Colorful Pushkar

Along with the camel fair, Pushkar also brings in a load of pilgrims on a religious journey the same week for Kartik Purnima. The city is home to one of the few temples dedicated to Lord Brahma (I think only four other temples in India are dedicated to Brahma) and the main attraction of the city any other time of the year is that temple and the 52 ghats that encircle a holy lake believed to have been born from the tears of Lord Shiva.

So, while the camels were definitely the draw for me to go to Pushkar, I found the streets to be a whirling, chaotic collection of color. Families were visiting for the chance to combine a shopping trip with a religious pilgrimage with a livestock exchange. I was happy to sit on a street corner and snap picture after picture, trying to capture the many faces of Pushkar. There were the women with their brightly colored saris, so bright sometimes they almost hurt the eye. The vendors settling down onto the roadside, spreading their wares out on blankets to sell. Did you see that man go by? His forehead is all painted! And that one just set down a big pot on a stand, I wonder what he is selling? Ahh...she has quite the large nose ring! That girl is posing (at least it sure looks that way!). While the others are clearly busy shopping. Hmmm...the food is almost as bright as the clothes, sometimes I wish I felt a bit more adventurous in terms of trying the street food. There is so much color I hardly know what to focus on.

Camel Fair

The camel dancing was just one of the many sights that awaited me as I made my way to Pushkar  for the annual camel fair, the oldest continual animal fair in the world. Along with the dancing there were camels "dressed up" with patterns shaved in their fur, flowers on their noses, necklaces and garlands looped around their necks and at times dyed tuft of fur at the top of their humps. Those were clearly the fancy camels. The ones meant to pull tourists around in a cart or give them a ride on their back. If you made it to the back of the fair grounds, that is where you could find the serious camel traders. Close to 50,000 camels I would guess, scattered across the desert hillside. When I climbed up on a wall I couldn't believe just how many had converged on Pushkar for the five day festival. There were camels everywhere! Standing and sitting in groups, outside of their owner's tents. Waiting impatiently as a buyer pulled open its mouth to check the teeth. Smacking its jaws as it ate from a pile of feed. Nuzzling a baby camel by its side. Bowing spit bubbles and drooling on unsuspecting tourists that wandered too close.  These are the sights of the Pushkar camel fair that will forever be imprinted on my mind. 

Christmas in Italy

Stained glass window on the walls of the duomo in Siracusa

How do you sum up three weeks of travel around a country that included 8 cities? After spending two days sorting through pictures I'm not at all sure I'm up to writing anything extensive; so I thought I'd share some of my highlights from our time in Italy.

• The brightly colored houses on the island of Burano outside of Venice
• Riding the funicular part of the way up the mountain around Trento to Sardagna and the spectacular view of the Dolomites from that vantage point
• Some of the unusual nativity scenes scattered around Assisi
• Discovering my favorite church window in Italy is still the rose window of San Rufino in Assisi...from the outside
• The bridge of angels leading across the river to Castel San'Angelo in the Vatican
• The pure cheesiness of visiting Juliet's house and tomb in Verona
• The absolutely spectacular golden mosaic behind the altar in the Church of Maria in Trastevere, Rome
• Relaxing among the historical building and sea front on Ortygia Island in Siracusa, Sicily
• Even more cheesiness at the Boca della Verita  on the wall of Santa Maria in Cosmedin in Rome where legend has it that if you tell a lie with your hand in its mouth it will bite your hand off
• Hearing the church bells ring through the clear clean air
• Watching mom enjoy gelato almost every afternoon
• The overwhelming size of the Colosseum sandwiched in the middle of Rome
• Not having to spend Christmas alone this year and having my mom for company

Mom and I in the Arena in Verona

Camel Dancing

Have you ever seen a camel dance? Seen it prance around an arena, high stepping in time to the drum beats? Watched it balance on smaller and smaller boxes until its feet no longer could fit on the top? Questioned why its trainer would slip his body underneath a front hoof, is that a sign of being well trained or just insane? Seen a camel taken down to its knees and then walked around in a circle? Gotten distracted by the flower wobbly on top of a camel's nose as it poked it up in the air as if to say "I know you are not as good as me, after all I am a dancing camel."

That is just one of the unusual things you can see if you ever make it to the Pushkar Camel Fair.