Sonepur Mela

Bueno, hasta ahora todos los destinos han sido geniales y sobretodo acertados, hemos tardado mas de un mes en equivocarnos...

De Bodhgaya nos ibamos al norte, a Darjeeling, pero antes quisimos hacer una parada rapida para ver el mercado de animales mas grande de Asia. La idea era hacer una noche en Patna, levantarnos pronto e ir al mercado y por la noche coger el tren a Darjeeling. Y eso hicimos, ciertamente, y madre mia!! Patna resulto ser la peor ciudad que hemos visto (no en el viaje solo, en nuestra vida) sucia, caotica, super contaminada... pero pensabamos "bueno, no pasa nada, manyana cuando estemos rodeadas de elefantes y camellos valdra la pena..." Como siempre el autobus se retraso y llegamos de noche a la ciudad, y empezamos la siempre estimulante tarea de buscar hotel cargadas con las mochilas. Al tercer o cuarto hotel que no tenia habitaciones empezamos a mosquearnos, pero pensamos "bueno, no pasa nada, manyana cuando estemos rodeadas de elefantes y camellos valdra la pena". Finalmente encontramos hotel, por llamarlo de alguna manera... yo creo que no vimos bichos porque ni siquiera ellos querian estar alli, jajaja!! Las sabanas blancas eran mas bien grises, las ventanas no cerraban, habia un aparato de aire acondicionado roto y lleno de polvo en un hueco de la ventana , el banyo no tenia luz... pero pensamos "bueno, no pasa nada, manyana cuando estemos rodeados de elefantes y camellos valdra la pena". Y llego la manyana!!! Nos levantamos prontito y cogimos un taxi hasta Sonepur, esperando ver lomos y jorobas asomando por el horizonte al acercarnos... La feria dura un mes, llevaba dos semanas, pero solo los 10 primeros dias es cuando se comercia con los animales grandes asi que, adivinais cuantos vimos? Exacto!! Cero! Patatero! Bueno, para no mentir, vimos pajaros y perros, pero daba pena mas que otra cosa verlos alli encerrados y hacinados.

Acabamos dando vueltas por el mercadillo mientras nos seguia un monton de gente que parecia que nunca habia visto a un occidental. Sin exagerar, imaginaos, 6 personas caminando y un grupo de 20 detras... te parabas en un puesto, ellos paraban tambien, acelerabas un poco, ellos tambien. Es lo mas cerca que estaremos nunca de sentirnos famosas asi que... Ahi van algunas fotos de nuestros 15 minutos de gloria, a mi me hicieron una entrevista y todo para la tv!

Nuestra visita a Patna acabo en la habitacion del "hotel" jugando a las cartas (que buena idea traerse la baraja, Etienne es casi un experto ya) y haciendo tiempo para ir a la estacion; cogimos el billete para el ultimo tren del dia para poder disfrutar con tiempo del mercado, jajaja!!

Well, until now all the destinations has been great and right, we needed more than one month to make a mistake...

From Bodhgaya we were supposed to go to Darjeeling, in the north, but we decided to do a quick stop to see the biggest animal market in Asia. The plan was spend one night in Patna, wake up early to go to the market and in the night take the train to Darjeeling. And we did it, really, and oh my god!! Patna is the worst city we ever see (not in this trip, in our lifes), dirty, chaotic, super contaminated... but we tought "well, it's ok, tomorrow when we were surrounded by elephants and camels it's gonna be worthy..." Like always the bus was late, and in the night we started the great duty of looking for a hotel. We started being worried when the fourth hotel told us that was full. but we thought "well, it's ok, tomorrow when we were surrounded by elephants and camels it's gonna be worthy..." Finally we found a hotel, if you can call it hotel... I think we didn't see bugs because they didn't want to be there, hahaha! The white sheets were grey, we couldn't close the windows, was a big, dirty and broken old ac machine in the hole of the window, the toilet has no light... but we thought "well, it's ok, tomorrow when we were surrounded by elephants and camels it's gonna be worthy..." And the morning came! We wokw up early and took a taxi to Sonepur, hoping to see elephants backs and humps appearing by the horizon... The market last one month, that was the second week, but only in the first ten days they sell the big animals, so guess how many we saw... Exactly!! Zero!! Any!! Well, to tell the truth we saw dogs and birds, but was sad saw them locked and piled up.

We ended walking around the market with a lot of people following us like if they never had seen a western people. Really, imagine, 6 people walking and a group of 20 following them... if we stopped in one stand, they stopped too, if we walked a litlle bit faster, they did. Well, now we know how it feels being famous, you can see pictures of our 15 minutes of glory, they made me an interview fot the tv!!!