Friday, January 30, 2009

Cochin







We stayed four nights in a great little guesthouse in Cochin called Kapithan Inn. They served us breakfast on the roof, and we were within walking distance of everything - including a Cafe Coffee Day, which we frequented at least once a day.

We were really close to the Arabian Sea, and the girls were able to put their feet in the water on one of the first days we were in Cochin.





A couple days later an auto driver took us to a place on the shore where we could see across the bay to the mainland (Cochin is on a peninsula). I was shocked by the garbage in the water, and wasn't anxious to let the girls play in the sea anymore.

The Journey to Cochin

These posts are slightly out of order, but I think you will still enjoy seeing what we've been up to recently. After celebrating Christmas in Ooty, we ventured to Cochin. This was quite an experience! First of all, I have to say that we love Cochin! It was so relaxing, and there were enought tourists around that we were able to "blend in", which was a real treat for us. The trip there, however, was an adventure - not one that I would care to repeat. On the taxi ride down the ghat (mountain) Addie got carsick. Unfortunately, I was listening to some music on the iPod so I didn't notice until she had thrown up all over my lap and the backpack where we had put all of our snacks. We had to stop by the side of the road, and Ryan had to ask the driver to take down our luggage from the roof rack so I could change my clothes. Luckily there was a tiny village within walking distance, and I found a lady that finally understood that I needed a room where I could change (thhis was after two women had directed me to a stream where I could wash).
The first leg of our trip was a 3 hour taxi ride to Coimbatore - where we would catch a 6 hour train to Cochin. We didn't know it, but our train was late since it was coming from the Nepal border. Since we thought we were going to miss our train, we were pretty stressed out when we reached the train station. None of us had ever seen such a mob of people! Luckily the mob cleared during the time when we were waiting for our train, so we were able to get to the right platform without getting trampled.
Unfortunately for us, we ran to the wrong end of the train, and then had to run back to our car with all of the kids and luggage as the train was pulling out of the station! All of us were sweating, aching, and nearly crying when we finally got to our seats. I think that must have been the longest train I had ever seen.

The Day You've All Been Waiting For...

I'm back to blogging!!! Okay, so A LOT has happened in the past 2 months. The last time I blogged about the terrorist attack in Mumbai I was in the middle of writing health reports for the Hebron students - all 360 of them! Well, I actually had help from one of the other nurses, and I only had to actually write a little over half of them. But I did have to sign all of them!
The next four weeks included a two week visit from some NNU friends, and then a two week visit from my parents. Needless to say, it was an amazing holiday but we were thankful to get back to Hebron with our girls.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Okay... so we stink at updating our blog, and we're having some issues with the size of our family photo. We are leaving our hotel in Mysore (and our internet connection), and we're headed back to Ooty. Over the next few days we'll be posting pictures of our recent adventures - we've had company for the past 4 weeks!