We woke up Thursday bummed to hear that the airport would not be open for several days so we would have to skip Nepal. Meanwhile, Megan and I had 30 day visas that would be renewed once crossing borders but instead were expiring that day. So we headed to the embassy to get things sorted out. We spent much of the rest of the day filling out an exit permit application. An obnoxious obstacle, but not one we could've predicted.
With Holi the following day, we made plans to get out of town. It's a big, raucous holiday and we'd heard it's better to celebrate in a smaller town. So we drove south a few hours to a holy Hindu city known as Mathura where many people travel to celebrate Holi.
We checked into our hotel, and crashed in bed soon after.
The next morning, we had breakfast at the hotel and put on the clothes we liked least (to inevitably be ruined by the day).
We could see the kids already getting started from our hotel window.
We got varied reports on Holi. Some people told us it was a really fun party and not to be missed. Others told us it was too dangerous and we should avoid it altogether. We decided to go out and see it but keep our wits about us, stick together and head home if things got too chaotic.
Fortunately, just outside our hotel we found a tuk-tuk driver who offered to take us around all day.
Starting the day relatively clean!
I'll apologize for the lack of great photos on such a colorful and joyful day. Between the gobs of powder, buckets of water and our phones being confiscated at the temples, we all came home with many more memories than pictures.
As we drove through town, we were targets for men out celebrating in the street. We got huge mounds of beautifully colored powder and great buckets of colored water thrown at us. We quickly learned to snap our eyes and mouth shut when we saw someone draw their arm back.
All through the streets, "happy Holi!" was shouted again and again among celebrators.
Sweet women and children stopped us as we walked through town to touch our foreheads and each cheek with every beautiful color.
The men were for the most part fairly drunk (at 11am) and used the opportunity of touching our faces with powder to let their hands graze southward on us ladies. We learned quickly to swat hands away and jump around men coming too close. Weird, yes.
We headed to a huge, beautiful temple, the birthplace of Krishna, in town. We walked around, admiring the incredible architecture and exchanging sweet touches of powder with the cute faces of many children.
The whole town seemed to be happy, with men hooping and hollering all over, gleeful children dashing around with guns full of colored water and friendly "happy Holi's" everywhere we went.
As the men were certainly overwhelming, asking us our names, where we're from and for hugs, and touching us with powder liberallyyy, we were all certainly on edge. We can all thank Peter for being our vigilant protector. All morning he watched out for us, counting "1, 2, 3, 4," "1, 2, 3, 4" over and over as we walked around town. The whole trip in fact I think he's been keeping his eyes on all of us. He's the sweetest.
Thumbs down for big load of powder straight down the front of our shirts, somehow.
Always the cutest.
Except for these two.
On our way back, our tuk-tuk driver took us by his home to meet his family. The small home was nice and he lives there with his wife, children and grandchildren, who were all very hospitable. Unfortunately, the partying men in the village had heard there were visitors and ambushed us as we were leaving. They got in a few good globs of color and buckets of water before we finally sped off in the rickshaw.
Tuk-tuk driver and his family.
By the time we got back to the hotel, we were exhausted after only a few hours away. We cleaned off to the best of our ability, though we were all stained funny colors here and there for a few days.
Straight tired.
All in all, it was an interesting day and I'm glad we got a taste of it, but I can certainly understand why some say it is not safe for female tourists. I never felt like we were in acute danger, but if we'd been a group of guys, I think the day would have been much different. It's an interesting struggle when your gender gets in the way of having interesting life experiences, but not one that can be helped I suppose. My penchant for boldness can make me rather reckless, but in a situation like this with so many unknowns, I know it's wisest to err on the side of caution.
The pool was soo gross when we got back.
We had a late lunch at the hotel restaurant, took a walk around the compound and spent the rest of the day watching movies and drinking wine, recovering from our crazy morning.
It was a big, exciting, unique day.
Next up, we go to Agra!
Xoxo,
Lily
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