I think it was something I et.

I forgot to mention the police raid of my hotel room last week but I'll get to that later on. In the meantime, I don't think I can fully cover the last day or two (is that all it's been?) because I think it was something I et. Yes, I fell ill in Indian. I know. It's shocking and practically unheard of (NOT) to experience intestinal distress but somehow I managed to do so. I think it might have started during Friday evening. I just wasn't particularly hungry because of the heat and I didn't have dinner. Saturday I arranged a tour to some local caves and I wasn't feeling all too great that moring but I figured it was cuz I hadn't eaten much the day before. I order up some dry toast, juice and a bottle of water for the days excursion. The toast was slathered, the juice was Indian tea and the water never showed up. On a good note, I started my day. I met the guide (picking up a bottle of h20 along the way) and we hopped the local train. Quite a different experience that the European trains. Here it's not necessary to wait for the train to actually stop before you get on or off. In fact the longer you wait to do either makes it more difficult so don't be annoyed by the person behind you who knows the ropes and wished you did, too! From the train to a bus to the entrance to the park. A short stroll thru, a visit to the nature center and then back to the park entrance to catch another bus up to the caves. These are not wild caves but are temples and monasteries carved out of the rock by monks in the early parts of the first millenium AD. The entire rock outcrop is exposed and this, I think, added to my rumbling stomach-a touch of heat stroke or something similar. After I got back to the hotel I had the headache, the chills and a bit of nausea. I tried to eat a bit of dinner and got about half way thru before I decided it would be better not to finish. For most of the next two days (Sunday and Monday) I was feeling like crap and couldn't even think about eating. What a lousy way to begin a tour! I was actually kind of afraid that if I was not up to snuff they might not let me go but at the tour group meeting on Sunday evening, there was another person who was not up to scratch and I overheard his discussion with the tour leader. They have ways of making allowances for such situations and I decided to follow his lead which was basically 'wait and see' kind of think. The next day we departed Mumbai by way of long distance train which is closer to the European trains. We even had assigned seats. I still hadn't anything to eat that stayed where is was supposed to but I feel fortunate (if you can call it that) that my problem was that things wouldn't stay down and not that they rushed through if you catch my meaning. (Have I mentioned that they don't use TP here in Indian and therefore it is not supplied in the hotels. It can be purchased however.) Well, I survive the train trip on water (I don't want to risk dehydration and water sits OK) and even tried a milk like drink. It was cold and it seemed to sit well so I had another. Ooops, I was rushing things. We arrived at our new local, Aurangabad, unloaded our gear and ventured off to. . .some caves :-( These were only similar to the Kanhers caves in that they had been carved by man. They were older and more elaborate AND mildly nestled in some shady parts. Here also we had a guide. He was on of the first Indians whose accent was such that I could understand him however he chose to stand in the center of the caverns, asked us to site along the perimeters and shouted out the historical facts which echoed throughout the rooms. So what can I tell you about the caves? They were older than the other ones, more elaborate and shaded! They were pretty cool though, both aesthetically and temperaturely.

Back at the hotel we had time to freshen up and then off to dinner. . .not me. Still not up to snuff. I asked my roomie (Sheila, Scotborn Utahan) to pick up some bananas if it was convenient to do so on her way back from dinner. Bless her heart, she returned with a bunch. I tentively had one and glory be it stayed put. I didn't want to rush things and there were still some terrible stomach cramps but I had solid food! This morning I followed up with cornflakes and for lunch I had some soup. Tonight, "I'm doing waffles!" No, not really but a nickle to the person who can identify the quote. I am going to dinner with the group tonight but will keep it mild. In fact our tour leader has suggested that we do that anyway and he is taking us to places he knows and trusts for westerners as most of us are, I think. Australians westerners?

I don't know how often I will have internet access from this point on because we are going into some hinterlands and such for much of this trip. Our group is 10-three Aussies, three Americans, 1 Brit, 2 Danes and 1 Canadian stands alone. I gotta go, I just got booted off.