Vacation begins

We've started our two weeks of traveling and are loving it so far. We're relishing some quiet time and the ability to shape our own days, after a month of pretty consistent work.

The evening before we left, we asked a couple of the nursing students to decorate our arms in henna. In India, women usually have beautiful, intricate designs done on the hands, arms and feet for big events such as their weddings or anniversaries. The students are not allowed to have henna on when they're in school, so they were excited to do it for us. 

They draw it on in this dark, brown mud-like paste. After letting it dry for 1.5-2 hours you just rub it all off and your arms are covered in the orange-red-brown designs. It's supposed to last for a week, though I wouldn't mind it lasting for a few. 

Alice and Steve are two longterm volunteers who've been in Mungeli for 6 months and are heading home next week. The students adore them and the fourth years threw a little goodbye party for them with some sweet gifts. It was really special to be there for. 

We left Mungeli Friday afternoon, drove to Raipur and flew to Mumbai for a 10 hour layover before heading to Kerala. With our extra time, we took a cab to a neighborhood called Colaba to see the Taj Palace Hotel and the Gateway of India. 

The gateway was built in 1911 in honor of the visit of King George V and Queen Mary. The English troops also ceremonially left through the gateway at the end of the English colonization in 1949. 

The Taj Hotel was built in 1903 and is similarly striking in its size and beauty. 

And inside. I wish I could see a room! 

We had some dinner at a nice restaurant nearby and then went to see a Hindi movie because Lindsey's stomachs been bothering her and she was hoping for a nap.

At 2ish, we headed back to the airport for our flight to Kochi, the largest city in the southern state of Kerala. At 9am or so we arrived at the house where we're staying and it is just lovely. We spent most of the day reading and napping in hammocks. It's very warm and humid here, but the breeze off the water makes the air feel really pleasant. 

In the evening, Megan and I got a tuk-tuk (a small taxi) and headed into town for dinner and some exploring. 

Thanks to Fodors (my favorite traveling books!) we found a lovely restaurant right on the sea that had a full menu of authentic Kerala seafood dishes. 

I had a fish molle (a coconut fish stew) with appam (rice flour pancakes), and megan had a grilled fish and veggies. Sorry, too hungry to remember to snap pics.

We got a bottle of wine at a bar nearby bar and sat for a few hours before catching another tuk-tuk home. 

Great little date night out

At 5am today, Peter (Megan's boyfriend) and Fees (another good friend) arrived after a long flight from the U.S. We slept in and had a relaxing morning by the water, and a delicious authentic keralan breakfast made by our host.

Peter and megan being the cutest as always

We laid around all morning and took the bus into town around 1. We had a relaxing, long lunch at a restaurant on the sea. Unfortunately the first of every month is a dry day (?!?) so we couldn't perfect the meal with a glass of wine. What can ya do? We mostly ordered seafood and it was all delicious. 

Fees and I split a beautiful seafood platter. 

After lunch, we went for a long walk on the beach and the boardwalk. There were a lot of people out and about having a nice Sunday by the water. 

Beach selfieee 

We took a little tour of a Chinese fishing net stand. These nets are massive wooden structures with huge horizontal nets dropped and lifted from the water by 5 or 6 men. While common in China, the nets are only used in India here in Kochi. They're rather hypnotic to watch being dropped and lifted slowly. 

The men kindly showed us around and even let us pull up the nets ourselves. We caught one fish. 

Clearly Peter is working a little harder than I am. 

They showed us a piranha they pulled up today. 

The guys

Fresh seafood for sale

We wrapped up the day by walking through an art exhibition and did a little shopping. Finally we all smashed into a tuk-tuk and headed home totally wiped. 

It was a lovely day of exploring the little town and eating some delicious food. Couldn't have asked for much more. 

We've gotta be up early tomorrow for a day on an Alleppy houseboat! It should be epic. 

Xoxo,

Lily