The time has come to say farewell to India after an amazing three weeks with this fabulous team of awesome human beings. Incredibly proud of each and every individual for what they have overcome and achieved. It’s been a blast 😁
We are about to get a bus to Delhi then 3 flights before arriving in Aberdeen at 15:30 tomorrow.
We will be in touch when we get to Heathrow, fingers crossed everything will run on time.
See you all soon
Lizzie & Marsaili & Pete
Once we arrived at the guest house in Jodhpur, we were shown the possible rooms and then we were told they weren’t actually ours; simple mistake due to another group arriving the same day.
After freshening up we had our breakfast and then we had a couple hours to chill where some people took a much needed nap; we didn’t get much sleep during our travels.
We then set off to see one of the best preserved forts in India, The Mehrangarh Fort. The architecture was amazing and we all enjoyed the sights even though we ended up becoming more of a tourist attraction than the fort itself. Guess we now know how it feels to be famous.
Once we got back to the guest house we met with the owner (of the house) and founder of sambhali. We chatted and spoke to him about what we would do during our project and he told us stories about some of the women who are/ have been with the trust.
First day of project:
In the morning we met with Govind (founder) and he took us to see the centre that we would be painting. We then returned to the guest house and sorted out the supplies and paint that we needed along with the designs and colours that would go on the walls. We also started looking at booking hotels and restraunts for our stay in Agra and Jaipur whilst a few of the team members went out to get the supplies and paint.
Around 1 o’clock we headed back to the centre and started playing games and singing songs with the girls that we met and had a water fight when it started raining. We cleared, sanded down and primed the 2 classrooms while also painting the outside windows, door frame and lower section of the wall. We also managed to paint the first layer on the doors inside the building.
After returning to the guest house after an enjoyable day despite the intense heat we enjoyed some down time before having dinner and heading to bed after a team meeting.
Before and after pictures of the centre will be shown in later posts.
– Emily & Ailsa
We set off from camp in the morning armed with our leech socks along with warnings of wind and rain. We stared with a downhill trek leading to a 1km climb through the Monsoon rain. We were rewarded with another visit to a local tea shop with snacks included. We then had our first serious encounter with leeches where we were all swarmed with some unwanted visitors. After lunch we set off through a main elephant trail over a trio of exposed peaks. At the top of the first we had to sit on the floor for our own safety to prevent being blown of the top. We had to use the safety rope for the first time to help us navigate down through the mist and rain. The second peak involved huddling in groups of 5 to cross the top due to high winds. The descent down the last hill involved careful navigation of the guides and careful footing from us. We arrived at camp to complete a thorough inspection for leeches of which there were quite a few. The day ended on a high however as the team cooked dinner for the kalypso team and ourselves which received great Continue reading Trek Day 5 and 6
Our first day in charge started off tough as we had a 1km steep hill that was technical in parts to climb to reach our highest point of the trek. We took plenty of photos at the top, that no doubt will become Facebook profile photos when we are back!
Our next challenge came in the form of leeches as over our 2/3 days in charge a leech apocalypse had emerged. Not even the leech socks could deny them. We also got our first monsoon experience and despite being soaked through and dripping wet we were all high spirited and made good fun of it.
Adam and Grace😊
Our first day of trek began on the 5th with a bus journey of roughly 6 hours to our first destination. We then began our trek of 1.5k as couldn’t complete 3k as there was 7 elephants blocking the track. When we reached our first camp we had our first team dinner, which was amazing!
On the second day of trek we set off at 8 and walked for roughly 8k. During this trek we reached our highest peak, of 1800m, where we decided to have a photo shoot! Once at our second camp site we descovered tents would not be needed as we would be glamping.
On these two days our guides Raja and Abit taught us lots about the culture and the areas we were walking through . Through this we were able to taste local plants and fruits and learn about our new surroundings.
Catherine and Molly (team leaders)
aka catty bro and mozza
We left the first accommodation in the morning and took our first local bus.by Emily & Morven Team Leaders for this bit
After a ridiculous 36 hour journey consisting of 3 flights (the last of which was delayed twice and had us zigzagging across the airport), we’ve finally reached Kochi. Turns out they weren’t exaggerating when they said it was absolute chaos, the bus journey from the airport to the hostel was only 45 minutes and absolutely terrifying! We’re attempting to adapt to the ridiculous heat (32°C!!!) and sticky humidity, and many of us hopped into a cold shower as soon as we got inside. We’re currently out for tea in a gorgeous café/art gallery and are stuffing our faces, as majority of us haven’t eaten since 8.30 this morning. We’re having a wild time so far, and will spend tomorrow trying to get used to this crazy country before we start our hike!
-lots of love from your day 1&2 leaders Lauren and Andrew :)x
There are bonnie lights
And there’s cake 😁 which over promised and under delivered 😟
