We ported in Cochi, India on Willingdom Island. Willingdom
Island is manmade which is insane to me. It used to hold the airport but isn’t
big enough anymore and the airport moved about an hour and a half away. Now
Willingdom Island is home to the port and what seemed like a lot of abandoned
buildings. Cochi is in south India. Unlike the rest of the country, Cochi is
very heavily Christian and pretty wealthy in comparison.
The first day I went on a SAS city tour. The first stop was a palace built in the 16th
century. I was super sad that photos weren’t allowed here because it was
GORGEOUS inside. There were beautiful murals – still the originals from the 16th
century on almost all the walls. The kings lived in the palace until 1964 when
democracy took over in the country. An interesting fact about the kings: the
kingdom did not go to the oldest son of the king – but the oldest son of the
king’s oldest sister.
Second stop was Jew Town (yes that is actually what they
call it) and the Paradesi Synagogue. The synagogue was built hidden deep in the
city in 1344 when the Indian king took in Jewish refugees. The blue tile on the
ground was hand painted and their were beautiful lanterns hanging from the
ceiling. Again, no pictures allowed. Our tour guide told us that there are only
8 Jewish families still living in Cochin, and most of the members are elderly
(the children moved to other areas).
Our third stop was the Spice Market. Carrola has a long
rainy season which makes it an ideal place to grow spices. They had everything
from vanilla to ginger to curry to peppers. The market we went to also sold
textiles and there was a woman who gave us a demonstration on how they make all
the beautiful linens.
We then went to Fort Cochin, which is another subsection of
Cochi. The colonial influence was really evident in the architecture here. We
stopped at St Francis church which was beautiful and then went to see the
Chinese fishing nets and market which was also pretty cool.
The Kathkali dance was very cool. They tell stories but
there are no words or lyrics at all. The men (only men can be actors) paint
their faces to be the characters – we went early to watch them put on their
makeup. There was a demonstration on how they use totally exaggerated facial
expressions to show the basic human emotions. We then saw a 45 minute dance
story about an ugly woman who fell in love with a king and used a magic potion
to be beautiful so he would notice her and love her back. She died at the end.
Tragic.
My second and third days in India were spent leading a group
of 27 students to a yoga retreat. We took a bus at 5 am to a nice hotel where
we met our yogi. We learned quickly that she was not very nice and very strict.
The first day we practiced mostly breathing techniques and meditation. No
physical yoga. It was the same the second day though the food made me sick so I
didn’t leave my hotel room until it was time to get on the bus. Good news about
the hotel? It had a TV and AC so my sick day was at least spent in comfort
watching ridiculous American movies like The Green Hornet. The students were
amazing and checked on me constantly. They brought me water and rehydration
packs and were generally just amazing. I’m a big fan.
The day after I got back from the yoga retreat I was feeling
better and decided to venture out for exploration and shopping with my friends
even though I hadn’t eaten yet. We rented a rickshaw (which is a ridiculous
little 3 wheeled “car” that has no doors or windows and is hilarious), and took
it back towards Jew Town and Fort kochi to try to find some good shopping. We
were unsuccessful. We did get lost and wander through some awesome
neighborhoods, and see some friendly goats wandering the streets. The goats
there are pretty cute. We went back to the ship for lunch (thankful to Dan and
Christine for doing that for me when I didn’t know if my stomach could handle
more Indian food), and rallied – determined the afternoon would be a success.
We took a rickshaw to Ernakulam this
time. Ernakulam is the main city, and we were told it was the place to shop. We
found one of the stores we were looking for but the sizes weren’t quite right
for what we needed. We then wandered the riverfront towards the ferry station
to reorient ourselves to where we were. By the river smelled awful. The water there
really has a funk to it (and a lot of bacteria in it – the MV couldn’t take on
any water while we were there even with our filtration system), and there were
a few vendors on the ground selling knickknacks and toys. Then we stumbled
across a man getting a tattoo… on the ground, next to the stinky river, just
chilling with actual ink and needle. OMG. It was pretty scary to see how little
regulations there are for tattooing and I quietly wished none of the students
decided to live dangerously and get one (literally) on the street. We walked a
little more and tried (unsuccessfully) to find a grocery, and when it started
to rain we grabbed a rickshaw back to the ship in time for dinner. We treated
ourselves and ate on the pool deck that night – my pizza was GOOD (and my tummy
was still scared of Indian food).
Some very cool street art
The MV from across the River
On day 5, I was on
duty so I spent my time on the ship. I got a ton of work done and prepped for
the programs coming up on our long stretch and hung out with some pretty cool
people hanging out at various times. I hung out in the office on FB chat and
got to catch up with home a little which is always wonderful and appreciated.
It was a great recovery day after my illness and I cleaned my cabin since the
GI bug was going around the ship right before we ported.
Our last day in
Cochi, I went shopping with the boys. Kevin, Craig, Dan, Josh, Travis, and I
loaded ourselves into two rickshaws that we rented for the day. Our drivers
were great. They took us everywhere. We collected names of all the great stores
the students, faculty, and staff recommended to us and we made a day of it. We
ended at a mall with a grocery store (thank goodness – we’ve got 12 days at sea
right after), and I stocked up on potato chips, kit kats, and saltines though
much to my dismay they didn’t have diet coke. :) The rickshaw driver gave Kevin a driving lesson while I sat in the back with all the bags and Craig got out for some photos hahah
All in all India was
very nice. If I ever get the opportunity to visit again, I will definitely make
my way to the Taj Mahal. I was uber-jealous of my friends “so gorgeous it looks
photoshopped” photos in front of that beautiful building. I would also go to
Munnar which got AMAZING reviews. Nothing but tea leaf fields and hiking and
beautiful-ness there.
The rickshaws look hilarious!
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