leaves high in the trees and were finally chased off by the owner's 5 year old son.

I mentioned we also saw rats... but you'll have to wait for the next post to hear that story.