what happens next

thank you so much everyone for your loving remarks towards our crazy times. we appreciate your e-mails so so so much even though we don't always have the time to respond. we miss you all!!!

so the last few days we have traveled very far and seen a lot. we both feel older i think. that is how Mumbai makes you feel. this is an experience that can not be described with words but this is all we have so i (marcie) will try very hard for you. if anyone has been to London it is very similar-- except that it looks as if only a few buildings have been kept up over the last few hundred years, so you see a lot of crumbling paint and cracks in walls and
burn streaks and such. also, most of the stone towers that would be used for offices or storefronts in London are used for people and more people and an unbelievable amount of people and also more people in Mumbai. they say the unofficial population of that city is 22 million and 1/3 are homeless. this is especially apparent when you drive to catch a train at 4:45 am and you look out to see hundreds of people (men, women, children,) all sleeping on the sidewalks and roads. this is a place where you are constantly trying to keep your mouth closed as it is dropping open in shock for so many different reasons at once.

in Mumbai, aside from gorging ourselves on DOMINOS and MCDONALDS (why in the WORLD does it taste so good when you can't have it all the time?), we met up with our group that we are now on an organized tour with for the remainder of our time in India. we are so happy! we all get along so well. everyone else is from somewhere in Europe and we are getting used to many different accents (i am falling into the Scottish accent every now and then which is a really unexpected thing to be doing given my present location) I'm even THINKING in a Scottish accent right now. this is getting ridiculous). anyways, everyone is under the age of 30 and we all have this common love for travel and we have many hilarious stories to tell! it is great!

from there we went up to Ahmedabad. a little man named Ghandi had a house there for many years that is now a museum in his honor. we were both reminded of what an amazing and inspirational person he was! it was SO great to walk through the beautiful treed area where he spent so much time.

We wanted to buy some things to support this organization called SEWA which has changed the lives for hundreds of thousands of Indian women, giving them jobs and education (i guess not in that order). so we went for a walk and came to where the place should have been on the map. we asked around and everyone was pointing randomly and we got very confused. until this man walked us over to this huge mound of sand where there was major construction going on and told us if we wanted to get to the store we had to climb over it. so after the "hike" we got in the store and met many lovely happy Indian ladies with shining faces and bought a beautiful wall hanging.

The next morning we headed out to Udiapur. (Just a side note: we are getting TOTALLY spoiled with this tour we are on. the hotels they picked for us have been FABULOUS so far.) This place is called "the white city" and is full of tall buildings, many of which are intricately connected to one another (Carmen keeps explaining all the construction and foundation marvels) and old, narrow streets.

India is still India. I told Carmen that if Dr. Seuss wrote a book about India, it would be called "Oh, the places you'll pee." We could write a whole blog about that. But we won't. Also, While lounging by the pool at our hotel we saw leaves (and BRANCHES, AND ROCKS) falling from the tree above. A whole family of monkeys were swinging around and being so rowdy. We are happy we the rock did not fall on anyone's head, including the Turtle who lives in the yard.

we have learned a lot about COWS here:
that Hindus believe there are over 84 million gods, and the cow is said to embody all of them. the cows are kept by individuals until they can no longer produce milk. then they are left to wander the streets because no one wants a cow to die in their home. if this happens this person will have to make a pilgrimage to over 13 different holy cites and do many other tasks to "appease the gods". apparently the cows that live here in people's homes can wander the streets freely all day and when the sun sets they know that they have one hour until their "curfew" at 8 pm. so at 8 pm all the young cows go back to their homes.

last night we saw a series of north Indian dances which involved women dancing with flaming pots on their heads and also one lady who danced with 9 pots on her head all stacked on top of each other. (by now, i feel like the ONLY GIRL IN THE WORLD who can not carry a pot on my head.)

as far as crazy events and adventures, I think we will be kept pretty safe for a while. now is a time for us to learn a LOT about history and religion in India, relax without having to plan things and, as usual, enjoy each other's company!

love you all so much.
(marcie+carmen)