India!

India is such an incredible country. We docked in Cochin, which is in the southern part of India. I didn't realize how completely different the north is from the south! Those that went on trips to Agra, Delhi and other places up north had completely different experiences with the people, culture and ways of life than I did. I wish I would have had the chance to venture farther up north, but maybe I'll be back again someday! I took over 500 pictures while we were there, so it was hard to narrow it down for this. I think I picked some good ones. :)

In most of the ports we've pulled into we've had a small group of people out to welcome us with some sort of musical performance! It happened again this time. These guys were outside in the heat playing from the time we started pulling in to when we were all off of the ship. It was pretty awesome to watch!

As soon as we walked out of the port, there were a bunch of "Tuk-Tuk" drivers waiting outside for us. I have a picture of one a little further down in the post. My very first experience in India was of     at least 20 men coming up to our group trying to convince us to let them drive us around for the day. They wouldn't take no for an answer and would follow us as we tried to walk away. It was a little stressful, but also kind of entertaining. Instead of taking a driver, we took a ferry across to Fort Kochi to find some food, check out some recommended places and do some shopping!

Out first stop was a restaurant right by where the ferry dropped us off. The main Indian food on their menu was Dosas, which I hadn't ever had before so I decided to try one! They are kind of like crepes. That's the best way I can think of to describe them. I got a chicken one. All four of us ended up getting them, and they were absolutely delicious!

Fun fact: There are a bunch of goats randomly on the streets all over India. This little guy was just hanging out on the sidewalk as we were walking around after lunch.

After lunch, we decided to go ahead and get a Tuk-Tuk driver to take us to a couple of markets. This is what they look like!

He first took us to the government market, "New Castle," which is a four-story building with tons of things like jewelery, scarves, tapestries, carpets, figurines and much more! The second floor had clothing and we decided to try on some sari's! These are the ones that we tried on at first.

And these are the ones that we ended up getting! I'm pretty glad I decided to get one. :)

These are my friends Janice, Tessa and Andrew. :)

After spending some time at New Castle, we got our Tuk-Tuk driver to take us to the Jew Town Market. Yes, it is really called that. There is a Jewish Synagogue at the end of the market street. Oddly, there are very few Jewish people in India. We stopped in a few shops, but our main goal was to get henna! We were definitely successful. I was surprised at how many people actually speak pretty good English. It wasn't hard to communicate at all!  We went to a store and asked the owner where we could find some henna, and she offered to go home and get some and then do it for us. We told her not to worry about it, but she insisted. She was so nice, and it turned out amazing!

After that, we only stopped in a couple of shops (were I got some sweet elephant pants) before we found a place for dinner, used some Wifi to talk to our families and then headed back to the ship.

I spent the second day with my friends Kaitlynn and Gabby. Instead of taking the ferry across, we just got a Tuk-Tuk driver right outside of the ship to take us around. He had the most decked out one we had seen yet, and he called it a "Ferrari." It was pretty hilarious!

We really wanted to see some Catholic cathedrals, so we had him take us around to some of those first. I was very surprised at the huge Catholic influence in Cochin and the state of Kerala. Hinduism is the main religion in India, but it is more common in the north than the south. About 1/4 of the people in Kerala are Catholic. I really enjoyed seeing all of the different churches. This is St. Francis Church, one of the oldest European churches in Kerala and one of the major landmarks on Fort Kochi. Vasco da Gama, the commander of one of the first ships to sail from Europe to India, was originally buried inside of it. The picture of his tomb is right under this one!

After stopping at a couple more churches and a few sites, they wanted to get sari's so I took them to New Castle where I had been the day before. After they picked their fabric, we went up to the 4th story which had a great view of the city!

I didn't do a lot of shopping the day before, so we went to the Jew Town Market after New Castle. I ended up finding everything I wanted, plus more! I got some great gifts for some friends and family and some things for myself as well. Some of the shop owners were really fun to talk to. This guy right here was one of them, and his store was my favorite one. I got the pants I'm wearing in this picture the day before, and then ended up buying some more pairs as well! They might be my favorite thing I bought in India. They are amazing!

After that, we found a place for dinner and then went to an evening Cultural Music show with the traditional song and dance styles of Kerala. The power went out about five times during the performance, which made it interesting, but it was a lot of fun!

I had been having an absolutely amazing time in India until our Tuk-Tuk driver took us back to the ship. Earlier, he told us that it would be about 600 Rupees each, which is about $11, for the entire day. However, he would not let us get out until we payed him $80. We could have probably got out and made a run for it, but we were still a decent distance from the ship and we aren't sure what he would have done if we tried that. We just wanted out of the situation, so we payed him to be safe. I'm still pretty bitter about that! I had heard about a few other people getting ripped off, but only for like $20 dollars. I think ours might have been the worst out of anyone.

I went on a homestay in Allepey (near Cohin) for the third and fourth days, which was absolutely incredible! I actually got to stay in a home, unlike in Vietnam were we were in a "Bed and Breakfast" type place for the first night and then a hotel the second night. Before arriving at our homes, we went on a visit to a local school. The children were absolutely adorable. :) When we visited, they were learning English letters and numbers. They were also learning shapes and what their names were in English. As I was looking through their workbooks with them, I was so impressed at how much they knew and how well they could write! I love these next two pictures.

After spending some time with the children and doing some singing and dancing, we headed off to our homestays. There were about 35 people on the trip, and we were split up into different homes. I had four other people in my group. We stayed with a couple named Tomy and Elsa, and their home was absolutely gorgeous! Here is a picture of the room I stayed in.

After getting settled in, we had lunch with Tomy and Elsa and then met up with the rest of the group to head out for a two-hour boat ride down the backwaters of Allepey! It was incredibly gorgeous, and such a relaxing ride. I took quite a few pictures, but here is one to give you an idea!

After we got back from that, we had free time for about two hours until dinner. We spent that time relaxing and talking with Tomy and Elsa, which was a lot of fun! Our dinner was at a home some of us were staying at. During dinner, we were treated to a cultural dance performance that was similar to the one I had seen the night before. Then we headed back to our home to get a good night of sleep.

The next morning, we went with Tomy to Saturday morning Mass at their church. I'm not Catholic, but it was still an incredible experience. The service was in Malayalam, the local language of Kerala, so I honestly didn't really know what was going on the entire time, but I'm so glad I had the opportunity to go. Then we had breakfast back at their home, took a group picture (below), and headed out to drive back to the ship. I wish the homestay would have been longer!

On our way back, we took a 45 minute stop at the beach where I rode this lovely camel! I had never been on a camel before so that was a lot of fun!

I decided to stay on the ship the fifth day to get caught up on sleep and take some time to myself to reflect on everything that has happened. I'm really glad that I decided to. I needed a day like that!

On our sixth and final day in India, I had a field lab with my Introduction to Anthropology class! We went to Kudumbashree, which is a poverty eradication mission in Kerala. Their mission statement is “to eradicate absolute poverty in ten years through concerted community action under the leadership of local governments, by facilitating organization of the poor for combining self-help with demand-led convergence of available services and resources to tackle the multiple dimensions and manifestations of poverty, holistically." They also aim at empowering women by forming self-help groups and encouraging and enabling them to be involved in entrepreneurial and other wide-range activities. In doing this, they ensure that women can be actively involved, gain a personal identity, and have their own place in society. It was a great experience and I learned a lot!

I absolutely loved India! I honestly do hope to go back again someday, but I've been saying that about every place I've been so far. This semester has been incredible, and it's hard to believe that it is already over half-way finished. Semester at Sea is the best decision I have ever made in my life. If you're even slightly interested in studying abroad, I would definitely recommend checking it out. You won't regret it. :)

We arrived in and left Mauritius today. It was just a quick stop for the ship to refuel on our way to Cape Town, but it was still a great day! I'll do a post about it soon. We have six more days on the ship before arriving in South Africa. I've been most looking foward to Africa and I am SO EXCITED!!!!!