jessy's adventures

...57... israeli wedding trip

fulfilling a nearly 10yr-old promise, we showed up in israel for a grand tour and an incredible wedding! thanks to the guez family and our dearest ruth for the unparalleled hospitality!

1) girls' roadtrip to the dead sea!

2) bedouin settlement + sunset picnic

(taken by kay)

3) jaffa + dr shakshuka

4) earning our keep

5) jerusalem

(whaling wall)

6) bahai gardens in haifa

7) danielle gets married!

8) brunch at the beach

congratulations mrs barber and mr guez!!

...56...kolkata

possibly my favorite city in india. delicious bengali sweets, friendly people, pristine (by indian standards) sidewalks for exploring the city on foot - my favorite.

a cow admiring his work, according to dad. check out this cycle: the cow eats the garbage on the streets - essentially waste food & wrappers that people can't digest. the cow pies are shaped into regular sizes and dried. they are then burned for cooking. once they've been burned, the ashes are used as fertilizer in the gardens. badass. still, i'm glad i don't have to shape and dry cow pies.

...55...indian portraits

...54...bodh gaya

the city holding the tree under which siddhartha was enlightened draws buddhists from all over the world.

...53...varanasi

varanasi is an ancient city (said to be the oldest continuously inhabited city - 5,000yrs) with many religious pilgrims. on the banks of the ganges, people come to bath in its sacred waters and burn their dead and sprinkle ashes into the river. there is a minimum of one temple per house in this city.

...52...hindu wedding

there aren't words to describe this event. high quality all around - people, flowers, food, music.... it simply couldn't have been any better.

...51...agra

m&d in their ridiculously cute indian attire.

in akbar's palace at fatehpur sikri - akbar promoted harmony between religions and set an example by taking 3 wives - a hindu, a muslim, and a christian.

dad's favorite indian, raja.

...50...xmas in india

...49...portraits with the bachelor in his final hours

this was the last we saw of single prabhakar.

...48...kerala

from the tea plantations to the backwaters to the coast, kerala was breathtakingly beautiful, and the rivest family roadtrip was a blast.

...47...tamil nadu

kanniyakumari at the very southern tip of india was filled with religious pilrims and beautiful views.

trichy was a crazy bustling city with the loudest horns and busiest streets. catherine and i risked our lives on 2 rickety rental bikes in order to reach some great temples.

auroville is an international community with a golden epcott center to meditate in. catherine and i briefly considered joining this intriguing cult, before heading back to pondicherry for some delicious kesar lassis.

...46...mumbai

a painfully short weekend in mumbai to visit nish brought me to one of the best birthday parties i've ever been to: a party at an orphanage where the birthday girl's guests helped by handing out party hats, pizza, and cake, not to mention participating in an impressive dance party.

...45...farm

...44...namibia

to me, namibia was the most hopeful place we visited. people were friendly, races appeared to mix easily, and infrastructure was great. i insisted upon coming to namibia because the San people (the original people on earth - see Journey of Man) lived and still live here. unfortunately, to get to the ones who are living in their traditional way (small outfits, hunting with bows and arrows, speaking in click languages), we needed a 4-wheel drive car and a gun to fend off lions. this required more planning than we had done, so we'll have to go back.
namibia has some of the craziest and most desolate landscapes i've ever seen.

...43...victoria falls - livingstone, zambia

in zambia, we visited nish and road tripped to victoria falls. pretty!

...42...south africa

south africa was a delightful introduction to the african animal kingdom, and a depressing introduction to the ramifications of so many years of apartheid and repression. the beautiful and very affluent city of Cape Town is within easy sight of the shantytowns (read south african: informal settlements). it's easy to understand why people get robbed at knife-point, with such a stark separation of wealth. my time here made me appreciate the incredible freedom we have at home. walking in a well-kept city park, we never have to think not to wear sunglasses (let alone bring a wallet) for fear someone will relieve us of them.

...41...mozambique

after a brief visit in the uncomfortably dangerous and comically named capital of mozambique, maputo, we took a full-day busride to the beachtown of tofo. we lived in a bungalow, lounged on the beach, and swam with whalesharks for a handful of days. (thanks to Rob Hughes for this badass whaleshark pic)

..40.. republica dominicana

chris and i took advantage of the long weekend and the cheap jetlbue tix to fly to the dominican republic. our trip was a much-appreciated bit of relaxation mixed with just enough excitement. a whale-watching tour and a beachside horse ride balanced out our hours of reading on the sand and playing in the waves.

..39.. onward

i guess i'm not exactly *travelling* right now. not physically. but journeys exist in all dimensions, and if one dimension suddenly becomes still, the rest have a way of moving faster for a time.

the end of my southeast asian journey left me temporarily satiated with international exploration. booting up my brain again took only a few days, and it feels great to be fully using it in its analytic capacity once again.

i've started my new job at evergreen solar. it was a whirlwind of adjustments to move to boston and start a job. finding a new apartment, buying my first car, living near my sister and boyfriend, and adjusting to employed life.

i can feel the arrangement of my new life beginning to stabilize, so i'm finally able to step off the carousel and watch for a moment. and i see a very happy existence!

i simply can't say enough good things about my relationships with chris and nikki, the people at work, the nature of the work, old buddies in town, and the homey feel of cambridge.