We slept in, as we slept till we naturally woke up at 8 am. Grabbed breakfast, grabbed our stuff, and went to our rickshaw. We found a mechanic who diagnosed our rickshaw, there was something wrong with the piston and it would cost 3000 rupees to fix. That is about 50 American dollars. We decided against it since we will only be driving it for another hour or so for the victory parade. So Antoine somehow pushed the rickshaw into a shaded area and we took some final pictures with it and our traditional wear.
Luckily, we saw that our friends from the first party showed up and we asked if they could tow us through the victory round. We had our birdcage with the owl hanging from the side and the Phoenix on the front of the rickshaw. Before we even left the hotel area, the birdcage got snagged on the wall next to us and we couldn’t stop the rickshaw since we were geting towed, and the rickshaw behind us ran over the cage. We go the cage back, the owl is fine. But the cage is forever dent and bent and not a cage anymore. Getting towed through Jaisalmer was actually one of the highlights of the trip. At this point, we really realized what we did in the last two weeks, along with everyone else in the parade, and it was breathtaking. It was a moment of relief, pride, and celebration. The rope holding us to our friend’s rickshaw snaped. They take out another strap and tie us back. We keep going. It snaps again but this time they don’t notice and we are stranded on the streets again. A motorcyclist guy comes up from behind us, puts his feet up against our rickshaw’s, and pushes us up to the finish line again. Our friends made a circle back to find us and after the motorcyclist leaves, they come up from behind us and use their rickshaw to push us in.
After all, this calms down, we go back to our hotel and cool down and the pool and take a nap in our room. Then we head out to the Survivors Party. We grab our beers and sit down. We talk to the camera guys, and whoever passes us on their way to find seats, our friends show up and we spend the rest of the time talking to them. Their arms people dancing and getting drunk and we just spend our entire time eating and sharing stories, they’re from Australia. The music gets turned down a nod they start handing out awards to some of the teams for best break downs and whatnot. The last award was who could do the best turban so Antoine drags me on stage and I attempt to tie a turban around his head. Unfortunately, we did not win this competition. After everyone gets their awards, fireworks go off and the party goes back on. The four of us decide to leave, we grab a taxi rickshaw and go our separate ways.
It’s been one hell of a ride.
-Jamie