Friday, December 21, 2007

We Finally Made it to India!!!!!!!!

So after being stuck in Ghana for 5 days and missing Ethiopia totally we made it to INDIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I will recap minus the mental breakdowns about our 5 bonus days in Ghana!
12/11- get to airport at 4pm wait till 6 to check in at 6:15 were told taht we were not on the list and to wait. waited till 7:40 for a 8:20pm flight and were told we were not on the flight. were told that we need $1400 cash right now to get on the plane. no ATM's no time, no ride for Mark and Diane
We collect ourselves. call our travel agent, e-mail folks and then finally leave the airport and head to a hotel. PS Ethiopian Airlines and The Ghana Airport are not familiar with the term, "Customer Service"
12/12- go back to the airport with hopes of leaving that day and hopes of a real ticket! Get to airport, try to check in and again no tickets!!!!!!!! Yeah Ethiopian airlines has done it again! We were told we would again have to buy a ticket in cash at 9pm at night. Well done~ back to hotel~ where by the way we got some money stolen from us! We really are enjoying Ghana right about now!
12/13 told we have a ticket and can get a day in Egypt instead of three days in Ethiopia, head back to airport - this time Nigerian Air and Ethiopian Air team up to not give us a ticket but again reassure us that if we hand over a boat load of cash we can get on! again no ATM's in sight that will dish out $1,400. Told by travel agent that there is a ticket on the 15th! What about Ethiopia! We missed it!
12/14 chill-
12/15- freak out b/c we don't have any info about our ticket out of Ghana! Finally get some info about our ticket. have to buy the ticket there and finally get to leave Ghana! Finally~ stop by Amsterdam airport on the way to India and finally land in Incredible !inda (This is an ad for India).

India pretty cool! the food is great!!!! we ave loved everything we have eaten! we are still trying to find some good snack foods, but every restaurant is fabulous!
We chilled in Dehli for a few days ands checked out the Craft museum. We saw some beautiful dance numbers from all over India! it was beautiful, colorful and amazing. Everyone danced shoeless and one of the dancers sliced her foot open and she continued to dance as she bled all over the floor! it was cool! WE recommend the metro to anyone who is traveling in Dehli. The rickshaws in Dehli are cool, but annoying. They have this deal where if they take folks to tourist spots they get a commission for each spot. We wanted to go to the Craft Museum and we stopped at two shops before di and i basically just left the rickshaw driver high and dry. He did come after us but Helly Belly, our new friend-who also runs tours, help to show the rickshaw driver the door! Darn Right! Anyway we would recommend going on one rickshaw drive- it is totally like a video game as you peer out out the front windshield!!!

We are in McLeod Ganj right now! This place is just like Asheville but is 5000 feet higher, they outlawed plastic bags, there is NO GOOD BEER, and there are monks everywhere. Mcleod Ganj is where the Dali Lama lives and it is breathtaking gorgeous! We have gone on hikes and runs the past two days and plan on staying here for about a week longer. The hikes are amazing and there are buddhist prayer flags all scattering the peeks of the mountains.

A little info about our work here:
I will be working at Saathi in Mumbai. I will tell you more about the organization later. I also forget which organization Di is working for. Saathi's web site is Saathi.org. you can see they are involved with the Mumbai marathon that i will be running hopefully on 1/20/08. I am working on getting a mailing address so folks can send us packages as well.

i hope all is well with you all and we are sending much love your way!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad to see you're safe. We will miss you this Christmas Season. All our love and prayers! We will be thinking of you while we enjoy the family during this special time.
Uncle Manny, Aunt Linda, Sara Matt and Christian

DaD said...

Glad you made it to India and are enjoying it.
What is the picture of the red row of things(chickens?)hanging?

Mom and I will go to New Orleans next week - 29 Feb for her cousin's son wedding. The son is a lawyer in DC and is buying a house near us on N.34 St. Will be on be on Bourbon St in New Orleans. Lots of classic New Orleans history where we will be staying. There is a street car in front of the hotel - when I told mom it would bring back Boston memories. She said she didn't want to remember riding the damn thing.
She has a point - I always drove in Boston.
How about taking a picture of being squeezed in an Indian train. Mark will have to take the picture from his high position.
The big computer is down so have to type on the lap top. Using its keyboard is a bit of an ordeal.

Love,
DaD