All Night Long

My last day in India was great. Neetha met me at the hotel and then Baba took us around. The first stop was a church. It is said that when you enter you should make three wishes and then climb the stairs on your knees and your wishes will come true. The church was beautiful. Across the street was a statue of Mary overlooking the ocean. The statue was amazing. It was hand carved out of marble with so many tiny details. From there we drove down the street where a lot of actors and cricket players live. Certainly not Hollywood! The buildings didn't look all that spectacular. And they all live in flats - no mansions here! Then we had a traditional lunch. Yum! Then we went to some area with a lot of street vendors. I bought a pair of beaded shoes. Vaishali met up with us there and we looked around some more. Being white I was the target for everyone that was trying to sell something and for all the begging children. Neetha and Vaishali did a great job of protecting me. We stopped at an ice cream place to cool off.

From there Neetha left us (still helping a friend with her wedding sari) and Vaishali and I headed to the beach! The beach was... interesting. The beach itself was dirty with broken glass in the sand. I hear the water is dirty too, but didn't get close enough to actually see that. But the breeze was nice and we wandered around looking at the vendors. We even saw a few boys walking around with monkeys.

Our next stop was a Hare Krishna temple. It didn't open until 4, so we sat on the marble steps waiting for it to open (after being yelled at to take our shoes off). The outside was beautiful! Again, hand carved marble everywhere. When it opened everyone followed a rope path around the perimeter of the temple. There were shadow boxes of various gods and their stories on the walls. I was a little confused when everyone sat down. When in Rome... so I sat too. I'm still not clear as to if it was a service (it only lasted like 10 minutes) or if it was just an informational talk that I was a part of. But it was interesting.

After leaving that area, we went to Powai to find some tea. With that done, we walked to a park and watched the sun set. When we got back in the car Vaishali had a good talk with Baba about driving. It was amusing! Since we didn't have much remaining time, I offered to talk Vaishali home. She said yes, that she wanted to show me her place and make me some tea. So that's what we did. She makes her tea with milk and a little water, so it was quite different than what I am used to. But it was good. And then it was time to say good-bye. :(

I was so touched... When Baba dropped me off at the hotel, he gave me a gift. It is a cute little elephant with mirrors and beads covering it. It was a very sweet gesture.

The trip home was uneventful. When I got home Ben and I went to see the new Bond movie (figured that would help keep me awake). Finally around 8:30 I couldn't stay awake any longer. I woke up at 3:30 and could not get back to sleep! But then last night, I slept all night long. Ahhh!