Good travels! After nearly 24 hours en route, we arrived at our hotel at 2 am local time, just this morning. We've taken this day as a rest day in hopes of getting acclimated to the time zone. Of course, needing to start our night's sleep at 3 am after getting checked in and setlled in didn't exactly give us a good start at a normal local schedule! But we'll be OK.
Getting in so late, of course we didn't see much of the city as we traveled the short distance to the hotel. The first thing I did when I awoke at noon was pull aside my curtains. Oh, what excitement!! I looked out on a busy street. Loads of cars honking their way down the road, playing "chicken" as far as these western eyes were concerned. Loads of people walking the "sidewalk", which really looks more like an extension of the road reserved for pedestrians. The men's clothes look very western, although they do often wear the shirts outside the pants, and they are cut straight across the bottom. It's the women's clothes that are an absolute treat. Saris and punjamis in every color, and I do mean every. They are so gorgeous, and so exotic to my eyes.
Directly across the street from us is a series of storefronts that could have come out of Haiti or Bangkok, corrugated metal roof, open storefront, signs with lots of writing on them, mostly unreadable from across the street even though they are partly in English. We sit on on a busy intersection, with lots of busses, trucks, taxis, motorcyles, and
motorcycle rickshaws, which are open on both sides, covered, and barely wide enough for two people in the back. Men pushing wooden flatbed push carts walk the streets in the no-man's land between the pedestrian area and the travel lanes. I even saw a cart pulled by oxen! Everyone navigates by honking. If I'm passing you on the right, I honk. If I'm passing you on the left, I honk. If you stop in front of me more than 2 seconds, I honk long and loud. Thankfully, the hotel has thick walls and windows, it's all fairly faint from inside!
The cross street is framed by two large green trees, making it more scenic than the dusty thoroughfare in front of us.
To our left is a work zone, where construction goes on into the night. Men use hand tools to break up concrete and scrape up rocky soil and carry it all ten feet to dump it into a pile. There's also lots of standing around and pointing and discussing messy piles of hoses and cords. It reminds me very much of a worksite in Haiti. More work could get done if they used large equipment, of course, but fewer people would be employed. It's a sensible approach, overall, if you're not in a hurry to get the work done.
When Nan got up, I ran & hugged her and dragged her to the window to look with me. It's so incredibly exciting to be here, where life is so different and yet so the same. I'm sure I spent a couple of hours today just looking out at the crowds.
Tomorrow we leave for Pune, where we will be met by Minal, the Indian social worker who has been keeping an eye on Hope throughout this process. She will take us shopping. Yes, out in the crowds we go! I'm very excited. Can you tell?
The hotel (Kohinoor in Mumbai) is great.
We got a suite, thinking there would be two bedrooms. Turns out it's a bedroom and a living room, so we split up, with Nan on a bed in the living room because she's accustomed to sleeping on a smaller bed than I am. And I think she's just a better sleeper than I am, and gracious to boot!
The staff here are numerous and pleasant. They're accustomed to dealing with Westerners, so they don't stare at pale, blonde me. I expect I'll start to be stared at more when we get out amongst folks in the crowds. But it does seem to me that the Indian folk have great dignity. I'm guessing I won't be made uncomfortable by it. Time will tell!
Running out of time on my rented internet access. More to come when time and connections permit!
