Mahachap visit one - the way back

The way back

The half of the school that set of early in the rain to get to the leaving ceremony

The children entertaining themselves before the others arrived

Just before we left on Saturday there was time for a quick leaving ceremony. It mainly consisted of a few speeches saying they had enjoyed the time we had spent in the village and were looking forward to our return. I gave a quick speech telling the village how thankful I was for their hospitality and how I was looking forward to returning. I really am looking forward to going back there, it was a great place but I don’t think that my two and a half days really let me see the full picture of the village. Then after the speeches there was a quick dance performance and then the tikka and garlands came out. I think everyone in the village had a go at applying the tikka, especially after the head teacher asked if the children could have a go, which when I said they could then descended with handfuls of tikka. You can see in the pictures how much I got coated in it, bearing in mind it is only meant to be a dot or small vertical line to the forehead.

Good and tikka'd up before the hike to the jeep

We had to walk a bit further on the way back due to the rain and the jeep not being able to drive as far up the roads. The whole village decided to accompany us along with a drumming band leading the way. It would have been a very enjoyable walk, had it not been for the immense heat and me suffering from altitude sickness. We made it to the meeting spot though, with a bit of time to spare. So there was time for a impromptu dance arena to form with some added locals from the village in which we had stopped on the outskirts. I have to say when the jeep came I was a little relieved as the drumming and altitude sickness was giving me a really bad headache. Just before we left, as we were sat in the jeep, there was time for a second round of tikkaing. I don’t have any photos, but I can assure you I was coated in the red powder. I spent almost an hour in the shower when I got back – my hairs is still red now.