India Day 4 ? Kochin

        Customs went much quicker than we had all imagined which was great. We got back to the ship around 9:30 a.m. and waited for maybe ten minutes tops to get back into the ship – it was so hot that we were all drenched in sweat in that short time. It was ridiculous. 9:30 a.m. for fifteen minutes and your dripping. That is how I am always going to remember southern India. When I go back to India, I would only go to the North because it was just too damn hot in the south. Heat definitely takes a toll on you, but in Southern India, it is not only the heat – it’s the dirt and dust too! By the end of the day your face is basically brown because you’ve sweat and then the dirt sticks to it. Any time you wipe your face on your shirt or anything, whatever it is turns brown. It was quite disgusting! I have to say that those conditions kind of put a damper on my thoughts of India. Although I had so much fun, the heat and dirt combined wore me out pretty quickly.
        After showering and putting our stuff down on the ship, we met up with some other friends and headed to Viper Island. We took the ferry over to the island and then had to hop on a bus or take a taxi. We were told in pre-port to never use the public transportation but the cabs were expensive and the busses looked fine, so we just hopped on. I am so happy we did that because it was such a fun experience and absolutely no reason that we shouldn’t have been on the bus! The bus was crowded! It was so much fun! We started off all standing but eventually each of us got to squeeze into different seats. I was the last one to sit. A seat opened up in front of me next to this young woman and she looked back and smiled at me as if to gesture that I could sit, so I did. At the very next stop, the woman stood up and gave her seat to an elder woman. I looked around nervously to make sure there wasn’t anyone else who was older that I was supposed to give my seat to but didn’t find anyone. The old woman who sat next to me had maybe four teeth left, she was very petite, her head only came up to my shoulder when we were sitting. As I sat there, I felt her staring at me so I turned and glanced at her and was surprised to find her smiling widely at me. Every so often I would feel her stare so I would turn and she would once again be smiling so I’d smile back. As we took the bus, it started to drive faster and take sharp curves and at one point I had to throw my arm across the woman to rest my hand on the window so I wouldn’t fly across the seat and crush the small woman. I got nervous after I did that because I thought I would have angered her, yet when I hesitantly looked over she was chuckling and smiling even wider at me, so I relaxed. The ride continued on in this manor until finally it was our stop. When I stood to get off the bus I felt a tug on my arm and then some pats. I turned thinking I had left something on the seat or was stepping on one of the women’s saris, but found it was the older woman smiling waving goodbye to me. It was such a small interaction, but it made my week. I thought about that moment for the rest of the day and even still think of her from time to time. I’m not sure why, but it took me by surprise for this older woman to be so genuinely happy to see me.
        When we got off the bus we walked the mile and a half towards the beach and spent the rest of that day there. We met some more friendly people on the beach who were happy to talk to Americans. Lindsay and I even put our feet in the ocean, even though it was full of diseases and germs and who knows what else because it was so damn hot out. But let me tell you, the ocean there is even warmer than in Mexico, it is not refreshing at all!! That night we had dinner at one of the resorts along the water. I got so excited when we sat down because the only thing on their menu was burgers, pizza, and sandwiches. It was perfect because I had just been complaining that I was sick of Indian food because I felt I ate the same thing at every meal. Don’t get me wrong, I love Indian food, it is so tasty, but I felt like it was so monogamous. Needless to say I was pumped to see that menu! I ordered a veggie burger, thinking that it would be really good in India where many of them were vegetarians. To my surprise, it was just a big fried ball of all the foods I’d been eating, potatoes, spices, etc. and tasted exactly what I was trying to get away from. We all got a nice chuckle out of that one. That night we went to two different low key bars along the beach where we hung out and chatted and just relaxed until we all got tired and went back to the ship.