the thunderstorm was in full swing still in the morning. i woke up to my alarm, looked out the window, and went back to sleep for two hours. 8am! it is the longest i have slept until on this whole trip. felt good.

today was a lazy day. the rain made me happy because i could catch up on my work without feeling like i was missing out on something. but then, of course, the sun came out. but i still took it easy.

worked. wasted the day away daydreaming about the future. slept. ate a bit of the surprise package of delicious peanut brittle jasprit and teresa gave to me (thank you).

but it was our last day in chowara, so i peeled myself out of my lazy basking and started to stroll down to the beach for sunset.

i stopped off at a tailor to sew on a set of sleeves to my salarkamee. 150 rupees ($3) and a pen to completely tailor my outfit to fit me perfectly. tailors are everywhere in india. they can make anything you want in about two hours. new shirt? done. new pants? done. alterations? done.

and pens. everyone, adults and children, wants pens. apparently the really inky ones we all love, they do not have. so i hesitantly gave up my turquoise pilot G-2, but his smile was worth it. interesting the things we covet from other cultures. if i had known, i would have brought boxes of pens for them to share.

i continued my stroll stopping in the shops, keeping an eye out for certain gifts on my list. asking and comparing prices. falling into hour long conversations with the store owners.

like aazhimala deva. the old, skinny, bearded man who made beautiful wood and stone carvings. i told him i had taken a woodcarving class in college and had cut my hand several times. it was honestly one of the hardest artistic mediums i have ever attempted. he asked me how many hours a day i did it. i said twice a week for two hours for four months. he smiled and said no wonder you weren’t very good.

yes, practice makes perfect. although i did make some pretty cool pieces in that class.

then i moved onto a jewelry shop run by a 28 year old kashmiri man named tanveer shmad rathes. i was in his shop for literally an hour or more. it started out with me looking at bracelets. it ended with me laying on the floor meditating.

he told me about his wedding that he was planning for next year. do you know your wife? no, my parents are looking right now. he had high hopes because he was educated, owned his own business, and owned a house. the wedding will cost about $100,000 and will be five days long. thousands of people. in october. his brother will get married at the same time.

and he doesn’t know his wife. wait, did i already say that?

then he told me about his muslim religion. his family business. my business. how much a normal website costs to build. he showed me how to write in urdu, which is written right to left. so crazy to watch.

and then i browsed his shop. when i got to the singing bowls, he ran over and said, “meditation?” um, yes?

he pulled a cloth down from the shelf and laid it on the floor. he closed the store door and shut the blinds. he pulled three copper (i think) singing bowls from the shelf and placed them at one side of the cloth.

lay down.

i lay down.

he reaches for my hand and places the right in a mudra with forefinger to thumb, the left in a mudra with ring finger to thumb. palms up. feet together touching.

close eyes.

i close eyes.

empty mind.

i empty mind.

he begins gonging the bowls and letting the vibration fill my ears. empty out my brain. bring the universal sound of om into the air. moving from left ear to right ear. from near to far. i disappear from the chowara store tile floor. i don’t know where i went.

but then he touched my forehead, and i sat up. he showed me how the water jumps in raindrops when you fill the bowl with water and circle around its edge. he explained how the singing bowls are used in buddhism. i say i am familiar. he says you look like you would be.

we talk about american politics and war. and pakistan. and his customers. and tourists. everything and anything…he told me it all.

and then, he shook my hand and walked me outside. it was dark. i missed the sunset, but i didn’t miss a thing. it is the people. it is always the people for me.

before i traveled to india, i was in puerto rico for a week. in chowara, i was transported back there as the rooster crowed at 5am. in puerto rico, i would roll over and pray for them to shut up. in india, i wake up and walk to the beach to see sunrise.

standing on boulders, we breathe in the morning air as crabs and ants scurry quickly over my feet before i have any time to freak out. the beach is still flooded, but the stagnant water creates an amazing reflection pool for the sunrise. a crucifix standing tall amidst the oranges and blues.

there is a large population of christians in kerala. i think maybe the largest concentration in india. there are no pews in the churches we have seen, and the hymns are of course in the local language. but their names are biblical, and the crucifix stands tall. an adaptation of the christianity i know.

today is ayurvedic treatment day. designed from two words: ayur, meaning life, and veda, meaning knowledge; ayurveda, meaning the knowledge of life. it is considered the oldest natural healing system and branch of medicine in the world. i’m sure you have heard the word because it has become very much a part of the western world. it is perhaps more prominent now in western cultures than in indian cultures.

but with prices so low, there is no way this girl could pass up a traditional ayurvedic massage plus whatever else they had in store.

so i visited the doctor. you have to see him to get your prescription for treatment. it went something like this:

doc: name?
me: sara
doc: age?
me: 26
doc: any problems?
me: not really. migraines sometimes.
(he then takes my pulse and blood pressure.)
doc: okay, general massage and siro dhara.
me: can i do a facial too?
doc: okay, and face pack.

he then wrote these things on a slip of paper and sent me out the door. normally, people (foreigners) go to these ayurvedic hotels and spend a week there getting treatments daily for a week. i would just do one day. so, i headed to the main office and booked my treatment. noon.

i didn’t know what to expect from this treatment, but it awakened every sense. i enter a room and the woman tells me to take it all off. every last bit. while she is standing right in front of me. that’s cool, i am not shy about nudity. and she informed me that she is a mom and has seen it all.

and then the journey begins. i sit on a stool while she rubs oils and powders into my scalp vigorously. she pours oil over by head, and it drips down my whole body. the smells conquer my every inhale. it smells like gingerbread. i have no clue what it actually was, but it left a clay red color in my hair.

after awhile it is time to move to the table. face down. warm oil again covers my body as she energetically rubs every inch of my body. again with very high energy. lots of slapping and rubbing. wake up those muscles!

i roll over and the warm oil again covers every inch. an awakening of my tired body. a new refresher after so many days of travel. and my prescribed “general massage” is over.

onto the “face pack.” she applies a creamy face mask that smells of bananas and cucumbers, but it is a dark redbrown color. she places cucumbers over my eyes. the cooling effect brings me back to reality. calm. cool. collected. i lay for what feels like eternity and drift in and out of sleep. my feet twitching me awake every so often.

she comes back and wipes my face clean. i go pee finally and get wrapped up in a cloth. she lays me on a different table with the oil drum set up ready to flow over my forehead. and the siro dhara begins. for 30 minutes, she fills a big pot that has a small hole in the center of it with specially prepared medicinal oils and butter milk. it sways from left to right funneling oil on my head. i feel like i am being hypnotized. back and forth. back and forth. occasionally it stops and circles the middle of my forehead, my third eye.

after about 20 minutes, i was ready to be done. my mind started wandering. it finally came to an end. she squeezed the oil from my hair and drew a line down my forehead with the gingerbread powder.

wow.

i walked back to my room barefoot, hair and body covered in oil, and mind like ooze. don’t shower for one hour. okay. i’ll just sit. because i cannot actually think.

three hours worth of pampering for $50.

wow. i spend the rest of the day blissed out. showered. wrote. slept. dreamed. enjoyed the relaxation. but one day was enough. and fifty bucks is still fifty bucks. and three hours is still three hours.

we ate dinner by the pool. and i drank a watermelon juice. fresh squeezed watermelon juice. followed by a plate of watermelon. mom, they even chopped it up for me just like you. although it was just a plateful, not a huge bowl of the entire watermelon. yum!

night set upon the hotel, and we all felt as if we were in an agatha christie novel. thunder and lightning in the distance. bats flying overhead. at any moment, i thought we would hear a scream and someone would fall from the roof into the pool.

but no one did.

but the thunder and lightning did move in closer. at midnight, i awoke from my sweaty slumber to cool air and a downpouring of rain! ahhh. i love thunderstorms. especially in hot jungle climates. it continued throughout the night and into the morning.

what a way to end this day.

sir, you have to go sit and wait because the flight is overbooked. you’ll probably be able to get on, but just go over there for now.

hah.

what you always like to hear when you are flying to a new location on vacation. mumbai to the world’s longest town name: thiruvananthapuram, capital of kerala. we sat and waited, and a few moments later, she brought over our boarding passes. in an exit row even! chardi kala as we russayogi’s like to say (meaning unbounded optimism).

two hours later, and all i can see from the sky are palm trees. thousands of palm trees.

we land and hop into a taxi. the driver is bumpin’ awesome beats, and i am all smiles. and this song is playing in my head.

all beach towns are the same. you can’t teach it, you can’t explain it, but they have all got it. run down one story shacks. palm trees. the ocean attitude.

we are in the jungle. ideal ayurvedic resort in chowara beach village. just walk down the red dirt road, through the open field of drying laundry, and enter paradise.

now, we are not talking about pristine five star amenities, we are talking about natural. open windows that let the smell of the chicken coop waft into your room unexpectedly. heat that makes you sticky. bugs that march over you as you sleep. salamanders that scurry across the ceiling. bats that swoop over the pool at dusk.

it is a nice change of pace. breakfast takes at least an hour to get to you. and so you sit because life is easy and slow and it’s okay. there is no place to be except here.

and the beach.

sybille and i walk down to the beach and immediate are befriended by two thirteen year old boys, michael and john. really those are your names? yes madam, we are christian.

and then three more boys appear. two who are older, 20 and 21. in college. one studying psychology to become a teacher.

they sit and teach me malayalam, the local dialect. i instantly whip out my iphone and record their lessons. i point to body parts and they name them. i point to the sky, sun, water, rock. parra is rock. i remember that one. they ask me questions about where i am from, what i do. you own your own business? like you are the boss? yep. i am the boss.

we climb across boulders to escape the flooded stagnant water that appeared yesterday. we can’t get to the actual beach unless we wade across. not today. tomorrow i will adventure to the waves. today i will sit on the boulders.

they of course want to take photos, and i of course want to take photos. snap snap snap. and what else is on your iphone madam? music? do you have gangham style? no, i don’t. no worries, we do!

oh. yes.

they lead us back away from the others (to avoid embarrassment), and then we dance gangham style. four indian teenage boys and me. there is video, but this moment is pretty engrained in my head for life. little john has this big teethy grin that goes on for miles and could light up anyone’s day. add that with their crazy dance and high spirits…pure magic for this girl.

we followed our dancing with a bit of yoga. they told me these were soccer stretches, not yoga. we balanced on the rocks in tree pose.

they warned me of the cactus by my foot. and then they filled up with energy as i watched the next brilliant idea cross their minds.

michael hopped around me and picked the flower/seed pod off the cactus. he ripped it open, and the red juice squirted all over his hand. then, like any teenage boy, he acted out his best bloody hand scene complete with sound effects. another joined in, and we were turning this peaceful beach getaway into a playhouse. just the way i like it.

we tried some of the gooey red goop. it was sweet and dyed our fingers, lips, and tongues. no worries. they rushed over with some crushed leaves and began furiously rubbing our fingers. sure enough, it was fading the red. natural soap.

as the sunset, we headed over to a big rock to sit down and enjoy. michael and john snuggled up on either side of me, and we took more photos. cheery cheery (instead of cheese). we made faces. played patty cake. my energy matched theirs and the oldest said, “you mental madam.”

clearly.

they asked to see photos of my home. we browsed facebook. they told me which photos were good and which were bad. we browsed my photos from this trip. they have never really seen other parts of india. wow, mumbai is pretty. india gate! we have seen that in movies.

and then, when it was dark, they all walked sybille and i up the big hill and back to our hotel. michael asked how old i was. 26. whoa, really? you look a lot older than that. i informed him that in america he would look about 9 and not 13. that shut him up. they made us promise to return the next day after they were done with school. around 4pm.

glowing. how can a girl like me resist a night like that? it is not the landscapes that make different countries different, it is the people. and for me, it is the children. their curiosity. their innocence. their energy. their smiles.

end the night with a delicious bowl of soup and cup of tea. by candlelight, poolside. bats swooping overhead. lightening in the distance. thunder rolling in.

drift into my sweaty, sticky slumber until the rooster crows (literally). tomorrow we meet the “doctor” to find out our “treatments.” i am definitely going to opt in for the $8 facial. we shall see what else the doctor prescribes…

the beach was further away than expected. wake up and walk. and walk. and get to the shoreline and walk some more. about two miles along the arabian sea. a paved wide sidewalk with people of all kinds power-walking and working out. felt a bit like the chicago lakeshore. one of my favorite places to spend a day walking. watching.

it was a nice change of scenery to spend an hour on sand. dirty sand, but sand nonetheless. with a beautiful view of the mumbai skyline for our morning yoga.

there is so many kilometers of skyline because mumbai is a peninsula. i could never figure out which part of the city we were looking at, but it was all a beautiful staircase of skyscrapers along the sea.

before heading out for our boating adventure, sybille and i headed into town for a quick lunch at a cute diner-like hole in the wall and stop at the atm. the high numbers always make me feel so wealthy. it is about 52 rupees to a dollar. you feel so much cooler typing 1,000 into an atm than 30. baller.

with bellies and pockets full to elephanta island we go!

an hour ride on a two-story ferry boat. there is so much trash in the water. people just throw it off the boats. it was strange to witness. strange to so garbage floating so far away from land.

step off the boat and what do we see? corn on the cob. a sara favorite. for 20 rupees (like 40¢), i indulge and chop on a delicious open fire roasted cob rubbed with lime and spices. so good.

the island is pretty big. it doesn’t have elephants, but it did have a lot of dogs, cows, and MONKEYS! oh and caves. the caves are why people go, but the monkeys are why i stayed. baby monkeys kissing each other. one cleaning another. one drinking a coke. one stealing a banana from a puppy. so entertaining. i basically will have a whole monkey album for your viewing one day.

there are five caves on the island. we only visited one, but it was filled with large carvings in the walls. sculptures of shiva. hindu offerings. and tourists.

we board one of the last boats back and catch the start of sunset as we approach the dock (or rather cement steps) at the india gate.

i had my first language barrier moment on the boat. the woman crammed next to me on the bench offered me some peanut brittle. she spoke some hindu, and i smiled, “i only speak english.” she smiled and shook her head. that was all we could say to one another. most people here know at least a little bit of english, but not her.

i want to learn hindi. i am picking up a word here and there, but the sounds are challenging for my language-learning-impaired brain. it is so necessary in other countries to learn other languages. like in europe, the countries are small and they all speak a different language. but in the states, our neighboring countries speak spanish and english, perhaps some french up in quebec. the necessity for more than spanish to travel locally is nonexistent.

it took me 20 years to become proficient in speaking spanish. something is wrong with the way we teach languages in our schools. from kindergarden to college i took spanish class. i could conjugate all day. read, write, sing, dance, but speak? pssh.

live there.

they say that’s the best way to learn.

live here.

well, maybe not here. mumbai is too big a city for this gal. the people are city people. colder. more concerned about their own doings. not much green space for me to lay in the sunshine and hike through the trees. i need a balance. the ability to be my city side and my nature side.

back to the hotel and i crash. at 9pm. first, sybille makes me try a fig. i don’t think i have ever tried a fresh fig. it tastes nothing like a fig newton, which makes me happy because i hated when they would serve those for snack in elementary school. turns out i actually like the real thing.

the real thing.

the sounds of the city. the big city. like being in new york or los angeles or chicago. people starting their day way earlier than in the other towns we have visited. normally we have the mornings to ourselves. quiet, empty. not here. although i did see a billboard that read, “say no to noise.”

by 7:30am, we are at the india gate on the shore of the arabian sea, about a block from our hotel…the regent hotel.

and not only are we there, but so are several other people. as our yoga progresses in the center of the gate’s courtyard area, more and more faces begin filling the scene. tourists and chaiwalas. street sweepers and street sleepers.

mumbai is cleaner than any other town we have experienced. i have seen actual garbage trucks here. there are always people sweeping up the sidewalks and alleys. now don’t go crazy and imagine some pristine ocd city…there is definitely dirt and trash, but the effort to keep the city clean is apparent.

the india gate stands right in front of the taj hotel that was attacked and taken over a few years ago. it is completely repaired and filled back up with guests. life goes on here. terrorist attack or not. destruction occurs. construction occurs. the cycle never stops. never pauses for emotional wallowing or human attachment. tomorrow comes after today. always.

time.

i just started reading the book, running on emptiness by john zerzan, due to my buddy zac’s suggestion many months ago. it is a pretty radical book analyzing the crisis of our time. the author rallies for an unmaking of the civilized world. looks at how technology has limited us in more ways than it has helped. unravels a lot of interesting arguments. he cites someone every other line, which is irritating but informative. i don’t know if i agree with all his thoughts, but it is definitely making me think.

chapter two: time and its discontents.

you know when you read something or see something that you have never seen before, and then you suddenly see it everywhere?

i read this chapter about time. the invention of the mechanical clock. life before that. life after that. our relationship to time. the second law of thermodynamics and looking at the possibility that evolution does not have a specific direction.

“time and tidy are related etymologically.”

and then, we walked around mumbai. clocks everywhere. watches for sale on every other cart. clocks hanging in store windows.

a trip to victoria station (the famous huge train station in mumbai) and two huge clocks keeping the order.

or trying. train stations are fun in any city. subways and trains. i could sit there are watch people all day. people running to catch their train. people realizing they are on the wrong train. people fighting their luggage. people hugging and kissing loved ones hello and good bye. people sitting. waiting.

passing the time.
watching the time.

tick tick tick.

even this trip i have been tracking by time. counting the days and labeling them as they pass into memory. do the days really matter? no. next year, i will not care what day it was when i stared at the golden temple glowing against the sky’s darkness.

today we wandered. through the streets. through the train station. through the heat.

i am sticky and sweaty. it is in the 80s and super humid. my cheeks are sun-kissed and energy is being sucked out faster than i would like.

more water! i need to drink more water. do you see a trend? back to square one of my six month nutritional program with nathan mills. drink half your weight in ounces everyday. how many ounces are in a liter?

rows and rows of goods being sold. blankets spread out with even more trinkets and doodads. i want to look, but i also don’t. it is so much effort to not get ripped off. so much effort to collect materials. not to mention, my bag is reaching its limit and we still have nine days remaining.

we stopped to refuel with a sugar cane juice (with unexpected ice…don’t worry no one got sick) and then at a local restaurant on some side street.

then i zoned out. with fast wifi, i dug into work. knocked out a solid three hours of small tasks that had been acquiring. i missed some commotion outside near the india gate and taj hotel. apparently the french prime minister is in town. television trucks and crowds everywhere. or so i heard upon sybille’s return from her starbucks adventure to find free wifi (first starbucks we’ve seen).

i feel good. well rested. sort of on top of work. getting my fill of butterflies from this country. getting my fill of butterflies from home.

i do miss home though. i have now been traveling and living out of a suitcase since december 1. it will be nice to settle down for a minute soon. and eat some american food. i will have to admit that as much as the food is delicious here, i am definitely craving the normal sara diet.

the normal sara diet. hah. anyone who knows me well enough to know my eating habits is probably laughing at this.

yes there are mcdonalds in mumbai. no i have not eaten at one…yet. 🙂

Yoga on the rooftop right after sunrise. The sun still glowing bright orange low in the sky. The morning prayers echoing over loud speakers throughout the town (I have a recording). Everything else still asleep but starting to wake up. Ready to become alive.

But I’m headed for a crash. In order to save myself, I decided to taper today. Like an athlete preparing for the big event. Rest my mind, my muscles, my camera.

It is Valentine’s Day, which means I have officially broken my curse. For the past three years, I have been in the midst of ending relationships. Not to say that they have been bad Valentine’s Days per se, but just not your standard roses and chocolates kind of moments. But, this year, my valentine is this amazing country and this year of self-discovery. March 2012 to March 2013, the year I took to focus on me. I decided to give myself the best Valentine’s gift of all, time to rest.

I know you’re probably thinking, Sara’s past few blogs have been about rest, and you’re right. I am exhausted. But today was perfect. I might have missed out on some interesting people, exciting scenes, and must-buy purchases, but I can always come back to Udaipur. I would rather take a day to recover that run myself into the ground.

So I lounged in the sunshine.

Sitting on the hotel’s perfect resting setup, I opened shop. Laptop. External hard drive. iPhone. iPod. My mobile office.

Oh you thought I meant that I actually rested today? As in do nothing? Insert big belly laugh here. There was definitely play breaks throughout the day to catch up with someone who makes me smile and someone else who needed me to help her find her smile, but in general, I cleaned up the inbox and knocked out some deadlines.

And then it was time to say good bye to Udaipur, the city of lakes (man-made lakes), and our nice hotel keeper, Taakt aka Eddie. He was just so adorable. I still cannot get over it. As we were getting ready to go…

Him: When you come back, you stay free. Or you want to stay at Lake Palace [really expensive hotel in the middle of the lake]? I take you there.

Me: Oh, you know someone there [in India, everyone knows someone who knows someone who does whatever you’re looking for]?

Him: Well no…

Me: How can I stay there then?

Him: Just close your eyes, and I’ll make this place there.

Hmmm. He speaks my language. Just use your imagination. I understand. I understand oh too well.

I close my eyes.

When I open them, we are at the airport. I managed to fit all my purchases thus far into the bags I brought. Success. I don’t know how much longer that will last. Some of you might end up with very small, foldable something or others as souvenirs. Or printed photographs upon my return. Or stories. I will give you all my imagination just as Eddie gave me his.

Close your eyes.

When you open them, we will be in Mumbai.

A city. A real city. With a skyline along the Arabian Sea. Couples getting their smooch on along the seashore. Hundreds of them. Is this normal? Oh yes, it’s Valentine’s Day.

We sit in traffic in our “cool cab” (one with AC) but without the AC on. We start and stop, stuck in the bumper to bumper traffic. I think our driver needed a lesson from my dad: too many jackrabbit starts and stops are bad for the engine.

I did not expect such a massive city. I don’t know what I expected, but I was blown away. So much happening! Weddings (see photo below, yes that is for a wedding!), warnings, lights, so much.

Teresa taught me a necessary word for Mumbai, sumundar, or ocean. I think I can remember that one.

An hour or so later (due to traffic), we finally arrive at our hotel, the Regent Hotel, a block from the water. We all hit the sack and sleep like babies. Valentine’s Day dreams of what is to come.

it was cold last night. we need more blankets. i awoke wrapped up like a mummy with the same cold nose i get when camping. turned my one blanket into a sleeping bag.

with the sun already in the sky, we head to the rooftop for some yoga at 7am. we each do our own thing.

everyone seems a little run down today. we are all starting to wane. but we power through the day. eat breakfast, get dressed, and take some time to explore on our own. i decided to stay at the hotel and sit on the rooftop for a bit longer.

it seems like every country has its own hilly setting with colorful houses. we always compare in our heads. this looks like san francisco. this looks like valparaiso. our brain always searches for ways to label our experiences. relate them to something we have experienced.

this looks like udaipur. and only udaipur.

i am trying to give each experience its own change to be experienced.

we took a walk with our tour guide through the streets to the jagdish temple of lord vishnu. a beautiful structure with stone engravings that caught my eye over and over again. such complexities to hinduism. a god or goddess for everything you could ever think of. how do you keep them all straight?

and so many people that catch my eye over and over again. such complexities to humans.

our tour guide was quite entertaining and well trained in asking questions to keep us engaged.

“how many colors in the rainbow?”

“what is the most important thing in life?”

two said breath. one said universal. he said love. i agree. love is the most important thing in life.

the people here are very loving and affectionate. men walk holding hands or arms around each other. even saw one man giving another a head massage randomly. there is no social stigma surrounding their love. strangers give me hugs and kisses. so simple to spread love.

onto the city palace. lots of city palaces in india. this one is apparently the second largest in india. (i think they all say their palace is the largest.)

we toured the walls, the shops, looked at the clothes.

“feel like home. just take and wear. if they ask you, just pay them.”

that was the advice our tour guide told me when i started glancing at the garments. oh india.

off to lunch at some swanky hotel restaurant that reminded me of a timeshare presentation. a quick stop for some sugar cane juice (yes, again). and then i crashed. hit the bed harder than i ever have. instantly asleep.

teresa and sybille went out for a sunset boat ride, but jasprit and i stayed and rested. i did head up to the rooftop to catch sunset, but otherwise, i gave myself time to rest. sleep, write, relax.

tomorrow we fly to mumbai.

yoga. a hard morning for me. went to bed with a migraine. woke up in weird sort of disarray. my morning yoga was unfocused and completely disengaged. i just wanted to be sitting. or eating. i wanted to be anywhere but there. sometimes we have those days. days where we just cannot seem to center our mind, stop it from drifting into foreign lands of negativity.

breakfast helps. food always helps.

then we packed up and left our pretty palace to head back out on the road. to udaipur! so far here is our route (mumbai/bombay is next on the list after udaipur).

another six hour trek in the van, but this time on much better roads. driving sort of sucks, but it also a great way to see the land. staring out the window at the people, the sugar cane fields, the colors, the dirt.

the travel is giving me time to get work done, write, and catch up on sleep. but the travel is also more taxing than i thought. it was so nice to have a home base in delhi. now its two days here, two days there. cram in the sights and head out on the road. there is only so much you can see in 25 days. i think we are doing a good job of making the most of our time.

we arrive in udaipur at dark and no one seems to know where the heck our hotel is. every taxi driver we ask shakes his head at us. nope. so, i do what i do best…whipped out my iphone. thanks google maps. you are magical. even though i love the authenticity and simplicity of rolling down your window, sometimes technology makes life easier.

the streets grow narrower and narrower. we literally have an inch on either side of us as we drive through the alleys. nearly knocking over parked motorcycles and scooters. and of course, being slowed down by the cows in the road.

animals roam free here. cows, pigs, dogs, monkeys, horses, donkeys, they walk next to me as i tour the cities. and yet, i rarely see animal poop on the ground. i remember the streets of argentina being cover in dog poop, but here, nothing. maybe it just dissolves into the dirt. who knows.

we finally find our hotel, the little prince. run by a nice young man who tells me his name is eddie. later i find out that it is actually not eddie. of course. he is a cutie though.

this hotel is a definite change of pace from our palace. more like the places i am used to staying in. a sort of hostel kind of feel with only eight rooms. simple and gets the job done. but there is a super cozy lounge area with big futons and pillows. a great space to sit and write this blog.

and then there are the locks. the past two hotels we have stayed at have had these massive padlocks. i kept thinking about how someone could come and lock us inside of our room at any moment. good thing there are not a lot of pesky teenagers running around the hotels causing chaos.

and then, there is the rooftop. i have finally joined the rest of india on the rooftops. you can see it all. i want a rooftop wherever i go from now on. such a great perspective to see from above. and to see the amazing sunsets.

we are now moving south and you can tell. the sun is hot. the mosquitos are alive. the mountains are beautiful. the change of scenery is welcome, but is taking its toll. the sun drains my energy faster than i can replenish. water. i need to drink more water. but then i have to pee more. and peeing is not always easy. if i were a local, i would be fine. pee wherever i want. but finding a proper toilet can sometimes be a task when traveling.

but it is about the halfway mark. i am missing home, but excited to keep heading south. mumbai is sure to be an adventure and then onto ayervedic land for a few days. this will give us all time to recuperate. rejuvenate. relax.

holy tourists. jaipur is definitely more fueled by tourism than delhi. there are 4.5 million people in jaipur and most of them work in tourism. well, i guess we will go and support their economy.

old jaipur is over 200 years old. new jaipur is only 60 years old. there seems to be the old version and the new version in every city in india. i suppose that is the case in most cities, but perhaps it is not so simply labeled, old and new.

we first headed to the amber fort and palace. we were planning on taking an elephant ride to the top, but the line was atrocious. why waste a couple of our precious hours in line waiting to sit on top of an elephant? so i just took pictures instead. apparently, there are normally 100 elephants, but today there was a parade somewhere else and 40 of the elephants were working that instead. working, yes working. all the elephants are actual employees of the tourism board.

the fort is surrounded by the great wall of jaipur, 18 km long. and inside the palace is gorgeous. it is fun to close my eyes and imagine the space in the height of its beauty. mirrored work on the walls. jeweled ceilings. bright colors and sun streaming through the windows. women dressed in luxurious sarees and veils. white horses prancing with high knees. ahh to be part of the maharaja.

you could have twelve wives. the king had twelve queens. when they started getting jealous and fighting, he built them each their own apartment. each apartment was connected by a secret passage way so that the king could come and go as he pleased without the other women knowing. oh and if he got bored with his wives, he could always visit his 19 harems.

oh and he could play with the monkeys too. that is what i would do.

onto jantar mantar, the observatory full of huge stone instruments telling time and horoscopes by the sun and shadows. it is home to the largest sundial in the world, which shows time down to two second intervals. crazy to think about telling time before watches. crazy to see ancient technology still working.

our driving to and fro became a bit crowded as thousands of muslims were let out of a very special mosque. some sort of holiday or festival. they all walked the main street back to their homes. cars at a standstill. it made for great people watching and photography.

a quick stop for fresh crushed sugar cane juice (our new group favorite). and a photo shoot with some local young indian boys. don’t worry, none of them were stolen.

we finally made it to the city palace and eventually picked up a few more items at some local shops. i got to switch over and converse in spanish with one salesman. way easier to bargain when you know the language. i decided i needed to start trying to learn a little bit more hindi. so…

…i downloaded an app. first hindi word of the day: jānanā or knowledge. fun to say.

knowledge. i am gaining so much knowledge. exploring so much knowledge. our conversations in the car, over breakfast, have evolved and deepened. we get into heavy topics about religion and education. about the possible fall of some old structures to make way for new ideas. or old ideas from old cultures applied in new ways.

we are all on this earth together. there is a lot to learn from those who are outside our immediate circumference. i am glad to be exploring just a bit more of this big world.

a late start as our new driver takes us on a slight detour. nerhu park! not nerhu palace! oh well, driving around delhi at 7am can be an adventure in itself. we made it to the park and practiced on some boulders and in between some palm trees. my hamstrings welcomed the stretching. my body is in a constant state of confusion here. am i tired, am i awake? am i sore, am i strained? movement. it makes it all better.

we pack in some movement and then check out and settle into our van for the long haul to jaipur in the state of rajasthan. bump bump bump we go along the grand trunk road which apparently goes all the way to europe. however, if i had to drive a road in that condition all the way to europe, i might need to stop and vomit every once in awhile.

a quick stop for lunch and oh, surprise! hello mr. camel sitting by the front door, i did not see you there. camels. they are everywhere. ugly yet regal. scary yet calming. their big faces reminding me of the neverending story. we are in a foreign land.

and we are fugitives.

our driver gets us safely to jaipur, the pink city. every building painted an orangey-pink color as a surprise for prince albert’s visit. and then it stuck.

and then we ran a red light.

normally, running a red light in india means nothing. red is more like a blinking yellow. but with our delhi plates and tourist faces, the police take advantage of the situation. our driver was pulled over and had to go talk to the popo. we stared out the window in anticipation. he returned to the car, pretended to look for his documents, then glanced in his rearview, and hightailed it into drive.

and we were on the run.

they never found us. we safely arrived at our palace hotel after stopping to ask a few local taxi drivers how to get there. that is the mapquest of india. roll down your window when you see a bunch of tuk tuk drivers and ask away. then, try to remember as much of the directors as you can. when you forget, just ask again. and always end with, “ok, thank you boss.”

now, i am not kidding when i say palace hotel. there are a lot of old palaces from the maharaja that have been converted into hotels. our room was covered in beautiful artwork of krishna. we had a balcony overlooking a courtyard. there was a pool and fabulous nooks and crannies full of decorative magic.

and then i found my own magic.

kesar pista. holy crap. move over gulab jamun, there is a new favorite dessert in town. we headed to the rooftop restaurant to enjoy some live music and dancing and dessert. just imagine ice cream. saffron, rose water, and pistachio ice cream. the flavor lingers on your tongue for hours. jasprit and i are milkaholics. we ate our kesar pista ice cream and followed it up with a glass of kesar (saffron) warm milk. too much dairy you say? never!

we danced the night away with the decorated girls spinning their skirts and snapping their wrists. balancing five pots upon her head as she sways over the floor. of course, they invited us up to dance with them. no video, but we need to work on our moves i can assure you.

to bed in our royal suites. my mind felt like i was in this scene from one of my favorite childhood movies, “a little princess.” going to watch this as soon as i get home (yes, i own it). who wants in?

good bye delhi. hello jaipur.