We stopped in a local village and were led through the streets. We watched a man, hunched over, breaking rocks with a hammer. Abu said that was one of the main livelihoods in the desert. We greeted children and sadly shook our heads when they asked for money or chocolates. It felt a lot like village tourism and seemed a bit exploitive to the community, but everyone we passed was at least happy to greet Mango.
After the village tour our camel safari had come to a close. We hopped in the car for the ride back to Jaisalmer and back at the hotel we were overjoyed at the chance to shower and relax a while before heading over to the fort to do some shopping at a leather shop, visit a Jain temple, wander the streets and alleys, and enjoy a delicious and filling meal of Tibetan momos.
Afterwards we told Abu we wanted to go shopping at a local market so he let us use his car and sent someone with us. However, it didn’t end up being a market at all, but rather was a single shop. We got sort of ripped off and then were taken right back. It was a pretty odd experience.
Back at the hotel we rested a few hours before our 18-hour train ride to Delhi would begin that evening.