caving in

so we had a very slow start to our day, but who am i to even complain!? we woke up, got massages, feasted on an incredible indian breakfast, and had the driver take us into town. the funny thing about breakfast is that every night that i've been here, i've found myself waking up between 3 and 5am, ravenous, and unable to go back to sleep. while i was doing everything possible to try to fall back asleep, every time i closed my eyes last night, for whatever reason, i dreamt of potatoes sauteed with curry spices (not in curry gravy, just spices). i still have no idea where it even came from, but incredibly, it was one of the dishes we had for breakfast. do i have a kindred connection with india now?

so we got back to my hotel, i changed, and headed over to the gateway to buy our ferry tickets to elephanta island. this was really worth visiting. we took an hour long ferry to the island and after trekking up a mounting in flip flops (bad choice in foot wear), finally came to these amazing caves that were used for worship in ancient times. there are all these hindu gods and images carved into the walls of the caves, and it was just breathtaking. not to mention that as you're walking outside, you're at the top of this mountain, on an island, in the arabian sea. the best, however, was seeing all the monkeys playing around the tourists. monkeys! they were everywhere, and of course adorable. we even saw one face-off a kid of about 8 years old. he snatched the roasted corn cob out of his hand, and dashed back off into the trees, staring at the kid, while he helped himself to the entire cob! hilarious!











it was one of the more difficult days, in terms of handling skeevy men and their annoying harassment. in fact, we were almost bound to ride the ferry with some of our "stalkers" and i made a scene about getting on the full ferry, to get away. we got on the other ferry. one thing i'm realizing about india, and loving--- which really isn't a good thing, is that if you want something, and you made a big deal about it, you get it. whatever you want. argue your case with confidence and it's yours. this is NOT included in the learning/becoming more patient plan.

afterwards, we finally went to the crawford market which was soooo disappointing! i expected it to be like a souq filled with all sorts of goodies. it was more like a repetition of the same 5 goods: candy, body lotions, spices, nuts, and fruit, none of which i was interested in. i really didn't enjoy it at all and it wasn't too long before we headed back.

now i'm stuffed with another delicious meal, and i swear i am not eating for the next 2 days.

so tonight i'll be booking my flight to agra, which means that tomorrow won't be my last day in mumbai, and i think my hotel guys will be a little happy that i'll stay an extra day. lol. poor guys.

still having a hard time uploading pics. this morning on the family's computer, i managed to get some on, which took an hour. stay tuned.