Hola Amigos and Amigas!
Apologies for the lax posting on here, but really there isn't much to tell you except that we are enjoying PURA VIDA (pure life, as Costa Ricans say!) in a small town on the pacific coast called Dominical.
We arrived here five days ago, found a great guesthouse at a reasonable price (indeed, this is NOT Asia and Costa Rica is proving to be more expensive than we anticipated - so suffice to say we are taking care of our own meals and seeking out the best deals for our guesthouses).
The guesthouse is right on the beach and so far I have nothing more to report except that it has been sunny and we have been swimming in the ocean every day.
Tomorrow we will probably visit one of the many waterfalls in the area, but you never know what the day will bring...
Missing you all! Lots of love,
Maeve/Jay
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
a HOLA lot of costa rican love...
Well we made it.
And along the way, we made a few choices. They may seem abrupt to some but something was wrong in our guts and we decided that we were going to change course and not teach English under contract this time around. This decision feels great.
We are currently in beautiful Quepos, Costa Rica which is home to one of the biggest and bestest natural parks. We stayed in San Jose for two days and got to know a bit of the Costa Rican culture, all while trying to figure out what we were going to do.
And still, we don't know and we don't care! We are hoping to volunteer along the way down South to help with our budget (so we will still potentially be teaching English, just in places where people can't afford to pay teachers - I have found an orphanage in Peru that I am waiting to hear back from).
Don't envy us too much - it is the rainy season here so it is only sunny and beautiful all morning until it rains around 1 p.m and is overcast into the evening. The temperature never goes over 30 (and never below 17) so we are just having to adjust to it all.
We are looking, potentially, at making our way southwards via Panama overland. From there, there is a cruise (which is very safe and reputable) for five days into Colombia - which, by the way, has a terrible reputation as a bad place and is not if you keep your wits about you, which is true for anyplace.
Not sure when we will be home, but it will certainly be sooner than June (as originally anticipated...) or maybe not! You never know...
Adios amigos!
Maeve and Jay
And along the way, we made a few choices. They may seem abrupt to some but something was wrong in our guts and we decided that we were going to change course and not teach English under contract this time around. This decision feels great.
We are currently in beautiful Quepos, Costa Rica which is home to one of the biggest and bestest natural parks. We stayed in San Jose for two days and got to know a bit of the Costa Rican culture, all while trying to figure out what we were going to do.
And still, we don't know and we don't care! We are hoping to volunteer along the way down South to help with our budget (so we will still potentially be teaching English, just in places where people can't afford to pay teachers - I have found an orphanage in Peru that I am waiting to hear back from).
Don't envy us too much - it is the rainy season here so it is only sunny and beautiful all morning until it rains around 1 p.m and is overcast into the evening. The temperature never goes over 30 (and never below 17) so we are just having to adjust to it all.
We are looking, potentially, at making our way southwards via Panama overland. From there, there is a cruise (which is very safe and reputable) for five days into Colombia - which, by the way, has a terrible reputation as a bad place and is not if you keep your wits about you, which is true for anyplace.
Not sure when we will be home, but it will certainly be sooner than June (as originally anticipated...) or maybe not! You never know...
Adios amigos!
Maeve and Jay
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Charlotte, NC - I spent a month there one night.
Hola everyone!
Well, here we are again at the beginning of another adventure. We decided to shake things up a bit this time. Instead of merely backpacking through South America, we decided to teach English. While teaching is a completely different experience - certainly our mobility will be greatly limited and we see as much as we did in Asia - it offers us the ability to learn and absorb a particular culture a great deal more than passing through. (Not to mention the financial benefits). To increase our potential earning power and placement availability we decided to take a TEFL (Teach English as a Foreign Language) certification in Manual Antonio, Costa Rica.
Yesterday, we boarded our flight from Toronto (to NYC to Charlotte to San Jose) with starry eyed enthusiasm. I must say I was pleasantly surprised to see none other than Bob Rae sitting a few ailes ahead of us on the plane. I said to a nearby steward "Bob Rae is on the plane!" He looked unamused and informed me they saw Mr. Rae often aboard. The flight was every travelers' nightmare. Conditions made it a bumpy, turbulent coaster ride which left both of us reeling for the sick bags. Weather in New York had us circling LaGuardia for 25 minutes which we both knew meant we would be missing our connecting flight. We ran from one terminal building to another - coatless, I might add. Winter is coming to NYC! - to find that our next flight was too delayed and that we had caught a break. We jumped for joy momentarily before realizing this meant our connecting flight from Charlotte to San Jose would be missed. The US airline advised us to get to Charlotte and spend the night, and take a flight the next morning to San Jose.
Arriving in Charlotte, we hunkered down in a local Holiday Inn and listed the reasons why it was best the final leg of our trip take place tomorrow. We arose bright and early, excited to get onward with our trip and made our way off to the airport. Ready to check in, the agent asks whether or not we have a return ticket. As we do not, the agent explains she cannot allow us onward. So begins the saga of the return ticket. After running around trying to find a loophole into the regulation, we finally decide to buy a cheap return ticket and whether or not we use it back, we at least can gain entry into Costa Rica. Unfortunately, by the time we had worked out the return ticket, our flight was long past boarding and we were once again facing another night in good ol' Charlotte.
Sigh - wouldn't be an adventure without some rocky travel starts?
Tomorrow, we are hoping we will make it to San Jose. If not, we are throwing our hands up and coming home. (Just kidding...like THAT would ever happen!)
Keep you posted. We love you and miss you all!
Maeve/Jay
Well, here we are again at the beginning of another adventure. We decided to shake things up a bit this time. Instead of merely backpacking through South America, we decided to teach English. While teaching is a completely different experience - certainly our mobility will be greatly limited and we see as much as we did in Asia - it offers us the ability to learn and absorb a particular culture a great deal more than passing through. (Not to mention the financial benefits). To increase our potential earning power and placement availability we decided to take a TEFL (Teach English as a Foreign Language) certification in Manual Antonio, Costa Rica.
Yesterday, we boarded our flight from Toronto (to NYC to Charlotte to San Jose) with starry eyed enthusiasm. I must say I was pleasantly surprised to see none other than Bob Rae sitting a few ailes ahead of us on the plane. I said to a nearby steward "Bob Rae is on the plane!" He looked unamused and informed me they saw Mr. Rae often aboard. The flight was every travelers' nightmare. Conditions made it a bumpy, turbulent coaster ride which left both of us reeling for the sick bags. Weather in New York had us circling LaGuardia for 25 minutes which we both knew meant we would be missing our connecting flight. We ran from one terminal building to another - coatless, I might add. Winter is coming to NYC! - to find that our next flight was too delayed and that we had caught a break. We jumped for joy momentarily before realizing this meant our connecting flight from Charlotte to San Jose would be missed. The US airline advised us to get to Charlotte and spend the night, and take a flight the next morning to San Jose.
Arriving in Charlotte, we hunkered down in a local Holiday Inn and listed the reasons why it was best the final leg of our trip take place tomorrow. We arose bright and early, excited to get onward with our trip and made our way off to the airport. Ready to check in, the agent asks whether or not we have a return ticket. As we do not, the agent explains she cannot allow us onward. So begins the saga of the return ticket. After running around trying to find a loophole into the regulation, we finally decide to buy a cheap return ticket and whether or not we use it back, we at least can gain entry into Costa Rica. Unfortunately, by the time we had worked out the return ticket, our flight was long past boarding and we were once again facing another night in good ol' Charlotte.
Sigh - wouldn't be an adventure without some rocky travel starts?
Tomorrow, we are hoping we will make it to San Jose. If not, we are throwing our hands up and coming home. (Just kidding...like THAT would ever happen!)
Keep you posted. We love you and miss you all!
Maeve/Jay
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Delhi Belly
Namaste everyone!
Sorry we haven't posted since...Varanasi!? Could it be so!? Yes, well India will do that to you. We are just putting up a quick post to update everyone on our whereabouts the last few weeks.
Since our last post, we have visited the city of Agra - home to the more than magnificent Taj Mahal, Akbar the Great's mausoleum - and let it be known now that, no matter what anyone says, the Taj Mahal is arguably one of the most beautiful structures you may ever lay your eyes on. When we first arrived, we ventured to our hotel rooftop resto which had a superb view of the Taj...and we could hardly believe our eyes! But really, it doesn't even seem real until you are touching the thing because up until you get there the translucence of the Marbel makes it glow in such a way you could only think it to be a photograph.
Speaking of photographs, Jay took some of his best at the Taj and we will be sharing those with you when we get home (in SIX DAYS?) Words cannot describe the Taj nor India, for that matter, so we will hope pictures can fill in a small part of the void there.
After Agra, we took our last overnight train ride to Amritsar, in the northern state of Punjab. Admittedly, we forgot a few times we were in India and no longer in Bramladesh because with the huge Sikh community, it seemed oddly familiar...
Amritsar is home to the holiest shrine for Sikhs, the Golden Temple. It. Is. Unbelievable. The temple itself is said to be covered with 750 kg of gold and in the morning, afternoon or night it is a magnificent vision rising from the Guru Lake which surrounds it. We were lucky enough to meet a fellow there who kindly took us all around the temple and explained the tennants of Sikhism to us, in great detail. We spent two golden days in Amristar (pun intended!) and unfortunately it was all the time we had to spare to make it to the nation's Capital - Delhi.
Delhi is wonderful! It is, as they say, an Aladin's cave of wonders! But, we haven't only been straining our pennies on shopping. Yesterday, we visited the former residence of Mrs. Gandhi - the infamous Indira Gandhi, of course - which stirred a great deal of excitment within at least one of our two person travel party. Afterwards, we visited the spot where Mahatma Gandhi himself spent the last 144 days of his life and where, at the hand of a Hindu zealot, he was shot down in 1948. It was very moving and humbling to stand along the footpath that Gandhiji last walked upon...and to see his few earthly posessions which are on display - including his rounded glasses, his tiny chappals (sandals) and his walking sticks.
Today we are exploring the winding bizarre bazaars of Old Delhi as well as the Jama Masjid, the largest Mosque in India. Tomorrow, we will soak up as much as possible of this wonderful and beautiful country...and then, at midnight we fly to Paris.
Je vois la vie en rose!
Love to you all and...see you soon!
Maeve/Jay
Sorry we haven't posted since...Varanasi!? Could it be so!? Yes, well India will do that to you. We are just putting up a quick post to update everyone on our whereabouts the last few weeks.
Since our last post, we have visited the city of Agra - home to the more than magnificent Taj Mahal, Akbar the Great's mausoleum - and let it be known now that, no matter what anyone says, the Taj Mahal is arguably one of the most beautiful structures you may ever lay your eyes on. When we first arrived, we ventured to our hotel rooftop resto which had a superb view of the Taj...and we could hardly believe our eyes! But really, it doesn't even seem real until you are touching the thing because up until you get there the translucence of the Marbel makes it glow in such a way you could only think it to be a photograph.
Speaking of photographs, Jay took some of his best at the Taj and we will be sharing those with you when we get home (in SIX DAYS?) Words cannot describe the Taj nor India, for that matter, so we will hope pictures can fill in a small part of the void there.
After Agra, we took our last overnight train ride to Amritsar, in the northern state of Punjab. Admittedly, we forgot a few times we were in India and no longer in Bramladesh because with the huge Sikh community, it seemed oddly familiar...
Amritsar is home to the holiest shrine for Sikhs, the Golden Temple. It. Is. Unbelievable. The temple itself is said to be covered with 750 kg of gold and in the morning, afternoon or night it is a magnificent vision rising from the Guru Lake which surrounds it. We were lucky enough to meet a fellow there who kindly took us all around the temple and explained the tennants of Sikhism to us, in great detail. We spent two golden days in Amristar (pun intended!) and unfortunately it was all the time we had to spare to make it to the nation's Capital - Delhi.
Delhi is wonderful! It is, as they say, an Aladin's cave of wonders! But, we haven't only been straining our pennies on shopping. Yesterday, we visited the former residence of Mrs. Gandhi - the infamous Indira Gandhi, of course - which stirred a great deal of excitment within at least one of our two person travel party. Afterwards, we visited the spot where Mahatma Gandhi himself spent the last 144 days of his life and where, at the hand of a Hindu zealot, he was shot down in 1948. It was very moving and humbling to stand along the footpath that Gandhiji last walked upon...and to see his few earthly posessions which are on display - including his rounded glasses, his tiny chappals (sandals) and his walking sticks.
Today we are exploring the winding bizarre bazaars of Old Delhi as well as the Jama Masjid, the largest Mosque in India. Tomorrow, we will soak up as much as possible of this wonderful and beautiful country...and then, at midnight we fly to Paris.
Je vois la vie en rose!
Love to you all and...see you soon!
Maeve/Jay
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Holy Ghats and Cricket Bats.
Namaste everyone.
We have decided to be 'good' with our blog since we only have about two weeks of travel writing left and want to keep the updates going until we are home.
We are currently in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi. It is an ancient and beautiful place, the winding lanes of the Old City are filled with new discoveries, wondrous silk shops and plenty of paan stands. The city sits upon India´s holiest river, the Mother Ganga. All along the river are Ghats (stairs that lead to the water), which have various functions. For example, early in the morning several of the Ghats are used for the performance of Puja (offerings to various Deities, Shiva is particularly popular here...) but perhaps most famously is the Ghat closest to where we are staying, known as the ´Burning Ghat´. As Varanasi is the most auspicious place to die, Hindus come in droves to spend their dying days here or their bodies are brought from all over the country to be cremated and washed in the Ganga. It is believed that if you die and are cremated at Varanasi, you will acheive Moksha or in other words, you will be liberated from the life cycle of re-incarnation.
Admittedly, the first sight of the Burning Ghats is overwhelming. As we approached, I thought, well...maybe no one died today and we won´t see any corpses burning! But, silly Maeve, over 250 people are cremated at Varanasi every day and so there is almost no chance you will not see a corpse being cremated on the several pyres which are lit. We sat for a good while and watched the processes taking place, and essentially saw every aspect of the ritual. It is a beautiful thing to see and not at all gruesome, but oddly peaceful. Holy cows, goats and dogs peruse the piles of logs awaiting their fate, and children play happily and swim nearby. For everyone here, there is nothing morbid about death, cremation, corpses, ashes...it is just a necessary part of life, one we will all experience some day.
The process from start to finish takes about three and a half hours. Firstly, the body is carried by 'untouchable´ (yes, the caste system is alive and well in India, sorry to tell you Gandhiji) down to the Burning Ghat through the winding lanes of the old city. The bodies are covered in the most beautiful shrouds, fabrics which one would expect of India. Upon reaching the Ghat, the family takes the body, which is on a sort of bamboo stretcher, and washes it in the Ganga. Well, it is more like a total immersion of the body in the river, to ensure it is completely covered. Once this has taken place, the pyre is built for the body to rest on. The family removes the shroud and covers the face with a white sheet (the rest of the body is wrapped in it already, under the shroud) and they place the body on the pyre. The ´untouchables´ who handle the pyre and the wood then place several more pieces of wood on top of the body and set it alight. The fire comes from the Holy Fire Temple, which has a fire said to have burned for over 10,000 years (we heard 5,000 and 15,000 so I average it for you) that was lit by the God Shiva the destroyer himself. The body takes three hours to burn. Once the body has turned completely to ash, another ´untouchable´ comes to sift through it, in hopes of finding left over jewellery or gold that may have been spared. The ashes are then spred into the Ganga.
The cremation is exempt for the following, who are already considered to be pure: babies, pregnant women, victims of cobra bites, lepards, holy Hindu Sadhus and animals. In all of these cases, the family ties a large stone to their bodies and releases them into the Ganga.
It is quite a process. The wood for the pyre can be very expensive, sandalwood being the most expensive of course. Relative women are not allowed to come to the Ghat. You can all imagine my outrage when I was told this, in my western mindset I was unable to fathom the gross injustice of disallowing women from being part of the final funerary process. It was explained to me that this was so for two reaons...firstly, it is believed that crying during the process of this liberation would disrupt the soul of the deceased to be released and would be bad luck. (Okay, I thought grumpily, so women are the only ones who cry?!) but secondly and perhaps slightly more sensical, is that women are disallowed from being present in an effort to cut down on the problem of Sati - widows throwing themselves onto their husbands funeral pyres. So that is that.
Varanasi is a wonderful and religious city. We took an early morning boat ride along the Ganga yesterday to see the performance of Puja. Hundreds of Indians happily swimming and washing and going about their daily business. We have stayed here a bit longer than anticipated which is because of the spirit of the city but also because I had a terrible bug yesterday (I suspect the pakoras...) and am still recovering from it. Tomorrow night we leave for Agra, home to Dr. Aziz Assam (if you are familiar with Midnight´s Children) but most famously home to the Taj Mahal.
We have been spending a good amount of time on the train here, and have still a bit more to go until we are in Delhi. The trains are a curious thing but quite lovely when you get used to it (and when you are not the unfortunate victim of having your fingers crushed by the steel window shutter, which I was, but the bruises have subsided and I am still enamoured with the train).
Not much else to write now, expect that we are doing off tonight to enjoy some lovely classical Indian music. Must soak up all we can, in the little time we have left.
Lots of love to you all,
Maeve/Jay
We have decided to be 'good' with our blog since we only have about two weeks of travel writing left and want to keep the updates going until we are home.
We are currently in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi. It is an ancient and beautiful place, the winding lanes of the Old City are filled with new discoveries, wondrous silk shops and plenty of paan stands. The city sits upon India´s holiest river, the Mother Ganga. All along the river are Ghats (stairs that lead to the water), which have various functions. For example, early in the morning several of the Ghats are used for the performance of Puja (offerings to various Deities, Shiva is particularly popular here...) but perhaps most famously is the Ghat closest to where we are staying, known as the ´Burning Ghat´. As Varanasi is the most auspicious place to die, Hindus come in droves to spend their dying days here or their bodies are brought from all over the country to be cremated and washed in the Ganga. It is believed that if you die and are cremated at Varanasi, you will acheive Moksha or in other words, you will be liberated from the life cycle of re-incarnation.
Admittedly, the first sight of the Burning Ghats is overwhelming. As we approached, I thought, well...maybe no one died today and we won´t see any corpses burning! But, silly Maeve, over 250 people are cremated at Varanasi every day and so there is almost no chance you will not see a corpse being cremated on the several pyres which are lit. We sat for a good while and watched the processes taking place, and essentially saw every aspect of the ritual. It is a beautiful thing to see and not at all gruesome, but oddly peaceful. Holy cows, goats and dogs peruse the piles of logs awaiting their fate, and children play happily and swim nearby. For everyone here, there is nothing morbid about death, cremation, corpses, ashes...it is just a necessary part of life, one we will all experience some day.
The process from start to finish takes about three and a half hours. Firstly, the body is carried by 'untouchable´ (yes, the caste system is alive and well in India, sorry to tell you Gandhiji) down to the Burning Ghat through the winding lanes of the old city. The bodies are covered in the most beautiful shrouds, fabrics which one would expect of India. Upon reaching the Ghat, the family takes the body, which is on a sort of bamboo stretcher, and washes it in the Ganga. Well, it is more like a total immersion of the body in the river, to ensure it is completely covered. Once this has taken place, the pyre is built for the body to rest on. The family removes the shroud and covers the face with a white sheet (the rest of the body is wrapped in it already, under the shroud) and they place the body on the pyre. The ´untouchables´ who handle the pyre and the wood then place several more pieces of wood on top of the body and set it alight. The fire comes from the Holy Fire Temple, which has a fire said to have burned for over 10,000 years (we heard 5,000 and 15,000 so I average it for you) that was lit by the God Shiva the destroyer himself. The body takes three hours to burn. Once the body has turned completely to ash, another ´untouchable´ comes to sift through it, in hopes of finding left over jewellery or gold that may have been spared. The ashes are then spred into the Ganga.
The cremation is exempt for the following, who are already considered to be pure: babies, pregnant women, victims of cobra bites, lepards, holy Hindu Sadhus and animals. In all of these cases, the family ties a large stone to their bodies and releases them into the Ganga.
It is quite a process. The wood for the pyre can be very expensive, sandalwood being the most expensive of course. Relative women are not allowed to come to the Ghat. You can all imagine my outrage when I was told this, in my western mindset I was unable to fathom the gross injustice of disallowing women from being part of the final funerary process. It was explained to me that this was so for two reaons...firstly, it is believed that crying during the process of this liberation would disrupt the soul of the deceased to be released and would be bad luck. (Okay, I thought grumpily, so women are the only ones who cry?!) but secondly and perhaps slightly more sensical, is that women are disallowed from being present in an effort to cut down on the problem of Sati - widows throwing themselves onto their husbands funeral pyres. So that is that.
Varanasi is a wonderful and religious city. We took an early morning boat ride along the Ganga yesterday to see the performance of Puja. Hundreds of Indians happily swimming and washing and going about their daily business. We have stayed here a bit longer than anticipated which is because of the spirit of the city but also because I had a terrible bug yesterday (I suspect the pakoras...) and am still recovering from it. Tomorrow night we leave for Agra, home to Dr. Aziz Assam (if you are familiar with Midnight´s Children) but most famously home to the Taj Mahal.
We have been spending a good amount of time on the train here, and have still a bit more to go until we are in Delhi. The trains are a curious thing but quite lovely when you get used to it (and when you are not the unfortunate victim of having your fingers crushed by the steel window shutter, which I was, but the bruises have subsided and I am still enamoured with the train).
Not much else to write now, expect that we are doing off tonight to enjoy some lovely classical Indian music. Must soak up all we can, in the little time we have left.
Lots of love to you all,
Maeve/Jay
Thursday, May 7, 2009
...sitting under the bodhi tree...
Namaste,
It has been roughly 10 days since our last post, and I know our loyal followers must have been checking everyday to see if we have written. Our apologizes, we have been immersed in the colourful culture that is india. Let us first answer the question of everyones mind, yes it is hot, very hot, 40+ everyday we have been here. We understand now that this is due to the taunting and mokcing that we bestowed on everyone back home during the months of dec-feb when you saw snow and we saw sand...we are sorry...not too sorry but we are melting away here. We have taken to having naps from between 12-2 to stay cool and hydrated during the hottest parts of the day and are adjusting quite well thus far.
When last we wrote we were in the south in Trichy, from there we took our first train to chennai for one night and then our 13th flight of the trip to kolkata to cut rougly 30 hours of train travel and give us amble time to get to delhi, from here on out we are slaves of the indian railway system. Upon arrival in kolkata we became quite aware that every previous country was just a warmup in someway for india. The traffic in hanoi, the heat of indonesia, the begging of cambodia, the power outages of laos have all prepared us to feel not quite as overwhelmed as id india was our port of entry instead of exit. Kolkata is still an incredible city, and despite the preparations we were quite taken aback by it. It has been the only place where in the same field of view you can see something that will make you cry, smile, laugh, think, question and fill you with joy all together. It was no wonder that Mother Teresa came to call it home as many people need the help of a selfless indivual. One afternoon we made our way to her tomb to see the remains of a future saint. No matter your religion, you can se the good she has done in the organization she founded.
With walking the streeets just as entertaining as many attractions we have seen thus far, much of kolkata was seen in this fashion. Many a cricket match was observed by sitting as much as possible in the shade. Yet again as all busy cities we looked forward to seeing the countryside and leaving the hussle-bustle. We that said, we bought our first overnight train tickets and headed for Bodhgaya, the site of the buddha's enlightenment.
Which is where we are currently writing this post, we have spent the past two days on the temple grounds sitting, thinking and people watching as the masses pass through to see the actual spot of his enlightenment. The original bodhi tree was destroyed but a sappling was saved. This sappling was taken to sri lanka and thrives today, and from that tree they took a sapling and planted it back in bodhgaya in the very spot the original stood. It now sprawls out and is in its prime. A beautiful place to sit and enjoy the peace away from the market stands outside the complex. This has been one highlight of many on this trip for sure and has allowed for much reflection of the entire4 months to date. With that being said there is roughly only 3 weeks till we return and we can then elaborate on the posts we have made.
Anyway, back to the tree we go before we head to a hindu pilgram site of Varansi in the morning.
Love you all very much,
jay/maeve
It has been roughly 10 days since our last post, and I know our loyal followers must have been checking everyday to see if we have written. Our apologizes, we have been immersed in the colourful culture that is india. Let us first answer the question of everyones mind, yes it is hot, very hot, 40+ everyday we have been here. We understand now that this is due to the taunting and mokcing that we bestowed on everyone back home during the months of dec-feb when you saw snow and we saw sand...we are sorry...not too sorry but we are melting away here. We have taken to having naps from between 12-2 to stay cool and hydrated during the hottest parts of the day and are adjusting quite well thus far.
When last we wrote we were in the south in Trichy, from there we took our first train to chennai for one night and then our 13th flight of the trip to kolkata to cut rougly 30 hours of train travel and give us amble time to get to delhi, from here on out we are slaves of the indian railway system. Upon arrival in kolkata we became quite aware that every previous country was just a warmup in someway for india. The traffic in hanoi, the heat of indonesia, the begging of cambodia, the power outages of laos have all prepared us to feel not quite as overwhelmed as id india was our port of entry instead of exit. Kolkata is still an incredible city, and despite the preparations we were quite taken aback by it. It has been the only place where in the same field of view you can see something that will make you cry, smile, laugh, think, question and fill you with joy all together. It was no wonder that Mother Teresa came to call it home as many people need the help of a selfless indivual. One afternoon we made our way to her tomb to see the remains of a future saint. No matter your religion, you can se the good she has done in the organization she founded.
With walking the streeets just as entertaining as many attractions we have seen thus far, much of kolkata was seen in this fashion. Many a cricket match was observed by sitting as much as possible in the shade. Yet again as all busy cities we looked forward to seeing the countryside and leaving the hussle-bustle. We that said, we bought our first overnight train tickets and headed for Bodhgaya, the site of the buddha's enlightenment.
Which is where we are currently writing this post, we have spent the past two days on the temple grounds sitting, thinking and people watching as the masses pass through to see the actual spot of his enlightenment. The original bodhi tree was destroyed but a sappling was saved. This sappling was taken to sri lanka and thrives today, and from that tree they took a sapling and planted it back in bodhgaya in the very spot the original stood. It now sprawls out and is in its prime. A beautiful place to sit and enjoy the peace away from the market stands outside the complex. This has been one highlight of many on this trip for sure and has allowed for much reflection of the entire4 months to date. With that being said there is roughly only 3 weeks till we return and we can then elaborate on the posts we have made.
Anyway, back to the tree we go before we head to a hindu pilgram site of Varansi in the morning.
Love you all very much,
jay/maeve
Sunday, April 26, 2009
A Suitable Journey
We have arrived in India.
After a boat, a bus, another (bigger, packed and much sketchier) boat, another bus, a taxi, a plane, a night at the KL airport and one last plane ride...we arrived in Trichy in the south of India.
I won't deny it is hot. 37 degrees today...and it looks like a few solid 40s coming our way...but surprisingly (so long as you stay indoors at midday) it has not seemed to crippled us yet too much.
But then again, we've been here a day. We noticed on CBC.ca some interesting news, 27 tomorrow for toronto - we will be thinking of you tonight when the temperature here drops down around there...
It is a hectic place, to be sure, and that is evident already. But also immediately evident is the rich beauty of this land, and the people who call it home.
For those of you who know us well, you will understand why I am cutting this short. I smell the samosas sizzling on the street - no time to write, must consume copious amounts of Indian food!!! (Peter Anthos, we are thinking of you and your diehard love of the stuff)
Much love from India,
maeve/jay
After a boat, a bus, another (bigger, packed and much sketchier) boat, another bus, a taxi, a plane, a night at the KL airport and one last plane ride...we arrived in Trichy in the south of India.
I won't deny it is hot. 37 degrees today...and it looks like a few solid 40s coming our way...but surprisingly (so long as you stay indoors at midday) it has not seemed to crippled us yet too much.
But then again, we've been here a day. We noticed on CBC.ca some interesting news, 27 tomorrow for toronto - we will be thinking of you tonight when the temperature here drops down around there...
It is a hectic place, to be sure, and that is evident already. But also immediately evident is the rich beauty of this land, and the people who call it home.
For those of you who know us well, you will understand why I am cutting this short. I smell the samosas sizzling on the street - no time to write, must consume copious amounts of Indian food!!! (Peter Anthos, we are thinking of you and your diehard love of the stuff)
Much love from India,
maeve/jay
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