bike safari

I found my bike ride home from the Selvaraj household (the home that I stayed in over our mid-term break) fantastically amusing.

It started out a bit shakily.

I had two full backpacks of stuff. One on my front and one on my back. This proved to be cumbersome. After about 3 meters of pedaling I fell off. This happened directly in front of three barefoot Indian boys on the side of the rode. They were nice enough to try and hide their laughter. I would have found it hysterical to see a foreign girl tumble off a bike on to the mud road because she was trying to carry way too bags.

My solution was to throw both backpacks on top of each other on my back. Although awkward at first, this was much more manageable.

Biking along enjoying sun, clear blue sky, and warm air, I encounter my first obstacle: A large herd of milk cows claiming the entire road. No problem.
I biked off the road and avoid collision.

Not more than a 20 yards later, I am forced to swerve off the road again. This time a herd of unhappy goats are chasing behind me.
Only slightly shaken, I continue my trek with my big lumpy backpacks on top of each other strapped to my back.

I progress about 200 meters more before out of nowhere, a monkey darts out of the brush and runs right in front of my bike tire.

I wasn't able to dig out my camera (held within one of the 2 packs somewhere) to capture an image, but thanks to googleimage.com
this actually might be the same friend that I almost squashed...

As I watch the monkey scamper off, my eyes drift down to notice an over sized gray and black spotted lady buggish sort of critter crawling up the strap of my pack.

At this point, I realize I have failed as a bio major.

Time to turn on my animal appreciation radar. The rest of the trip I use my knowledge gained in a class I took last spring, Interpreting Spring Landscapes, which honed my bird watching/appreciating abilities. : )

I'd Like to take this opportune moment to make a shout out to Jim Gilbert the guru of looking at and loving plants and everything else naturey.

If you are interested in knowing, I saw:

-Seagull like birds flying in the air
-many butterflies
-many dragonflies
-pigeons
-and a crowish type of bird

The End