I'm still alive...

Firstly, massive apologies for the even more massive gap in blogs. A combination of a dearth of internet cafes, laziness and wanting to experience more rather than write more is to blame. My time since Bhutan has been without camera (both the body and my favorite lens broke in India), so I don't have photos to post either. Fortunately I bought a new camera in South Africa, so blog and photos from Cape Town through Zambia will probably wait until after I get home, which is in LESS THAN A WEEK!!! That which follows is a brief summary of the last 3 months of my life:

INDIA

After my last blog posts, I acquired my first sickness en route. I thought I had traveler's diarrhea and was subsisting mainly on toast. After a few uncomfortable days, I realized that the toast was actually made with milk and my 'sickness' was merely my lactose intolerance. After healing and getting back on my bike, we made it up to Cochin where I decided to stay for a few extra days. [I almost came home for a 48 hour thanksgiving in NYC with the fam, but chickened out at the last minute.] I had a wonderful Friday night shabbat in the oldest synagogue in India with Indian, Israeli and Montreal Jews before heading up to Mumbai for a 3am flight to Ethiopia.

ETHIOPIA

I was relatively glad I didn't go home as my time in Ethiopia was like going home. I was supposed to stay with an American Jewish doctor who houses about 15 orphans for one night before transferring to the Mother Theresa's Mission. However, after falling in love with his children, I ended up spending my entire stay with the doctor and his family. Unfortunately, the doctor was back in the US with one of the kids who was having surgery and only returned for my last few nights.

There was another American traveler staying at the house and the two of us unintentionally (but willingly) assumed the roles of 'mom' and 'dad.' In fact, the kids had trouble pronouncing "Amy" and ended up calling me "E-ma" -- Hebrew for mother. I fell into a comfortable pattern of cooking American and Israeli food (some of the kids had been to Israel and requested salads and falafel), helping with homework, playing soccer, and dancing until bedtime.

We did take a 3 day mini-break to Bahar Dar to see the old island churches, bike around to some smaller villages and hang out with some rastas. After 3 weeks of espris, injera, and attempting to learn Amharic -- given that the word for 'thank you' is 'ah-meh-sah-geh-nah-lu' i didn't get much beyond the basics.

MAURITIUS/REUNION (the section formerly known as Madagascar)

After three full days of travel (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Nairobi, Kenya to Johannesburg, South Africa to Mauritius), I arrived ready for two more days of travel to the village in Madagascar where I was supposed to be volunteering in a clinic. However, due to a combination of the political situation and the fact that the head of the clinic had decided to head off to the Philippines, which i only found out two days prior, I decided to make camp on Mauritius.

I spent two days on the romantic paradise of Mauritius before seeing the "Hiking on Reunion" section in my Lonely Planet. I immediately booked a flight to Reunion and ended up spending two weeks hiking around Reunion. Like Europe, the hut system is well-developed and I hiked hut-to-hut through 3 cirques and on an active, erupting volcano (Piton de la Fournaise). In addition to hiking, we passed through some really remote mountain hamlets where I leaned some creole slave songs, drank a lot of Dodo (the local beer), and sang the creole songs a little louder. Like the Metropole, no one actually speaks English (regardless of whether or not they know the language...they just won't speak it!), so I left Reunion almost fluent in French. I returned to Mauritius for a day on the beach before heading back to mainland Africa.

BTW:

The craziest thing about traveling is how ridiculously small the world is; the family next to me on the flight from Mauritius to Jo-burg actually knows my cousins (two different sets) from sleep-away camp and their town. The number of times I've met people to whom I'm connected by a single degree of separation are too numerous to list.

SOUTH AFRICA

I spent a week in Cape Town climbing Table Mountain, visiting museums, exploring the wine region and just relaxing before heading up through Namibia and Botswana to Victoria Falls on an overland truck. To be continued...

Photos from Bhutan

I have posted about 50 photos from Bhutan on Smugmug, which can be accessed at amymendel.smugmug.com/gallery/2144498. There are captions under many of the photographs explaining a few things about the pictures. Enjoy!

Sorry for the switched media source, but depending on the internet connection, some websites work better than others!

Photos from Lao

the main street of Vientaine

the mighty Mekong

Miranda: same as in Ghana

a well-attended market stall

Bird Flu!

Out of the Mountains and Into the Jungles

I've made it safely out of Bhutan and am now in Kerala in the South of India. I will have to explain more fully later, but Bhutan did not go as planned due to a contractual issue with the yak herders; after two weeks of acclimatization and training, we were unable to enter the remote valley of Lunana. However, our modified route afforded us two days at the natural hot springs at Gaza and an opportunity to see more of the cities and villages of Bhutan. Bhutan receives the trophy for the most beautiful and interesting place visited on this trip so far. It's a magical kingdom with incredibly happy people (albeit a few barbarian yak herders who like to burn walls and doors of huts for warmth when above tree line!) and a wonderful appreciation for their own culture and heritage.

Just to dispel one rumor that I had heard before going to Bhutan: the people love their king. He is truly a man of the people and does not hoard the people's or tourist's money for himself. In fact, 75% of the tourist visa fee goes to education and healthcare. The king lives incredibly modestly and does his best to interact with the people. One story of his compassion relates to a dilapidated house on the road from Thimpu (capital) to Paro (city with the airport). After passing this house many times the king wondered what tragedy could have befallen this man such that he let his house fall into such disrepair -- almost all houses in Bhutan are huge and ornately painted in the traditional style. One day while driving by, he asked his driver to stop, so that he could talk with the man. When he entered the house, he found the man drunk and gambling with neighbors on a wooden box.

I very reluctantly left Bhutan early on November 5th to spend a quick day in Kolkata organizing a package of gear to be sent home -- the budget domestic airline in India only allows 15kgs for a checked bag and I had almost 40kgs! Then I was off to Rishikesh in the himalayan foothill state of Uttaranchal for a very relaxing three days at an Ayurvedic spa. I flew back to Delhi for what turned from a one night stay into a two night stay when my flight which was scheduled to leave at 11am decided to leave at 9:15am. Gotta love budget airlines!

I am currently in the South India state of Kerala. Kerala is what you'd imagine tropical India to be with coconut palm trees, thatched huts, red clay dirt roads and warm ocean waters lapping at the yellow and black sand beaches. With the highest literacy rate and life expectancy in India, the communist state of Kerala is doing quite well; in fact, the literacy rate here is HIGHER than in the US! My two weeks in Kerala will be spent on a bicycle. I've found biking to be a wonderful way to travel to little known villages and meet local people who aren't jaded by the tourists. I've spent the last few days along the coast and am excited to head inland (and uphill!) to the mountain-cooled, hill stations that are surrounded by tea, spice and rubber plantations.

PS: Given the e-mails I've received about the China photos, I promise to post photos from Lao, Bhutan and India as soon as I get a decent internet connection.

I apologize to my loyal readers (all two of you besides my parents) for not typing up Lao and Kolkata before leaving for Bhutan in a few hours. Hope you all have a wonderful month and I'll be back online in mid-November. [If there's nothing posted by the end of November, I was likely snowed into the valley and will not be able to get out until next September...in that case, have a great year!]