Where's the Tiger?

CLAY POT FOR BREAD

JUST ADD CANVASS AND LOAD

HELLO & GOOD-BYE

COTTON CANDY FANS TAKE NOTE

FRUIT STAND ON ROAD

FAMILY BRICK MAKING BUSINESS

WATER ANYONE?

LARGE TRUCK TAILGATE

PEPPERS BY THE POUND

JONNIE TOOK FREDDIE ON A TIGER HUNT

SOMBER DEER VIE FOR STATUS

SOMBER DEER AT WATER HOLE

PAPA CROC

WOMEN AT THE WELL

HOMEMADE TRUCK

HOMEMADE ENGINE

　Our accommodations in Jaipur were splendid. The breakfast buffet was more extensive than any preceding it! We enjoyed all but the night sounds of the city of Jaipur! Early this morning we headed out with our driver towards the city of Ranthambore. Along the way he pointed out many wonderful tidbits of information as we passed flock after flock of sheep having been to the sheerer for their summer do. Shepherd after shepherd guided his flock to the right side of the road so we could pass by. Sheep took advantage of being herded to the side by grabbing a bite of grass to nibble along the way.
We passed through towns of gypsies all busy making a living for themselves. Their colorful dress was distinctive as they wear big baggy pants and long dresses along with their shawls, scarves and turbans. Their were hundreds or over a thousand camel pulling carts, hauling loads or grazing along the side of the road. Women were out harvesting wheat reminding us of the story of Naomi and Ruth…then we saw a young child gleaning from a field the women had already harvested with cycle in hand.
We enjoyed the varied terrain which alternately reminded us of the Permian Basin, the Big Bend, south Dakota’s Badlands and the southern hills of Arizona or California. The roads varied almost as much--no, maybe more. We had beautiful divided highways, cobblestone roads, rocky roads, dirt paths, narrow one-lane asphalt, potholes and back to smooth highways. We would go for miles without seeing anyone, then be in the middle of a small village surrounded by the bustle of working class people! We passed beautiful Toyotas, Suzukis, tractors, carts, bicycles, bikes, pedestrians, and even home-made trucks! The highlight being the cotton candy man riding his bicycle down the highway with bags of cotton candy piled twelve feet high behind him!
We were enthralled by the variety of buildings! Several fancy high-rise apartment complexes that rent for amounts unheard of to most of the people we have seen were surrounded by high-tech skyscrapers housing business men and multi-million dollar companies. Later we passed straw huts with thatched roof in the midst of clay houses in a village that shops in corrugated aluminum kiosks along the main street.
Women balanced hay, wheat, water or bowls of other items atop their heads while donning apparel we would reserve for parties or other special affairs. Women worked in fields alone or alongside men. The lumberyard was a bustle of busy bodies sawing, pounding the bark off of branches, loading trucks or wrapping bundles of bark for sale. The brick factories were astir with multi-generations working side by side in an age old tradition of making clay bricks one by one using wooden frames and their hands.
We were amazed to pass a small airport as we neared Ranthambore. Our driver explained that the airport was built especially for Bill Clinton to land here to visit Ranthambore. The monies that Clinton allocated to this area has provided public schools with a free lunch program, running water to each household in the form of their own personal water pump outside their door, good roads and a nation-wide program developed to save the tiger. The airport is rarely used since its initial guest ten years ago, but occasionally a VIP will fly out to the National Park who has enough importance to merit a private plane and the manning of the airport for the day.
Upon arrival at our hotel, our driver informed us that he would be going on ahead of us and would meet up with us again just out of Agra on Tuesday afternoon. We quickly rearranged our suitcases so that we could send him with as much as possible to lighten our load for the train ride Tuesday. We keep remembering things that are in the back of his car we wish we had kept with us!!!
　
The hotel is very nice. We had a lovely buffet lunch before boarding a twenty-passenger vehicle to head out to the National Park in search of tigers. Around and around in circles we drove while the tigers slept peacefully in the tall grass hidden from sight and completely happy in their blissful slumber. We found flock after flock of beautiful peacocks and peahens, somber deer, spotted deer, monkeys, crocodiles, egrets, parakeets, storks, killdeer, kingfishers, a random butterfly here and there and a pair of mongoose, but no tiger today! Tomorrow morning we will head out at 6:30 in hopes of finding a tiger before he settles in for his daily slumber.
We have thoroughly enjoyed the Indian chai and samosas, the delicious and varied foods we have been served. Now it is off to bed for much needed rest and up tomorrow for two rides into the jungle!!!