I love elefants

As an aside to the previous post... elephants are really cool!  I mean, at one point, My hand was in one's mouth (tongue was the size of a cow's liver and quite pinkish white), feeding her green bananas.  At one point, my elephant sniffed at my suntan lotion, thinking that it was a banana.  They sniffed and handled everything before they eat, checking to make sure that it is edible.  Their trunks were incredible: fingers, nose, straw, hose, rope, etc.  Kind of wet, the tip of the trunk, though.  Kind of like snot. 

I stroked my elephant's head and trunk and ears for a while.  My elephant really enjoyed the stroking, I think.  Her ears flapped back and forth (more than usual) when I scratched between her eyes.

Did you know elephants only sweat through their toenails? And that they can hear things some miles away? Ok, maybe not miles, but really damn far!

I love their rumps – reminds me of old ladies walking down the streets.. and old ladies are the cutest things...

My elephant had to walk behind another elephant one time, and she kept turning her head side to side after the other one (a fatty), stopped to rip a big one.  And another time, the elephant behind head-butted our elephant, as if to say, "Move it, lardass!"  They're quite funny, elephants.  And I'd like to think that they're kind too.  They seemed to humor us three tourists a lot, allowing us to fidget uncomfortably while riding them.

They're actually very hairy.  Short spiky hair.. somehwhat hard, cover the hide.  The head has a long clump of black hair.. sort of like a thick hairbrush or a loofa.  It's nice to have your bare feet pressed against the hide.

And speaking of riding them, you're supposed to ride close to the front, almost on top of their heads.  You squeeze your thighs against their heads and inside the corners of their ears.  Our elephants automatically flapped her ears backwards and gripped our legs, steadying us whenever we had to go downhill or somewhere unstable.  She was very gentle with us.

Not so gentle with the other animals we saw on the way, though. As if to declare her status as the biggest mammal in the vicinity, she would snort and huff her way whenever a dog or a water buffalo strayed too close to her direct path. They got out of the way.

Laos: Land of a Million Elephants.  Elephants are sacred here.  I can see why.  Really beautiful creatures.

Pictures to come when I can develop film.  No real capabilities here in Laos.  I'm thinking of having a series of black and whites (like a lot of other people) on elephants when I'm back.

woo... cool! i feel like i know so much about elephants now...

Posted by: jojo | July 05, 2006 at 02:56 PM

Wait til I post the videos! =] Elephants are so cool. My favorite animals right after bears.

Posted by: j.fisher | July 06, 2006 at 07:41 AM

have been missing your posts since i have been traveling. but good to read this one. sounds fun. i have personally been spending time at over 3,000 meters altitude for the past 3 weeks and seeing llamas-and eating them on ocassion as well- and other andean creatures. Glad you guys are having fun. Too bad we could not really do either Asia or Latam together!

Posted by: vinny | July 06, 2006 at 06:43 PM

I hear ya Vinny. Glad to see you're liking it in Bolivia. I have to get to LATAM sometime.. although after this trip it'll be a while. I'm thinking on my next long travelling stint, I'll upgrade a class and enjoy the amenities.. I've already set my sights on Buenos Aires and the Argentinian steaks. I've heard great things about Bolivia also!

Posted by: j.fisher | July 09, 2006 at 07:59 AM