Pushkar, India

Pushkar is a great town for vegetarians and recovering alcoholics. It is a holy city, so there are no meat products, including eggs, and no booze to be found for many, many miles. It kind of looks like a mini Udaipur, situated around a small lake, although the lake here is dried up for the season. Legend has it that this lake was consecrated to Lord Brahma, the creator of the universe when a lotus dropped from his hand into the vale and a lake emerged in that place. My guide book says Pushkar is one of the oldest cities in India, although I really wouldn't call this place a city, and it is a major pilgrimage site for devout Hindus(and apparently global hippies). I love it here, and only planned on staying a day or two, but this is the type of place where you just slow down, soak it in and stay for awhile. Because it is a holy site, there are small temples all over town along with a couple of bigger ones, and the lake is surrounded by 52 ghats, which are the steps where pilgrims walk down to bathe and wash their clothes in the holy water. I have a lovely room at the Hotel Paramount Palace, with a small balcony and a view of the whole town, all of the concrete rooftops, some sage-brushy mountains and hills, and a run-down temple right next door. I have mostly spent the last few days just walking around, taking pictures, drinking chai, etc. I spent one day with a very smart 8 year-old boy who was just making me laugh with all his quips and wise comments. We walked out of town to see some temples, shared a vegetable pizza at the Sai Baba restaurant, and walked up and down the ghats next to the lake on our way to see his mom who was selling teeny tiny pears at the market. The main street in town is this long, narrow bazaar lined with all types of touristy shops selling jewelry, trinkets, tapestries and handicrafts. There are no rickshaws here, so it is nice to be able to walk around in peace- just have to look out for cow patties on the street. Young gypsy girls run around in their bejeweled saris asking to have their picture taken for money and they also offer henna painting, which I couldn't say no to. The paint is dark brown and leaves kind of an orangey stain after it is scraped off. I had it done on the first day and it is already wearing off a little bit from my fingers. Yesterday I headed toward the perfectly triangular-shaped hill just outside of town and spent about 45 minutes climbing the rocky stairs to the top, where a small temple sits. I had an amazing view of the surrounding desert countryside from the top and on the way down I had some of the best chai tea yet; I like it with lots of ginger. In the afternoon, I hung out with a Swiss girl on the rooftop of one of the restaurants in town and we got involved in the VERY popular Pushkar sport of kite flying. All of the kids, and some adults, fly kites here- very simple, small paper squares, and in the early evening I counted about 30 of them over town, which is walkable form end to end in about 15 minutes. I could look across all of the rooftops in town and see kids all over the place holding onto their spools of string. Even the owner of the restaurant was laughing at how many "monkeys" were on the terraces flying their kites. And, of course, there are as many kites in the trees around town as I saw in the sky. Today is blog day, bucket laundry day, reading day, and maybe a little walk. I am going to say goodbye to Pushkar for now and head to Johdpur in the morning- about 5 hours by bus.