Jet lag, rain, and WAY too much eating.

Well friends, I don't have much time to write, but I thought I'd give you a little update and let you know I'm still alive and haven't been eaten my monkeys yet! 

So after a longggggg two days of travel and no sleep we finally made it to India! We left Chicago at 4:10pm on Monday, and arrived in Mumbai just before midnight on Tuesday. By the time we got our luggage and drove to my second cousin Puneet's apartment, it was already 12:15ish Wednesday morning. 

We were EXHAUSTED, and everything still seemed so surreal! Sometimes it still does! Once we got to Puneet's apartment, we met my great aunt Dru, my great aunt Nina, and Puneet's wife Sima. 

They are all so so nice that sometimes Mary and I don't know now to respond to it! Puneet and Sima live with their daughter Preeksha in a little 600 square foot, one bedroom, one bath apartment. They have a small living room and small kitchen as well. The couch in the living room pulls out into a bed. Mumbai is one of the most expensive places to live in the world. Puneet's apartment costs approximately 2 MILLION US DOLLARS. Yep. It's insane. And it's only 600 square feet!! Craziness. I have pictures of the apartment, but my SD card is being weird and won't connect. So those will be coming later. 

 Puneet and Sima are so kind. They would not take no for an answer and they let us sleep in their bed, while they slept on the pull out couch! We felt so bad, but they insisted. 

From the second we arrived at Puneet's from the airport they were feeding us constantly, another thing you can't say no to, even if you are stuffed and feel like you'll vomit if you take one more bite. First Sima brought us orange juice, and then ice cream. Then as we were unpacking and replacing a small bag to take up to Lonavala, she brought us French toast and some spicy Cheeto things..but not Cheetos. Think spicy curry soggy Cheetos. That's the only way I can think of to describe it. 

Then came the adventure of taking a shower and trying to get warm water.....it was impossible, but I'm sure it was only the first of many cold showers I'll experience while in the motherland. Finally at around 3:30 we got in bed and prepared to wake up at 7:30 that morning to drive up to Lonavala with a bunch of family. Lonavala is a sort of resort town up in the mountains that people go to to get away from the noise, commotion, and pollution in Mumbai. That was a long, long drive. Traffic in Mumbai is CRAZY. Well, it's crazy everywhere, but mostly in Mumbai. It took us an hour just to travel FOUR MILES. Think goodness for motion sickness pills, because I'm positive my breakfast would not have stayed down without them. Basically what happens is the drivers like to make two lanes of traffic into four, and then add rickshaws and motorcycles in between that. Oh and don't forget the people that just walk into the road and cross without even looking. And add that the cars don't have seat belts. And add that it is raining like crazy so you can hardly see out your window. And everyone is honking ALL THE TIME. all the time. It's like their way of using their blinkers, honk honk, out of my way I'm passing you. But no one ever really honks in anger....it's very interesting....and loud. 

Now, if you truly know me, you know how absolutely terrified I am of car accidents. And I mean TERRIFIED. So the fact that there are crazy drivers and no seat belts just about puts me over the edge. The first time I was freaking out like crazy inside, but strangely enough I've gotten used to it. I think it's because people here are so good and being terrible drivers! We have a car with a driver that takes us everywhere, so that's nice. I would never be able to drive here and remain sane. And they drive on the opposite side of the road here, so that just confuses me even more, especially when we turn. 

Anyway, so Lonavala is absolutely beautiful. It's up in the mountains and is SO green. Because its monsoon season there is a lot of water running off the mountains creating these amazing waterfalls everywhere. I love it. And I'm getting used to the rain. . . . And having an afro. I don't even care anymore. No matter what I do to my hair, it ends up poofy and frizzy and I look like a lion. #babestatus. 

Thank goodness for rain jackets. Sorry for the crazy eyes. We are still suffering serious jet lag. 

Basically all we do all day is eat. EAT EAT EAT. Today we drove farther up into the mountains and went shopping and saw the huge dam that is up there. It was really foggy, but still so beautiful. There are all these little vendors selling tons of different things. Mary and I bought the cutest little hand painted tea set. It's adorable. That little shop was amazing. So many colors!

We also tried this corn stuff....I don't know what it's called, but it was so good! Basically it's fire grilled corn seasoned with salt, pepper, and lime juice. There are vendors all over the streets selling this stuff, all for about 30-40 rupees. The exchange rate is about 60 rupees to the dollar. Everything is so cheap!! I want to buy everything I see, but alas, it will not all fit in my suitcase. 

Here's a picture of the adorable corn lady. (All these pictures are from Mary's camera). 

This is what she does. All day. Everyday. It's pretty humbling. 

We also got to feed a wandering cow. I have some hilarious pictures of that on my camera, but again, here are some of Mary's, until I figure mine out. 

After we shopped, we drove up even more into the mountains up windy, bumpy roads. Again, thank goodness for motion sickness pills. It rains so much here that it washes out parts of the roads, so there are huge potholes everywhere. 

We drove up to is little place off the side of the road, took some pictures, and of course, ate, ate, and ate some more. We ate this deep fried onion stuff, and then some deep fried corn. 

This is the onions. It tastes a lot like onion rings. 

This is the corn. Looks gross, but I it was actually pretty good! 

They also bought us some "candy floss." It's cotton candy, but they call it candy floss, which I find to be absolutely hilarious. That's my kind of floss! This is the cute candy floss guy. Mary and I are kind of obsessed with this picture. 

Again, this is his job. Simply humbling. 

Once we left the mountains, Mary and I thought we were all going to go back to the hotel, but no, no, no, apparently it was time for lunch! Who knew?! All of the family was laughing at us because we couldn't believe we were still eating!! I felt like death. So much food. After lunch we came back to the hotel and took a nap. It was beautiful. Jet lag is getting the best of us. Here it's 11 1/2 hours ahead of the time in Chicago, so it's been a hard adjustment. But I'm surviving and absolutely loving it here! Mary and I have only done a few dumb American things, and there will be post specifically dedicated to those things coming soon. We are writing them all down, so have no fear. 

Each day Mary and I are keeping a cow count, and also a count of how many men we see peeing on the side of the road. Cows are free to wander, since they are considered holy, and cars will just pull over to the side of the road for someone to get out and pee. It's hilarious. 

So here are the counts: 

7/10/13-

Cow count: 2

Men peeling: 13. . . . 

7/11/13-

Cow count: 12

Men peeing: 2 

And there you have it. 

Until next time, namaste! 

Hopefully more pictures will be coming your way soon!

P.S. Forgive me for any spelling/grammar errors.