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The bites finally dissolved back into my skin after mum and I went to the local chemist and bought some ‘Butix’ ointment. The lady behind the counter didn’t even flinch when I lifted up my skirt to show her my bright pink puffy legs - she must have seen this sort of thing hundreds of times before.

India at last

Sitakaye
2005-11-10 19:30:21

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The bites finally dissolved back into my skin after mum and I went to the local chemist and bought some ‘Butix’ ointment. The lady behind the counter didn’t even flinch when I lifted up my skirt to show her my bright pink puffy legs - she must have seen this sort of thing hundreds of times before.

Luckily I was going to the ideal recovery environment - a small charming cottage in a tiny Provencal town surrounded by rolling green hills and fields of purple vineyards. Mum and I drew on our cooking experience in Villa Vrindavana (Italy) to help us to prepare for a week without any restaurants or available catering. We would have to cook for ourselves - a task much larger and more time consuming than either of us could ever have thought possible. Sure the first night we got by fine, I whipped up a pasta and sauce combo using about half a bottle of oil. But then the reality sunk in, this wasn’t just a one night cooking experiment, this was a monumental seven night haul. We scoured the cupboards looking for a recipe book that could alleviate our stress, but all I could find was ‘365 Ways to Cook Chicken’. That’s when I knew we were doomed.

Somehow or other we survived the week, and by the end the dishes didn’t even taste that bad. I had defeated my greatest fear, I mean if I could cook and I could sew then I could take on the world!

Between meals mum and I got up to quite a few exciting adventures in Provence. We went for walks, went to an amazing underground cave and even tried kayaking! I should have learnt my lesson from Year 9 and 10 camp at Vinnies, where I vowed to never
enter another kayak in my life. But mum was enthusiastic so I fought against the alarms going off inside my head and stepped into the kayak. It was just a 1 hour ride after all, what could really happen?

All that changed when 15 minutes into the ride the sound of the wind whistling through the trees seemed to be getting louder, and closer… We didn’t realise it was rapids until we were almost on top of them, and by then it was too late. My kayak made it half way down the rapids before it became wedged on a rock, the front of the boat dangerously far out of the water, which was rushing all around me. I had a sudden vision of Kellie falling our of her kayak and floating down the river, only this time it wasn’t so funny. Ten minutes later I managed to free myself from the rapids and we were back on calm waters.

Thinking that it must have been a one off thing, we continued down the river. We arrived at the end of the course three hours late, completely drenched, and cursing the rapids, of which we encountered at least 20. We were so glad that we had decided to stick to the shortest route, instead of opting for the 32 km track. I don’t think we would have made it!

Our week in Provence eventually came to an end and we began the journey up to Paris, the city of lights. I had a great time in Paris, mostly spent at the amazing art galleries and the not-quite-so-amazing Indian Embassy where I struggled for 4 days to obtain my visa. So I had an utterly exhausting week in Paris, but really enjoyed my time there.

Somehow or other by Krsna and Radha’s mercy I have made it to Vrindavana and there is really no way to describe it. It is truly a different world here. I could live here happily for the rest of my life.

So I will leave you at this point of my travels. I don’t think that I would be able to do justice to my experiences here. I hope that you enjoyed my blog and I would love to hear from you all so email me.

Love you all

SITA