4 pretty perfect days

I blogged about Thursday already - that was day one.  On Friday I had my 8th graders and they are AWESOME!!  After school I walked down to Bandra fair to check out all the craziness.  A lot of  it is normal fair stuff- food stands, rides, toys etc.  It is attached to the Mt. Mary festival though.  People buy was versions of whatever is ailing them then take a pilgrimage up the mount to offer it to Mary.

I walk every day, but on Fridays I try to get lost on purpose to experience somewhere new.  It doesn't always work, but I hit the jackpot this time!  I got into this area of "real" Mumbai.  All of Mumbai smells - think Terry Hershey park Bayou times 5, but this place was times 100!!!  garbage everywhere and it smelled really bad.  People were living in super tiny areas.  As soon as they saw I had a camera, they told their friends and wanted me to take pictures.  People were hollering from all over wanting me to take a picture of their work.

One guy made me take several pictures of his kids - I don't think he has any pictures.  This other guy kept saluting me.  I am going to try to get the pictures developed and go back to find the people and give them the pictures.

On Saturday a bunch of us went to South Mumbai for a shopping trip. We got a lot of cool stuff and ate at this restaraunt.  The old guy was soooo cute and so proud of the fact that the Queen and George W. Bush had eaten there.  Really good food.  I had to walk through the kitchen to get to the bathroom.  wow.  you just have to trust that food is cooked right!!!!  Saturday evening my friend Andrea and I went walking and saw the sunset over the sea.  Then I took her to the neighborhood I explored on Friday.  I knew she would appreciate "real" mumbai.    The guy on the left in the picture above saw us and remembered me :)  I told him I'd bring the pictures back.

On Sunday I got up to run, but my running group wasn't there :(  they much have ran somewhere without telling me!  but I ran yesterday so that is ok.  I decided to walk to Juhu beach.  In the first 2 weeks I got here I blogged about walking and getting lost in a crazy neighborhood - later I found out I was close to Juhu beach so today I decided to try to get there on purpose.  Bandra (where I live)  is considered a really nice part of Mumbai.  I walked north and got in a place that is not nice :)

Then I got to this part that was nicer than Bandra!  the roads were wide and cleaner.  and there were stop lights that people STOPPED at!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I should have taken a picture of that!!  That would have been an anomaly!!  there were walking signals with green walking guys and I actually crossed at them!!!  it was wonderful!!!  It was like I was in another world..  then I saw the OX cart going down the road and was like "yep - still in India"

Got to the place where the rickshaw driver rescued me when I got lost the first time.  I WAS SERIOUSLY ONE TENTH OF A MILE FROM THE BEACH!!  if I'd have walked another 50 feet I would have seen it then I would have had to go a little further to get to a road to access it.  crazy!!!   it was calm and serene.  I didn't go in.  Wasn't too worried about the cleanliness - I have swam in Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico!  but I didn't have a swimming buddy to rescue me if I was drowning.

I didn't get a picture of it, but I saw a dog with little booties on!!! ha!!  guys the owned didn't want him walking on the filthy street!

I am hoping this week continues with no crying and more perfect days...  This week I feel like I could live here a long time.  I like my flat, I like the neighborhoods that are in walking distance, I like the experiences, I like the people I work with  - it is pretty great here!