By the seat of my pants

As some of you have already heard, I've once again decided to let my wanderlust get the best of me. Motivated by the desire to see new parts of the world, the need to do some serious introspection, a confirmed spot in law school, some gracious invitations from friends, and eight months of free time on my hands, I decided to leave home and dedicate the next few months to living out of my backpack. Here's the tentative plan:

January 11th - 20th: Delhi and Agra, India (Taj Mahal)
January 21st - 28th: Rajasthan, India (Jaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, maybe Udaipur)
January 29th: Fly to Kampala, Uganda
January 30th - February 6th: Gorilla trekking in Uganda
February 6th - 9th: Explore Kampala, Uganda
February 10th - 15th: Safari in Tanzania (Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, etc.)
February 16th - March 31st - Zanzibar, Ethiopia, Zambia (Victoria Falls), Botswana, South Africa
April 1st - 30th: China (with possible trips to Taiwan and Hong Kong)
May 1st - July 1st: Southeast Asia (Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos)

I apologize for the details becoming vague in the later months--unlike most of my other trips, I'm planning this one on a day-by-day basis, by the seat of my pants, relying on recommendations of people I meet along the way and nice travel deals I might stumble upon.

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Last Friday I boarded a plane in Orlando, Florida and flew to what is probably the polar opposite of "tranquilo" Montevideo, Uruguay--Delhi, India. Minutes after finding out my airline lost my backpack (aka my lifeblood for the trip) and boarding a bulky, 50s style taxi with red and blue flashing lights that darted through traffic while constantly honking, I had a strong urge to yell "YEEEHAAAAW!!" That wouldn't be the only time I'd have that urge here in Delhi--this fascinating place is not for the tame. Never before have I seen such a level of poverty, chaos, and potential risks to my health, from the existence of TB that requires me to gargle with hot water, to traffic chaos that puts vehicles on sidewalks, flying through red lights, and going the wrong way, to absolutely prohibited food and water "that will give me cholera" (words of my truly generous host, Adi).

But amidst all the chaos and confusion, I'm having a great time. It's actually not hard to in a place where monkeys hang out on the sidewalks. But, more importantly, in Delhi nothing is cushioned--you are faced with raw reality, in all its pain and beauty.

Today was my first day actually experiencing Delhi, and already I have some unforgettable memories. Toward the top of the "unforgettable memories" list is my first ride in a rickshaw! Also, I visited a beautiful, enormous mosque, where I had a chance to chat with some of its more regular visitors about topics including Islam and Uruguay.

Today much of India celebrates the start of the harvest, a holiday (oftentimes compared to our Thanksgiving) that sees many people giving food to those less fortunate than themselves. In the spirit of the holiday, Avani (a friend who lives here), her mom, and her sister kindly invited me to join them this morning as they distributed bags of rice and lentils to poor individuals throughout the city. We arrived at a location with many homeless individuals and asked them to form a line so we could distribute the food. As soon as a line formed, one individual ignored it and grabbed a bag of rice. In an instant chaos broke loose--everyone lunged for the food, forming a large pile of people clawing at each other. Because I was holding a grocery bag containing many bags of food, many people swarmed toward me, fighting with anyone in their way--some went so far as to try to bite my legs. I immediately got back into our car, and listened as pieces of rice hit it--the bags of food were being torn apart as people fought over them. One handicapped woman used her crutch to beat others over the head in an attempt to get some food.

That plan having been abandoned, we decided to instead drive through the city and give bags to poor families and individuals along the way. This plan, which allowed us to share food with several mothers and quite a few children who probably would not have fought through the earlier crowd, was a success. I don't know if it's possible to imagine a more potent, illustrative example of why the method of distributing help to the poor is just as important as what is distributed.

It's getting late here, so I should sign off. I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update this blog, since I'm not sure exactly where I'll be. But I will try to update it as often as possible, and if I can figure out a way to post some of my pictures, I will!

By the way, earlier tonight the airline (KLM) delivered my backpack to my room, and disaster was narrowly averted.

Good night!
Dustin