India Revisited

The second day in India was much better in the fact that both boys had a good night's sleep and felt like 999,950 bucks! We ate breakfast and caught a cab to the hotel where our field trip, "The Art of Living", was already in progress.

We only missed the morning session, so we were confident we could catch up quickly and immerse ourselves into this new practice. But we ended up with an old fogie for a yogi.

She was not pleased that we arrived late and said she would not allow us to participate. Ok. Fair enough, but we just wish she let us know not to come if that was the case. Then she eyed Benjamin and asked what he was going to do. He was too young to attend the class at all. Surprised by that information as well and visibly upset, we packed up our things to leave. She tried to bring us back in saying that she would make an exception but Ben would only be allowed to sit on a mat and watch. No thanks!

We stayed in the hotel anyway and ate our meals since we had paid for all of it in advance. We spent the rest of the day at the mall and saw the new Bruce Willis movie, "A Good Day T Die Hard". I don't know if it was the circumstances that led us to seeking a slice of Americana, but I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and highly recommend it! ; )

Went back to the ship the next day which feels more and more like home with each and every port. We picked up our friend, Chrissy (another alum and Life Long Learner) and headed out for Jew Town. Don't stone me! That's what they call it! It is where the Jews first settled in India and its claim to fame is that they have the oldest synagog in all of India. Still, with all it's historical ties and the pride they have in calling it "Jew Town", it's still unsettling for us and most people from our ship only say it with volume just above a whisper ; ) We did some shopping at the "No Haggle" stores. Don't let the name fool you! It's haggle central. At one point, a store keeper asked me to just come inside and have a look. I didn't fall for it and instead, gently told him that I would be back. "NO ONE COMES BACK!" was his response to me. Hmmm....I wonder why.

That night we were probably 4 of 100 people on the ship. We had a leisurely dinner. Jeremy and Ben played "Halo" in one of the classrooms with our friend, Hassan. He is a junior at The College of William and Mary and just happens to be from Pakistan. He was not granted a visa from the Indian government so he was stuck on the ship for 6 days! Afterward, we played cards... "Pass The Ace" and "Spit" with Chrissy while a student entertained us at the piano. A very nice evening.

The following day....oh my gosh, was it hot! We thought we'd go into the city for a quick shopping spree. After several hours, we left empty handed, dirty, annoyed and exhausted. Dodging traffic, managing the language barrier, haggling, converting rupees, fighting the crowds. You'd know we are a close family seeing us squeezed into a 2 person auto rickshaw (tuc-tuc) on a day in march in Cochin, India where we were told that "the mercury had not risen this high in the month of March for 4000 years"! We needed a break!

We read about a "secluded" beach not yet overrun with tourists that was only a ferry ride away. It was about 15 minutes and we arrived at Vypeen Island. We asked one of the waiting tuc-tuc drivers to take us to Cherai Beach. The book failed to mention that from the ferry drop off, the beach is about a 45 minute ride. Ok...onward. Chris got the driver to accept a lower price than where the haggling first started and we again layered ourselves very cozily into the diesel run tuc-tuc. Did I mention that the heat made the place extremely dusty? Well, it did. I was never so happy to have Ben in my lap. I used him to block all the flying debris that enveloped us during the entire ride. And what a ride! Exactly like a video game, weaving in and out of oncoming traffic, slaloming through potholes and pedestrians.

As we drove through the beach town it was obviously very popular with the locals. The book said it was still unknown to tourists but a lot of India sure knows about it! But the driver took us to a restaurant/beach hangout called, Chilli-Out. Owned by a young couple from France, it was a European cuisine grill with a clean beach, clean restrooms and a tropical island buildout that made it just perfect. To top it off, it had...WIFI!

We sat underneath a bamboo hut on bamboo chairs and the boys rented boogie boards and swam in the Arabian Sea. It was a great end to a long day. And although it started storming even cutting off the electricity (wifi), it was still the most beautiful spot we'd visited.

The next day was Sunday and we'd arranged for Rajeesh, our cab driver from the day before to take us to mass at the Santa Cruz Basilica. We befriended Rajeesh the second day we were in port. He is a taxi driver/tour guide and very good at what he does. In talking with him, we learned that his sister and family live in Cumming, GA! Small world. He called her and had Chris speak to her for a while. He gave us her number and asked us to get in touch with her when we get back home. I'm sure that although we were strangers, our meeting made him feel a little closer to his sister who he has not seen for 2 years.

Santa Cruz Basilica was first erected by the Portuguese in the 1500's, Pope John Paul II elevated it to Basilica status in 1984. It was very interesting attending mass in a different language. We could recognize the different parts of the mass and tried to participate in English but got very distracted by the rest of the congregation speaking in Malaymalam, the language spoken here in Cochin. A great experience nonetheless.

Afterward, we thought we'd reward ourselves and check into a nice hotel for our last night in India. We pulled into the Vivanta Hotel on Willingdon Island. We ate some great food, lounged by the pool, caught up via wifi, watched a movie and even had a private yoga session where no one yelled at us. I told Chris that it felt a little but like a cop out. Here we were, in this exotic country and we were settling into our western ways. But I let myself off the hook by realizing that we just need a break sometimes. We need some normalcy to get the travel juices flowing again.

So here I sit on our last day in India, overlooking the Arabian Sea (and the container rigs which load the barges). There is Hindu chanting being broadcast from across the way, my skin is moist from the humidity, Ben is getting a swimming lesson from a 40-something Indian man who has befriended him and I'm thinking I'm ready to move on. I don't think we gave India a fair shake but we did have some obstacles that helped in that regard. We probably should come back and explore beyond Cochin. I'm sure we have not even touched the surface of what this country has to offer.