In the bazaar we came across these ladies and a gent patiently threading marigolds and roses onto thread to make the garlands used in the temples when offerings are being made and when people are welcomed as we were at the start of our trip. The man gave me a rose to smell – it had the most beautiful scent I’ve ever known in a flower.

Shopping completed, it was time to return to the hotel. Instead of taking a minibus we all piled into three tuk tuks for a more traditional journey through the streets of Jaipur! It’s certainly more smelly, more noisy and quite hairy at times as the tuk tuks, cars, buses and scooters all vye for the space! But you can’t come to Jaipur and not have a ride in a tuk tuk!

Wow, we’ve been so busy and our schedule has been quite frantic at times. I’ve also developed a cold and a cough so been feeling rather tired by the time we got back in the evenings. Anyway, here’s a quick catch up starting with Saturday at the blue pottery workshop. It’s a traditional pottery if this area but this method is dying out. No wonder as it’s very Hands on and time consuming. All the patterns are hand drawn – no transfers or printing of any kind. We got to design our own plates and they’ve been fired for us. They look very different when the painted colours are fired and the true colour comes out!

We spent Sunday morning relaxing in the hotel garden getting henna tattoos on our hands. The men doing the patterns were extremely talented and we all had very intricate designs on both the palms and backs of our hands. The tattoos will last about three weeks!
The afternoon was another shopping opportunity at an Indian Department store called fab India. We were able to buy items of clothing and household textiles and I managed to get my table runner for Christmas!

Monday morning saw us doing another workshop in the hotel with Andy who has been very entertaining all week. He is a talented artist and we’ve learned a lot from him. in the afternoon we were excited to get up close and personal with elephants. We visited an elephant sanctuary that looks after retired animals and makes sure they are cared for. We were able to stroke and hug the elephants, then feed them with sliced bread and bananas. They also enjoyed being painted with powder paint. Apparently they like the touch of the sticks used for the paint as it massages them. Some others took a ride around the field which was great fun. Everyone had a brilliant afternoon and it was a real highlight for some people who had never seen elephants before.

Today, Tuesday, we visited the largest paper making factory in India. They use cotton rags from the textile industry along with cardboard and other paper which is all recycled together into a pulp and pressed in a frame to make sheets of paper. We were in heaven when we saw the warehouse with all the colours stacked up. Even better we discovered the cost was only Rs.50 per huge sheet for paper that would cost around £3 for an A4 sheet at home. We all came home with a roll of various sheets wondering how we would fit it into our suitcase but determined we would.

Before returning to the hotel we visited a bazaar area for our final shopping trip. We found a shop selling ribbons beads and other decorative items and spent ages choosing some beautiful things. The shopkeepers told us they had two more floors but we needed to move on! This bazaar was good fun and we didn’t feel hassled in anyway. It was less touristy and had more variety of shops as used by local people. The colours, the noise and the smells were incredible!

Friday update from Jaipur! We travelled about an hour from the city to the village of Bagru which specialises in a particular kind of block printing with mud as a resist. We each made our own cotton stole, choosing the blocks for the design and getting to grips with the black clay. As sections were printed, they were sprinkled in a kind of sawdust which stuck to the clay. Once  the whole design was printed and dried they were dipped in dye – either indigo blue (very popular!) or a smoky grey from black kasis ( a green mineral which turns to a black dye when diluted in water. Who knew that indigo dying came out green and turned that lovely colour as it dried?!?

Drying, then a second dip was followed by washing and drying again. Once all the sawdust and clay was removed, our pieces were  washed, dried and the designs revealed. It was a long day, hot and sweaty, but an incredible experience which we all thoroughly enjoyed.

With a guide on board, we left our hotel around 8.30 am for the start of our morning tour of some of the major sites around Jaipur. A daytime visit to Hawa Mahal, the Palace of Winds and then to the temple of Ramchander Ji started our day. It was still busy, but many of the little bazaar shops hadn’t yet opened, so slightly less frantic! There was even space on the pavement for a couple of snake charmers! Not something you see every day, so happily gave 20 rupees (around 23p) after taking this picture!

In Jaipur, everyone tries to make a few rupees out of something. This disabled man had stopped the traffic to help us cross the road and was rewarded with good business – a set of postcard books and maps for all o& us to use in one of our workshops later this week. A great start to his day!

A quick look around the temple followed:

The main attraction of the day was Amber Fort, just a few kilometres outside the city. We decamped to a couple of jeeps for the ascent through the narrow streets up to the main part of this amazing Rajasthani palace – the second most visited place in India after the Taj Mahal.

On to Palace of The Lake – just a photo stop as this isn’t open to view! A busy market is set up beside the viewing area – any opportunity to sell,

After a very hot and busy morning our next stop was the tailors and fabric warehouse. Measurements taken, garments ordered then back to the hotel for a quick change and dinner. It’s all go here in Jaipur! 😀

Today we got to see more of Jaipur in the daylight and it is amazing, if a little overwhelming. The streets are busy, loud and dirty and all human life can be seen there! It’s quite common to see men urinating in the street (ok, they usually have the decency to turn their back to the traffic, but it’s still pretty obvious!) and we passed a man who had simply hitched up his tunic and squatted on the ground, apparently preparing to do his morning business just off the side of the road. Having seen the makeshift shelters, I suppose when you live on the street, the street has to be your toilet too! 😱

Block printing on fabric Is a traditional industry here and our outing this morning was to see this being done and have a go ourselves. En route we stopped off at a little roadside workshop where men were carving the blocks – such intricate work which they sold to us for very cheap prices!

We all loved the block printing! The young boys in the factory were so helpful and made sure we all came away with a couple of great samples we had produced ourselves.

This afternoon Andy Skinner, a mixed media artist on the trip with us, led a workshop here in the hotel. We spent a relaxing afternoon creating a piece of art of our own, with a beer to aid the process!

The day ended with another delicious meal – a buffet dinner prepared for us here in the hotel. A memorable day and there are more to come – tomorrow we’re going to Amer Fort and then to a huge fabric store where you can have items tailored in around 24 hours!

Just before you go, here are a few more street scene photos from today!

After driving down to London Heathrow on Sunday and spending the night in the Premier In, Monday evening saw our band of ten intrepid travellers boarding our flight to Jaipur. Six crafters, one husband, Alfie – one half of IndigoBlu and Laura – one half of BlockWallah (the two companies running our trip) and Andy, a well known mixed media artist who will be delivering some workshops for us.

Seven and a half hours to Muscat with Oman Airways and a further two and a half hours then from Muscat to Jaipur and everything was real – after the planning and anticipation we were actually here. Well…..not quite……just the small matter of getting our visas processed! We’d all got electronic visas which had been checked along every step of the journey, but the final act of having it stamped in our passports took an age. There were maybe twenty foreign passport holders on the plane, but in the time it took to process half of them, the whole plane of Indian passport holders had been processed through.

Transfer to the hotel gave us our first experience of Jaipur traffic. It comes in all directions, swerves, undertakes, cuts across junctions…….there appear to be no rules! I’m sure we’ll get used to it!
Mrs Singh met us at the hotel with a traditional welcome – a spot of red paste on our forehead, a few grains of rice flicked at us and a lovely garland of fresh marigolds.

Despite being travel weary, we have a full itinerary and head off in our little bus into the centre of Jaipur. It’s Diwali, so it’s busy and there are fireworks going off. The traffic is no calmer! Scooters drive by with a whole family on board- two quite tiny tots wedged between mum and dad, and tuktuks crammed with people. We saw a dozen or so cycle rickshaws – not sure this would be my preferred mode of transport!

We had a lovely vegetarian thali – a selection of dishes like a mezze, which everyone enjoyed, then it was time for our first experience of the bazaars. Some of our group made early purchases, whilst the rest of us soaked in the atmosphere. It’s all good humoured – “please come look in my shop” and you have to be able to say no and ignore the pleadings!

On the same street, we ticked off our view of Hawa Mahal, or Palace of the Winds. It has hundreds of windows facing directly onto the street and was built for the ladies of the royal court to observe the activity in the street below without being seen themselves.

So far it’s all I thought it would be, loud, busy and quite dirty. We passed slum dwellings with makeshift trestles for bed and flimsy fabric covers, people sorting through a large rubbish dump and a mother pinching her grubby little girl to make her cry and hopefully be more lucrative as a begging accessory.

The crafting starts tomorrow! For now, it’s bed and a good nights sleep as Diwali fireworks continue to sound in town.

This trip is coming to an end now and we are preparing to go home. Flights are checked in, the airport taxi is booked and boarding passes are ready to be printed at the shop across the road. It’s a bit of a flurry getting as much washing done as possible + clothing, bedding, towels – and a fine judgement made regarding whether it will dry in time. The back up plan is always the dryers at the launderette up the road, but it’s not ideal to spend part of your last day watching the sheets tumble round!

I’d hoped to squeeze in a couple more beach mornings, but that plan went out the window when I picked up about four insect bites. One on my ankle has been quite bad and blistered, and I didn’t want to get sand in it. Never mind, there’s always next time!

Activity around the Balcon has Been very different in the last day or two. Yesterday we watched three Guardia Civil boats patrolling the sea in that area, with a couple of divers swimming around all the rocks. They were concentrating on the stretch from the Balcon up the coast towards Burriana. Our understanding is that a dead body was spotted two days ago and this is what they are searching for. It’s thought to be linked with a boat load of refugees who landed at Burriana earlier this week. Seems one of them didn’t make it.

The weather has changed perceptibly in the last two or three days. It’s still warm during the day, but more bearable during peak hours and the evenings are definitely cooler. An extra layer is now needed after about 6pm + there’s a noticeable number of cardigans, wraps and even coats being worn! Evening skies are still beautiful though. This was taken on the Balcon last night – the view is over towards our building. Colours not as good as in reality and I probably took it a couple of minutes after it’s best.

On our last evening we’re meeting up with my friend Marilyn and her partner, Richard. I know Marilyn from my Halifax supper club. She was recently widowed when I first met her and I remember her plucking up the courage to go on holiday alone. Since then she’s travelled extensively and met a a new man who happens to have a house in Maro, the next village up the coast. We met up with them in May and they arrive back here just before we leave. A quick catch up over dinner at Da Vinci will be enjoyable!

Wednesday saw the start of Feria de Nerja and the arrival of Chris’s family here. Starting with cocktails on the roof terrace at Buddha Bar, we followed on with the usual delights in Redondo fish bar – prawns, mussels, octopus, shrimp fritters etc. A great way to spend the evening with a very busy atmosphere!

Thursday was a late night visit to the Feria ground – loud, colourful, and brash, as always.

All of us except Chris went on the big wheel – his head for heights meant he preferred to keep his feet firmly on the ground! Meanwhile, we enjoyed great views over the fairground.

Back on the Balcon, we caught the end of the procession that had started around 8pm. Nothing happens here without a procession. This one saw San Miguel, Saint Michael the Archangel , escorting Our Lady of Sorrows from the church on the Balcon back to her hermitage at the church near Mercadona. Saint Michael then processed back to the Balcon, arriving there about 11.30pm. As always, the band played and the newly elected Queen and King of the Feria, along with all the civic dignitaries, led the Procession.

Last weekend it was culture on the Balcon and this weekend just past it was the turn of sport to take the spotlight. More specifically, athletics, with members from clubs across the Malaga province coming to take part in the Carrera Urbana Feria de Nerja. This event is now in its 43rd year, raises money for a leukaemia charity and has a set of road races, varying in length from 1km to 10kms and a ‘marcha’ – walking race of the heel toe variety as seen in the Olympics – also of various lengths and for different age groups.

The stage was erected the day before and blue lines were painted on various roads to indicate the route, but everything else appeared on Sunday morning. Like all aspects of Spanish life, children are involved from a young age and lots of the participants were juniors, some not possessed of what you might think as an athletic build. In other words, even kids who were quite chunky were out there taking part and seemingly enjoying it. The seniors races were a real mix of serious athletes and others who were clearly in it for the fun including one lady in a blue glittery tutu and a unicorn horn headband and another running with her dog! The Balcon was the start and end of the race, and with motorcycle outriders, an excitable commentator, music from a live band and lots of family and club groupings, the whole area thronged with activity. One of the races was sponsored by a fruit company – their freebies of little pots of chopped mango were very popular! Having wandered around we managed to get a seat for a drink at the Balcon Hotel – good view, sunshine, beer – not quite the Holy Trinity but it’s good for us!

The road race is the first event of the Feria, which doesn’t get properly underway until Wednesday. The fairground has been under construction for a few days and the gateway is in place, ready for its illumination on the first night of Feria. Talking illuminations, the decorative lights across the streets have been erected, replacing the shade canopies. Surely that must mark the end of summer here? Difficult to think that when the temperature is still in the mid to high twenties and it’s wall to wall sunshine!

Good news on the boiler front – our plumber is coming next Monday to install the better boiler we decided on and fix it properly to the wall. On the other hand, our UK builder who is doing work on our roof whilst we are away called today with not so great news. It appears that many of the tiles on the front of our roof are shot and held together with mastic, so there’s some serious retiling needed. Might as well do it while there is scaffolding up and after all, it’s only money! Gulp!!

Hurray! There’s obviously been a bit of fuss about the swimming pool closure – yesterday evening another note appeared to say that it would reopen from today, 4th October, until 15th October. Far more sensible and there are quite a few people taking advantage of it today.

My swimming has been in the sea today. It’s probably at its warmest right now, having had the summer sun on it over the last few months and it’s just fabulous. The waves were strong enough to make it interesting without being dangerous and despite ongoing concerns re sewage etc, the water has been very clean for the whole of our trip. So while Chris lazes and listens to his flamenco tutorials, I read my kindle, walk up and down the beach a couple of times, take a dip in the sea, shower, dry off in the sun…….and repeat! It’s tough……😎

Last night we tried to learn more about the Spanish obsession with el jamon – the ham. Everywhere, the ham is seen as a delicacy and enjoyed by all. We know that the most sought after is bellota ham from Iberian pigs which feed on acorns in oak forests. There’s a whole range of standards and classifications – from 100% Iberican bellota (from pigs with two parents of Iberican lineage), which get a black tag, 50% Iberican (one parent, usually the mother) with a red tag, Iberican that are sort of free range in the countryside – green tag – and Iberican fed on grain – white tag. We know that the purest bred pigs have a black hoof – la pata negra – and an elongated leg. The fat is the desirable bit – it’s supposed to melt on your tongue. Prices can go to well €100 per kilo. Cheaper is serrano ham, which is what us usually served up in tapas bars.

Feeling like we could make some choices without appearing totally ignorant we visited one of the local jamonerias. The fact that they served manzanilla sherry from the barrel was a promising start. Si, senor – dos copas por favor! Hams hanging from the wall had the various coloured strings attached so we thought we knew what was what! Not quite! A tasting platter was put together for us – a few slices each of Serrano, Iberican and bellota ham. The or ice for the few thin slices ranged from €2 for the Serrano through €6 for the Iberican to just over €10 for the bellota. To be honest the ham didn’t deserve a five times price differential and our favourite was the mid priced variety. We still don’t feel we’ve had the jamon wow were looking for – are we expecting too much, I wonder? Never mind, as long as it’s served with good sherry we’ll keep trying!