Jaisalmer,
India
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Today we had our massages and had our henna tattoos completed. While we were getting our massages, we learned about how this caste in India must provide a dowry for their daughters to marry. The better the dowry, the better the husband. If they can't afford a dowry, they marry their daughters off very young, around elven years old. They marry older men in their thirties that are in their second marriage. The woman Bobby, who was giving us the massages said that she had not married because the men don't like her independence. She runs her own massage parlor and also has a shop where you can buy shawls and blankets and other touristy things. She hires only poor women that need money to make the goods to help them out. We had a very interesting conversation with her. All the children in her family were well educated.
On our way to Bikaner we stopped at some seep ponds and saw a huge flok of gray geese that apparently always winter in this spot. I haven't found a good bird book here yet, so I don't know what kind of geese these were. I've seen all kinds of birds that I have never seen before and can't wait until I find a good book so I can start tyring to identify them.
