HOME HOME HOME

Wow. Being home may be more of a culture shock then going to India. It may be the jetlag, but it feels surreal that I am sitting on the couch with Max and my mac with a HUGE cup of coffee in my hand. I actually think we may have avoided the whole jet lag thing because we got in last night and went right to bed. I feel great.

I will post my pics today in hopes they load faster from home. I will also probably write one last summary blog after i get my thoughts together. Now i am going to snuggle with Max, then take my first HOT shower in weeks.

ahhhh the comforts of home.
(kinda missing the discomforts of India already tho) :)
Rebecca

We are ok...

So some of you may have heard about the trouble in India... We are not near the trouble in Mumbai, but are being cautious and canceled our trip to the Taj Mahal today. We will post when we know more. But dont worry, we are fine. :)

Holy Cow... PICS!!!

Wow... my memory card is finally working at this crazy little internet cafe in Gurgaon. Woo- hoo. Here are some pics that I have been storing for a while. Of course they cannot compare to Rachels fancy type camera with her HUGE lense, but hey... they are still a part of our journey! :)

This was at the beginning of our journey when we took a night bus from Bangalore to Pondicherry. We had quite an adventure as we flew around inside the bus and caught some sweet air a few times!

this next pic was our first sunset in Pondicherry reflecting in a cool doorway of a beachside veranda.

I can't tell you what this above pic is, but it caught my eye twice so I had to get a pic. Any ideas?

This was a little piece of hevan we found in Pondicherry. Kasha Ki Aasha. We hung out here quite a bit and drank yummy coffee and wrote in our journals. I miss it now just looking at it! Ahhhhh...

A few pics from our houseboat in Kerala ... So amazing!

This was on the beach in Goa after a long day of swimming and shopping at th market. Yup, we really were that sweaty. probably more than we look.

Now I'm having internet troubles so I want to post this before I lose any pics. We are staying near this internet place for a few days, so hopefully I can come back soon to post some more since it finally works here...

Whopsie... we are tourists now

So Rachel and I have been attempting to navigate India as TRAVELERS instead of TOURISTS. We don't ever really know what our plans are and we have adventures everyday. We laugh constantly and both have loved almost every experience we have had while here. Yesterday we crossed the line and became tourists. We rode camels. Yup. Camels. We rode 'em. We wanted to take a day trip outside of Jaipur since we had 5 days to spend before we head to Gurgoan for Stew's wedding. Krisna suggested we head into the desert and go on a safari. We thought it would be an adventure and it was so I guess we got what we were looking for. However, the camel ride was not what we were expecting. We were pretty much paraded on our camels thru the main market in town before we headed into the desert. EVERYONE was staring at us and yelling "HI" with their worst American accent. I felt like a complete tourist shmuck. When we finally left town, we entered the Wasteland of Garbage. It was awful. More trash then sand. Oh yeah and flies too. We worked our way past most of the trash and then paraded ourselves thru slums where families live just in the middle of the desert with nothing. Most of the homes are tarps or straw held up with sticks. Children came running up wanting money. So far, everyone has told us not to give the children money so we bought some candy instead. I didn't have enough for them all so I didnt want to give it to some and not others. Rachel pulled hers out and the guide took it and ate it. Classy muther fucker. I sat on my camel and swallowed my tears thinking I would try to never complain about anything else again ever. We finally stopped to watch the sunset as another parade of other tourists pulled up. It was too much. Our guides were busy smoking hash and Rachel and I tried to find a quiet place, but eventually asked to head out just as the sunset was at its most magnificent. We headed back thru a different path and saw many of the same things. Rachel's guide kept blowing snot rockets and mine just giggled from the hashish. We were finally dropped of on a busy road and no idea where our hotel was. We cursed Krisna for suggesting it and went to bed early.

We met a man at the hotel who we call Swami because we don't know his real name and he looks like some sort of yogi or swami in his robe and ash on his forehead. He said he is working on a major project for mankind to end suffering and sadness from the earth. He said his pen writes his book as he is guided by higher powers. He mentioned that he has met people who are thousands of years old who disappear in front of him and have placed their hands on his head to make him fly. So.... we either met an amazing spiritual man or just another dude in the desert who like hashish. What do you think? :)

So we head to Gurgaon tomorrow and I am just about ready. It will be fun to see Stew since I haven't seen him since we were about 13 years old. I am hoping to find an Internet cafe that has computers that are newer than 1984 so I can post my pics. For some reason Rachel has been able to load her memory card and I have not. It's frustrating but as my friend Melissa just reminded me, I am in India so these things happen. We come home in one week and I cant believe for quickly the time has passed. I'm not sure if I will ever be back in India since there are so many other places I want to travel, so I am trying to soak up as much as possible. I think I am doing a pretty good job so far... you should see the bottom of my shoes. :)

my computer sucks

Hello from jaipur India!
I've been trying to post for about an hour but my computer keeps shutting down. Now it's working but I am too exhausted to say much. We were awakened at the crack of dawn to the crazy pidgeons, chanting, music, slamming, banging and music of India and have been out all day. I cant wait to get in my hard as a rock bed! (I'm serious... can't wait)

Please reference Rachel's Jaipur blog for an update and I will write as soon as possible. http://thirdworldadventures.blogspot.com/ I'm not sure when we will be back online since we are going on some sort of camel safari adventure tomorrow. I'm sure my ass will hurt and i will have a bunch to write about soon!

Palm trees shmalm trees

Goa is full of sandy beaches, palm trees markets and sun sun sun. It's beautiful but i miss India. We really could be anywhere right now except for the cows walking on the beach that is. We were going to stay here for a week but decided to head to Jaipur instead. It will get us closer to Delhi and my friend Stew said it was his favorite place ever so I am looking forward to it!

I think I may have a little case of Delhi Belly, but nothing too bad so far. We think we actually may be gaining weight here! who does that?!? Two girls who love indian food thats who! :)

ok we are hot and tired and this internet place is ick ick ick so thats all for now. When we settle into Jaipur we can catch up a bit more. Hope everyone is well at home!
to be continued...

Brain Broken

Rachel and I are having a break at the Bangalore Airport so I thought I would touch base. However, the adventures that we have has in the past few days will take more energy than I have right now. We are both exhausted after an insane night on a bus, but are on our way to Goa which should be awesome. Beaches and markets and yoga and such!
We did a houseboat adventure in Kerala that I cant wait to blog about. Here is a link to peek at in the meantime. http://www.houseboatskerala.net/
Hope everyone is well back home!
to be continued...