By Our Special Correspondent
Shillong: While many who call Meghalaya their home may not have discovered the hidden treasures of this State and the only sacred grove they know is at Mawphlang, foreign tourists are more adventurous.
They have discovered other more beautiful sacred groves located across Meghalaya such as the one in Mawlyngbna, near Mawsynram.
A group of five tourists from France, Spain, Italy and Argentina were touring the villages beyond Mawsynram.
One of them Sebastian Vilarino from Argentina is a juggler-entertainer. He visited the village schools entertaining and teaching the students and villagers the art of juggling and other circus tricks.
The five have trekked from Mawsynram to Sohra and back. They enjoy the wilderness and are happy to rough it out in the villages without looking for anything too complicated such as a proper hotel.
These are the tourists who prefer home-stays so they can enjoy local cuisine and imbibe the culture of the local people.
When asked how they enjoyed their stay they said, Marco Korbardi of Italy said, “You can see we are happy to stay on if people will have us. We are trekking the area of Mawsynram and up to Sohra and back.”
Asked which other places they had visited they said there are many more treks left to discover in Meghalaya. Vilarino had earlier displayed his juggling skills for the people of Shillong near the Khyndai Lad junction on January 26 this year.
When asked how the group of five from different countries, one of them a woman from France, met up as a team they said it was similar interests of exploring the world which brought them together. Rose Baque the French woman said jokingly, “I wash all their clothes and ensure they are clean and fed.”
Vilarino later performed his juggling trick for the small audience that had come from Shillong and were assembled at the PWD Inspection Bungalow at Mawsynram.