Greetings from Timbaktu

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Greetings from Timbaktu!

So I have made it to Timbaktu! I realise that I still have quite a few things to catch up on but I am making this post to update you all on where I am.
Timbaktu Collective is a grassroots non-profit organisation which works towards the sustainable development of marginalised people across 172 villages in the drought-prone and ecologically challenged Ananthapuramu District in the state of Andhra Pradesh. And yes I just copied that sentence from their “about us” in a booklet I was given when I arrived. They have a campus (where I am living) and an office (where I have internet access) near Chennekothapalli village which is about 2.5 hours outside of Bangalore.
I am honestly unsure about how often I will make updates because it is around a 10 minute drive from the office to the campus and despite being told a few times that there is internet access somewhere on campus I am yet to find the wifi… so if this is posted I have made it back to the office or I have found the campus internet… but just so you know I’m writing this on Saturday on my offline computer and who knows when it will get posted. (Monday, I'm posting this on Monday)
I did actually have an Indian sim card for a few days. It turns out that people on tourist visas are unable to purchase sim cards and so Augustine had given me one of the ones he uses for the students but upon arrival at Timbaktu yesterday we found out that the company it was with had no service out here. So Augustine has taken the sim back to Bangalore. It was not very helpful because all I could use it for was making a phone call (or I guess sending a text) in an emergency. I received it the day AFTER Alex and I nearly got lost in a tuk tuk that was supposed to be following Augustine and Debbie’s tuk tuk that we lost about 1/3 of the way into the journey. I did receive a lot of missed calls, one of which Augustine returned and got the message “this number does not exist”, and numerous texts presumably telling me about all the recharge deals I was not getting. I am now back to having my Australian sim that I guess I could use in an emergency but I am trying to convince myself that internet withdrawals is not an emergency worth spending the money it would cost.

Anyways, I am still alive, just re-learning to live without internets.



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