Dawn awoke us high in the fort in Jaisalmer, and yes, it was Christmas Day. Aside from the odd kitchy santa hat for sale in the village, there was no sign of Christmas. Everything was open as usual, and it was a fine sunny 24 degrees in the desert sun.
We ate a long leisurely breakfast in our hotel courtyard, surrounded by the fabulous sandstone fort. Cheese omelet, lemon pancakes, toast and a whole pot of coffee probably costing close to $2. We had decided to do the secret santa thing, so we headed out shopping. Our limit was supposed to be 10 rupees (20 cents), but I decided to break the budget and spend 30 rupees.
We did the secret santa thing in our hotel at 2:30 in the afternoon, making our Indian guide wear a santa hat. The family members that own the hotel gathered around watching our odd tradition. I got some individual packages of laundry soap from Santa - very practical! It all just seemed so much more fun (and less stressful) than Christmas at home.
Then most of our group were off through the desert in a couple of jeeps. It felt very Indiana Jones zipping along.
We arrived at our desert camp within an hour. The tents were up on platforms and had beautiful furnishings and thick comfortable Indian carpets - hardly roughing it. Our camels were already waiting, so we just dropped off our luggage, and headed out to meet our mounts. We were going in two's, so Rachel and I hopped up on our camel, Michael Jackson.
We headed out through scrub desert towards the more stereotypical sand dunes. It was a good ride and I figured it would be over soon. Not so, we hung out with our camels and drivers in the desert waiting for sunset. We amused ourselves by doing high speed gallops on the camels, and sipping cold beers that a very entreprenuerial vendor got for us. We watched the sun set on Christmas Day, and headed back to our desert camp.
After cleaning up a bit, we headed over to a sandstone compound for drinks and a buffet dinner under the stars. They served peanuts, papadums and veg pekoras with our cold beer. There was a really good Indian band there playing traditional music, plus a couple of beautiful women in saris dancing and spinning. The buffet dinner was very good, with mostly vegitarian food (it is so easy here), and we just relaxed and took in the ambience.
A couple of us headed out to the desert on foot to stargaze later, then it was home to the cozy tent for a good night's sleep.
We are back in the fort in Jaisalmer again today (Boxing Day), and head out to our next destination tomorrow. We are having another buffet under the stars in the fort tonight, prepared by the mother of the family who owns our hotel.
A very memorable and relaxing Christmas here!
Oh yes, forgot to mention we spotted the three Wise Men on the way to see baby Jesus.
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