Mumbai and Goa, Goa almost Gone!

After leaving Sankat's home town we then journeyed by night train to Mumbai (formally know as Bombay).  We went to sleep just outside of Ahmanabad and woke up in Mumbai.  A nice old couple shared our compartment and asked if we could switch beds with them so I then slept on the top bunk!! 

We got off the train at CST (it has a much longer Indian name but they just abbreviated it for all of us who can't handle the long Indian names)  After reading in the LP (Lonely Planet) how it was a heritage spot and how amazing it was, we looked around and and it was really dumpy and lackluster.  We then got in a cab that was three times the amount stated in the LP (but after I made Jen sit on the side of the road with the smell of rotting dog in the air in Thailand I just maned up and got in!!)  I find out later that day it turns out we got off at about three stops early!!!!

We found a hotel just down the road from the the Gateway to India (a large stone structure very simular to other gates in Prauge and Berlin) and the Taj hotel.  We then spent the next two days seeing all of the sites of Mumbai!  We saw a  huge Ganeesh temple, where Sankat and I went separate because they didn't allow camaras. I ended up in theVIP line and got a chandlo (the third eye in the middle of my forehead,) from a temple worker standing next to Ganeesh, then went to the temple of the Goddness of Wealth (we should be very blessed in our time to come!). 

After all of our religious duties were done we went to the historical museum and saw the history of money, the university of Mumbai, and a huge place where all of Mumbai's clothes washing is done in one place.  It has over 1200 baths it was amazing to see everything was sorted by colors (I wondered how all the clothes got back to their rightful owners?).  We also made it to the real CST and it was beautiful with tons of people, it is Asia's busiest train station over 2.5 million people pass through each day!

Of course we took in a Bollywood movie to beat the heat!  (It was terrilbe political flim but Sankat did an awesome job of translating because it was all done in Hindi.)

After two days of sightseeing we took the night train to Goa.  We arrived at Alcove Resort in northern Goa, it sits above the most beautiful stretch of beach in Goa!!! (we know, we've looked at them all now!!)  We talked to the hotel manager and booked bungalows for our wedding guests, they are cute rustic cabins (they are super clean and have hot water!)

We have now spent the past few days seeing all of North Goa and met with our wedding cordinator to settle our Western Style wedding!!!

We are spending the last few days here at a nice resort relaxing before we fly out on Saturday!

How to Plan an Indian Wedding in 5 days or less

After 28 hours of traveling we finally landed in Ahmedabad!  Sankat's cousins came to meet us and we headed off to the only cousin's house who does not live on the family compound.  On the streets there is every type of vehicle you could imagine. From bikes, motorcycles, scooters, cars, rickshaws, and carts.  We even saw a camel pulling a cart of bricks.  To add to  the confusion there is always roaming dogs, people and cows. 

We first headed to the Ahmedabad's version of the East Bank Club where those of you coming to the wedding will be staying!  It has a large cricket field, sand volleyball and of course a pool. 

We then went to visit Sankat's aunt in the hospital on the way walking down the street was an elephant led by members of the temple.  We quickly pulled over and feed it a watermelon.  The elephant grabbed the watermelon with his trunk and ate it in one bite!!!

That evening we crashed a wedding just so we could see what ours would look like.  There were over 2000 people there in colorful saris and stations set up around the grounds serving all types of food ranging from Chinese to Italian (and of course the chefs were repping hats from the various genres!)

The next day we went to look at three wedding venues.  The one we selected looks like the grounds of a castle!  Then we headed out to select the wedding outfits.  Yes the s is not a typo.  Here in India the wedding involves several outfits and because our immediate families are not here it begins a terrific spectacle.  Every cousin, aunt, uncle and random people in the store have an opinion!  Men and women are equally excited about the clothing of this event.  The amount of clothing required also changes from person to person.  (You also cannot wear any outfit that I have been seen in public before. and the outfits must vary significantly so that people do not mistake them for another outfit)

You walk into the store and sit on a sofa the store is run only by men.  In front of you is a large cushion covered in white sheet.  You tell them what you are looking for and then they bring out all kinds of dresses.  After selecting several that you like you begin to try them on.  Meanwhile all the people you brought with you are being served water, hot and cold coffee, soda or anything you desire.  When you try on stuff there is no shortage of people to tell you what looks good and what does not.  (and of course me the Westerner has significantly different tastes than those of the east!)  You also cannot just go to one store you must go to your friends store, or the more expensive store or the store where you have a hook up.  And at the end of the day (or in this case day 4 and we are still not done shopping) you go to a tailor and just have him make what you want. 

Yesterday we went to the Hindu temple (called a Mandhir) it is an ornate brightly painted building that houses all of the gods brightly dressed and behind bars.  There are separate areas for men and women.  In the women's area there are women who live there full time.  They each have their own room where all of their needs are met.  They wear red saris and never leave.  The Mandhir is located in the winding streets of Ahhmedabad.  The buildings are three stories tall and the narrow streets are filled with vegetable carts and cows!  We also visited Gandhi's childhood home which also houses an orphanage and school. 

I am so excited for you guys to come here and have these experiences.  Sankat's family is sooooooo wonderful and do everything possible to spoil me.  

Engaged!

Up front I just want to say that I have the best husband ever, and he has an amazing family so if while reading this at any time a thought pops up that would make you think that I feel otherwise please refer to this statement!

Two years ago I traveled to Colorado over spring break to ski with Lindsey Beal then Sankat flew out to meet me and we drove across the Rockies to Moab Utah.  I love to backpack which is a sport where you pack a tent, food, stove, clothes, sleeping bag and anything else you think you might need and walk around in the wilderness for several days hopefully not seeing any other humans:)  Sankat does not think that this is a sport more like torture, but I decided to introduce him to this sport in the Mecca of backpacking, Canyon lands national park Utah.
In 2008 spring break my girlfriends Laura, Lindsey and I spent 7 days in the backcountry of Canyonlands hiking in and out of 3-4 canyons a day.  It was 80 every day the views were spectacular I thought it was the best place to introduce Sankat to this kick ass sport.
Any-who Sankat and I are headed into Arches national park right outside of Utah where we are going to car camp and look at the spectacular arches.  He keeps asking me about the cell phone signal in Arches and I keep telling him the whole point of doing this is not to talk to anyone else!!!  We pull up the park's campground is full so we have to drive into Moab and camp at this sketchy car camping joint where a muscled man in a camper may murder you in the middle of the night.
We drive back to Arches to try and catch delicate arch at sunset where the light of the sun setting casts an amazing red glow across the desert.  Of course it is cloudy and about to sprinkle (it only rains about two days a year in Moab).  We reach the trail head at Delicate Arch, I grab my pack we get ready to make the one mile hike in.  Now I've been skiing for the past few days and have adjusted to the altitude but Sankat who just flew into Denver the day before is huffing and puffing I'm concerned he's going to pass out in the desert, but I'm so excited to be at Arches I'm hiking away.  When we arrive at delicate arch there is a family there, Sankat wants to go stand right next to the arch (which is on the side of the cliff), and keeps pestering me to take my backpack off so but I won't because I want to look like I'm hiking for the pics.  Finally I do give in to walking to the side of the cliff but won't relent on the backpack.
It is there that Sankat asks me to marry him I had NO clue!!!! The ring is beautiful but my fingers are so swollen from hiking it won't go on, I don't care I shove that shit on and am SOOOOOOO excited We're engaged and my ring ROCKS (no pun intended).
We hike back, get in the car and decide not to cook dinner in the sketcholo trailer park but to celebrate by having dinner in Moab.  (Of course Sankat makes his phone calls to his family, and mine with our two bars of service).  We try to order champagne to celebrate but the pizza buffet doesn't have it we do settle on some crummy Colorado wine but I don't care because I'm engaged.  Oh yeah I forgot to mention it's Jeep Safari weekend in Moab so all the Jeep lovers of the USA descend on Moab and drive their larger than life Jeeps all over the beautiful red rocks.  Of course along with Jeeps comes Jeep people, so Zeke's pizza is full of Jeep driven families all dining together Sankat is the only brown man for as far as the eye can see.
It is also super windy so as we drive back to our trailer park campground full of trailers with Jeeps even larger than than their campers, the red dust of the desert is blowing like no tomorrow.  Sankat and I spend our engagement night in a tent with red dust blowing through as my finger swells so large with my new ring that I think we may have to go to the emergency room to get it cut off.
The next morning we wake up and I'm still determined to take Sankat backpacking.  As we drive towards Canyonlands the sky is super cloudy and white stuff is falling from the sky.  Sankat asked is this snow??  I said I hope not.  We spend the next 24 hours hiking, sleeping in a tent in below 20 degree weather and planning our wedding.  The next day we bail out and decide to join the Jeep Safari peeps in the revelry and get a hotel room in town.  No more dust, no more snow, just civilization at the LaQuinta Inn.

The amazing thing is that this boy still wants to marry me!!!

Machu Picchu

Well the last few days have been quite eventful, after much deliberation lindsey and I decided to go on a four day three night Incan Jungle Tour.  On the 27th we set out at 6 in the morning on our adventure with 15 other travelers and one guide.  The first part of the trip was to go up to 4,300 meters and ride mountian bikes down the mountian.  Due to my recent biking adventures we abstained and watched the other fools get on subpar bikes and hurtle down a mountian highway in the pouring rain.  We then arrived at our first accomidation of a gas station where a dog with fleas was kicked out of his room so we could sleep there (joy).  We then became the high matience americans because we complained.

The 28th we rose at 6 am to hike (we had no problem getting up and leaving).  We then trekked through the jungle on an Incan trail for 8 hours.  It was beautiful at times we gained 1,800 meters and looked out over the valley at the raging river and others we walked beside it.  We then finished our long hike at a hot spring.  It was awesome!!!  
The 29th we got up early again and hiked again for another 6 hours.  We then arrived in the bustling tourist town of Augas Calientes.  This town is formed for the pure fact of giving tourists a place to sleep before they journey to Machu Picchu!  But the hostel was clean and dog free!!!
Today we woke at 3:30 and hiked for a hour and a half up hill to be the first to enter Machu Picchu!!  It was truely an Epic place.  It was amazing to walk where the Incas tread 100s of years ago!!  Tonight we take a late train back to Cuzco and tomorrow an early flight to Lima!

Lindsey's Post Xmas

Hope everyones Christmas was good. Selina and I had a great German

dinner after getting to talk to the fam for a bit on the phone. Cuzco

seems to have everything and I couldn´t help but order the tenderloin

with spetzle and have a glass of red wine. The spetzle were good but

not nearly as good as moms.

We spent today browsing trek companies and finally decided on an

alternative from the Inca Trail. We´ll be doing a 4 day 3 night trek

staying at hostels in small villages. Check out our itinerary below.

We´re pretty stoked sans the biking and rafting parts. We dont want

any injuries so well be hiking all of it.

In search for one of our Trek companies, which no longer existed, we

found ourselves far enough away from the tourist areas to enjoy a

lunch for about $1.50 a piece. Their sign outside had many options but

really that just means that you might get one of those options. We sat

down and without asking we were brought a bowl of chicken noodle soup

(good for my cold!) After that we had an option of something we

couldn´t understand in spanish or chicken. We went with chicken. Good

choice the neighboring table was served some sort of fish. To finish

off our lunch we were served some sort of red flowery drink. I forget

the name but Selina said it was a Christmas drink made from flowers

that only bloom in December.

Other than that we have really enjoyed Cuzco. We wandered off the

beaten path into some of steets with local markets and shopping. It

was crazy. Their were tons of vendors obviously with their Alpaca

goods but the food vendors were off the hook. Katy would have a field

day with the assortment of meats, veggies, fruits, spices and a lot of

stuff that I didn´t even know what it was. You name it they had it.

Although I probably saw one too many pig heads and chicken claws than

I needed too. Selina and I were tempted by the long row of chocolate

vendors and I was disappointed that we had just eaten lunch before we

got there. Some rows of vendors cooked up food right there on the

spot. We could have sat down and enjoyed a bowl of soup or freshly

made smoothy form any of the many many vendors.

Well, we´re off to get some pizza. Suposedly Cuzco has the best in

Peru because of a special cheese that they use.

Lindsey's Christmas

Feliz Navidad,

Just another update and hello from Selina and me. I think my last

email ended in Arequipa. The next morning we took a posh bus ride to

Puno for $25 but I would have paid $50. It was probably the most

luxurious part of our trip with first class seats that reclined,

movies, and snacks. The 6 hour ride was absolutely beautiful and very

similar to places in the US around Colorado, Utah or Arizona. The one

surprise were some flamingos in some small mountain lakes. Yeah,

random.

Our bus ride got us into Puno, the largest Peru town around Lake

Titicaca, in the late afternoon. We hopped into a cab for about $1 to

get us into the main area of town and started our search for a hostel.

After bargaining and seeing a few rooms we ended up at one of the

worst of the bunch out of pure exhaustion. The elevation was starting

to hit us and at that point we didn´t care where we were laying our

bags. We walked around the streets of Puno and stopped for some Coca

tea in hopes to remedy our weary bodies and pounding heads. After an

hour rest we went to run some travel errands. Dropping off some dirty

clothes at a laundry (the one thing more expensive than in Chicago),

looking for a book exchange, and picking up some fresh fruit and

veggies to take to the locals on our lake visit the next day. By the

time we ventured through Punos streets and picked up some Chifa

(Puruvians version of Chinese) for dinner we were exhausted and ended

up in our hostel room. We were a pretty pathetic sight with gross

Chinese, in a dingy room, freezing and Selina´s elevation sickness

getting the best of her (puking). At 6 am the next morning we were up

and heading for the bus station. Unfortunately missing our trip to the

islands on Lake Titicaca, but also giving us more time in Cuzco to

relax and plan a fun hiking trip to Machu Picchu. Puno was not a loss

though, the markets were fun to experience especially around the

holiday season. Rows/stands of meats, potato, grains, etc. I guess the

Lima version of the Westside market but not as sightly. Although the

food looked good and the prices were right!

Yesterday we made the mistake of taking a ¨"local" bus and not the

tour group bus to Cuzco. Luckily the bus tickets we chose were first

class leaving us with decent window seats which was way more than our

options of standing or an armrest on the upper level. The views were

again beautiful. We were both feeling sick and nauseous but it was a

good experience to see the small towns and mountain farmlands. We

pulled into Cuzco around 8 and had a cab drop us off in one of the

nicer neighborhoods surrounding the main Plaza de Armas. We luckily

stumbled into a nice looking hostel within our budget. It feels a lot

like being at camp with bunk beds and timbers lining the ceilings. The

only thing we cared really about were clean beds and hot showers (or

at least luke warm). We settled in and ventured out finding some Thai

food which was a welcome surprise. Peruvian food is fine but we were

over bread, white rice and chicken. We ended the night early and were

excited to crawl into warm beds. The occasional firecrackers were

going off as we crawled into beds. By midnight the city´s sky was lit

up. Up and down the mountains and through the streets people were

setting off bottle rockets which created a display much like shooting

stars all around you. Every few seconds a large firecracker would

appear high in the sky somewhere in the city lighting up the sky.

Luckily our room has a small window on the second story and I got to

watch the show from my cozy pjs. Happy birthday Jesus.

And here we are on Christmas. After getting a good night rest Selina

and I (now with a cold) had a relaxing day walking up and down the

streets and around the plazas of Cuzco. It reminds us very much of an

old European town. Maybe its the small cobble stone streets or the

backpacker haven that we have stumbled into. After visiting Arequipa

and Puno we seem to blend in a lot more. We picked up some local

crafts for souvenirs and found a great coca/chocolate shop. You will

all have a sample of some unless I eat it all on the plane ride home.

Feliz Navidad!!

Hello and Merry Christmas to you guys!!

Well after a very fancy bus ride to Puno we arrived and I pretty much instantly got sick from the altitude. Puno was small and pretty but I pretty much spent all my time in the crappy hotel sick.   I did get to see Lake Titicaca and all of its glory. 

The next morning got up early and went to the bus station to go to Cuzco which is about 1000 meters lower.  After 7.5 hours on a bus through the Andean countryside we arrived in beautiful Cuzco which looks like an European city built on huge hills made of many squares.  Today we have walked around shopping and drinking cocoa tea which is supposed to help with the altitude.  Tomorrow we are off to find a trek to Manchu Picu