The next morning and afternoon was more of the same but it was never boring. Again, locals joined us for food. After rounding up the camels we broke camp. I think Gento finally realized I wasn't such a bad guy and we rode about 20K deeper into the dunes. During supper Humga explained that in desert culture you are never considered an outsider. If you are hungry you will be fed, if you need accommodations, even if you are someone's enemy, when you're in their house you are a coveted guest. If a person in the village has more money than others everyone will be provided for. If you are lost and thirsty you just go to the first house you see and you will get chai and directions. Much unlike the western hemisphere, No Trespassing signs do not exist, fences are a foreign concept, and all strangers are greeted as a family member. He also explained the fine and dangerous art of cobra hunting. As the mythe goes, cobras are actually attracted to the pungi, the instrument that snake charmers play. Go into the Rajasthan desert and play one and the cobras will find you. When one is about 5 feet away, you continue playing with one hand and slowly draw a line in the sand with a stick. Then you stop playing. If the snake crosses the line it is considered too aggressive to be used by the charmer. If it stays put he's considered docile enough to be a good choice. Then you just whisper the magic phrase which renders the cobra unable to bite (the phrase has about 40 generations worth of mojo) and bag it. Easy as pie! He also told a tale of a major hotel in Jaisalmer that had been terrorized by a 12 foot cobra that made claims on the territory. As you can imagine upon first site the bookings fell off like sheep jumping off a cliff. The distraught owner called in a very old cobra hunter, one who supposedly had magical powers, to exorcise the snake. The man went out into the dunes and found a very long stick and while whittling all the bark off it he gently chanted. Upon coming into the hotel he eerily knew exactly which room it was in. Slowly he slid to door open to find the snake rapidly uncurling in preparation to strike. The old man whispered something and tapped the stick lightly on the cobra's back sending him into a deep slumber. As Humga told it, from there it was easy - that is if you can handle picking up a sleeping cobra that has a head the size of Mike Tyson's fist.

Also, that night, Saturday night, was the official beginning of Holi and the celebration was the next day. Thankful of our desert exit we enjoyed a night of blissful quiet. The previous day a dog started tagging along, and for some reason, which I can't remember, we named her Widget. Our trusty guard slept about 25m away keeping one protective eye on us, and the other on Humga who was about 50m down an incline the dune. About 4am Widget started barking wildly, but being too tired to calm her we figured she's eventually stop. About 4:30am I noticed that I could see millions of stars, which should have been oblivious due to the blasting light of such a full moon. I rolled over and looked to the west and low-and-behold there was a lunar eclipse going on. The huge moon was about half covered by the shadow of the earth and the stars were just dancing. The word "mystical" doesn't even begin to describe the experience. Sometimes you try to tell stories and you just have to stop because words just can't come close.

After a full last day of travel we rode into the camp after completing a 3-day, 50km jaunt through the Great Thar. Inder was waiting to take us back to Jaisalmer, but we were both a little forlorn about leaving. We really had an amazing experience and we both liked Humga so much that it was sad to say goodbye. And yeah, we were a little saddle sore, but it was so worth it.

PMB 4.20.07