One cup of tea you are an acquaintance, two cups you are a friend, three cups you are family....we had ten...

13/03 Friday

My damn mosquito bites woke me up earlier than I had hoped this morning. So, I enjoyed some coffee at the rooftop restaurant while I waited for the rest of the gang. Rachel had gone for a little walk this morning and when she got back she had arranged for a rickshaw driver to drive us around all day and show us some highlights of the island. He took us to a few shops, to a spice market and a place where they make tea so we were able to try a variety of flavors. The spice and tea markets were pretty interesting because we were able to see the all the stages of production. The various smells filled our noses the second we walked through the door. My favorite has been ginger tea, its quite strong but the kick is a good one. Babu, our driver, also took us to Kerela laundry center where all of the hotels and guesthouses send their laundry for washing. There was 3 different stages. The washing which took place in cement stalls which to me, slightly resembled the bathing area for livestock at the fairgrounds coupled with urinal stalls in a bathroom. Then outside of that enclosure there were clothes lines made from sticks for the drying. Lastly, inside was the press and fold section. Everything was done so meticulously. Some of the irons were old cast iron with coconut shells and scraps burning on the inside to create the heat rather than using electricity. It was so far away from the laundromats back home.

The rest of our time spent in Fort Cochin consisted of wandering the streets watching goats run around eating anything and everything they could get their mouths on and attempted to upload my photos so you all could get a little taste of what is going on on this side of the globe for me. We also said goodbye to Tom today. He is working his way up north as we are, expected he is heading up the west coast. So we are hoping our paths will cross again later on in our journey. We shall see.

14/03 Saturday

Rachel, Vegar and I were out the door today by 6am. We said goodbye to Renee and the three of us now are on our own little journey. And a journey it has turned out to be...

We caught our 6:30 bus and rolled into Coimbature around 1. Already it felt like we were in a whole other world. The city was bustling with traffic jams and we maybe saw one other westerner as we were driving in...maybe. It felt as though we were driving through one giant department store. Each street had its own specialty stores. One minute you were driving past all electronic stores, then Saree shops, then fruits and vegetables, then auto parts, then home decor...you get the gist. It felt strange to see this kind of activity since everywhere we have been has been fairly touristy and much smaller. One round about we passed was two stories with "Stop Child Labor" painted on every wall in sight. An entire herd of goats came running out of one of the tunnels amongst all of the cars. It didn't seem to phase anyone. Coimbature is famously known for its textiles, so child labor is an obvious obstacle. It seems pretty obvious that they are acknowledging it as a problem but I am curious to see what they are doing to address it.

The bus dropped us off in the heat and humidity of the city. We caught a rickshaw to another bus stop to make our way down to Mettapalayam. The whole goal of this part of our journey was to take a steam train that is supposed to be quite amazing and something that you must try if you are in this part of India. So when we arrived we were a little disappointed to find out that the train had been canceled the past few days due to rain and flooding of the tracks, and they weren't sure when it would be up and running again. The lady at the ticket office told us to check back in with her that evening to see if the train would be going the next morning. So we had some time to kill for the afternoon while we waited. Not exactly sure what we were going to do, we just set off on foot to explore the area. We found ourselves down a side street at the vegetable market, and when we made it to the end of the street we were greeted by a group of little kids that wouldn't stop practicing how to say hello. After what seemed like a million pictures of these kids running around with their sheep and smiling for the camera, we continued down the road and ran into another herd of boys who insisted on being in photos as well. I should've started charging for all of the portrait shots I got, but I was feeling generous. The crew took us down to the river to show us where all the local women do their laundry and where the kids swim and play. I will never forget this one little woman. She was maybe three and a half feet tall with one tooth and a face that looked like it could write a book with all of her wrinkles.

Again, after taking an endless amount of photos we thought it was time to press on and go back to the railway station to check on the status of the train. INSTEAD...

Vegar approached this woman in front of her home about stitching up some pants that had gotten a hole in them. She was eager to do it and invited us all in her home before offering us coffee. We sat down in a room with her 80 year old father and before we knew it, the coffee was being served, snacks were coming out by the plateful and the ENTIRE village had crammed into this little home to see us like we were some kind of exhibit at the zoo. The young girls brought out henna and started decorating our hands. The mothers came out with strings of jasmine and draped them on our heads. At one point both Rach and I had the girls doing our henna, were drinking coffee with our free hand while the mothers were dunking biscuits into our coffee and hand feeding us. The longer we were there, the more people that were crammed into the house. Quite a few of the people spoke a little English, but most of the communication was done through hand gestures, laughing and approving or disproving facial expressions.

Rachel was the first getting pulled into the backroom to be dressed in a Saree. She was then escorted outside like a little pageant princess and handed someone's baby to hold as everyone in the village gathered in the streets around her. It was like seeing a combination of Angelina Jolie and Mother Teresa. While all of this was going on, I was pulled inside to be dressed. They dressed me in the full get up, blouse and all. Then, like scene two of a play, I was pushed out on stage. Everyone was staring at me like they were waiting for me to do something, so I walked down the street like a model on the catwalk. Luckily everyone thought this was extremely funny rather than offensive. There Rachel and I were in the middle of the street in India with well over 60 people watching us like approving stage parents. It was an experience I never would've imagined.

After we unraveled from our Sarees we were escorted to the next house for more tea and more snacks. The kids were so excited to have us in their home that they wouldn't sit still. Being the high commodity that we have apparently become, it wasn't long before we were running down the streets to the next house for...you guessed it... more tea and snacks. They whipped up some homemade coconut, sugar puff things that were absolutely delicious. It's my goal to learn how to make them so you all can try them! We were told that the daughter of the family's house we were at, is getting married on the 22nd of this month. With our broken down communication, we were invited to the wedding! For some odd reason, attending an Indian wedding has been a goal of mine since we arrived. So, we thought we were going to be making our way up north, but now with a change of plans we will be back in this small town in a week. We are to be at their house by 4 pm Saturday, and will be part of all of the festivities for the weekend. I'm really looking forward to learn about the traditions and customs that make up a Muslim wedding. It will be a completely new and foreign experience for me, exactly what I came to India for.

After all of the excitement we said goodbye for now to our new friends and headed to the bus station to head up to Ooty, a mountain station.