Innnnndia!

hello everyone!
we've had a super smooth landing in india so far. we flew into a city called kochin in the kerela region, southwest india. we flew airasia which goes to the smaller cities...so when we walked out of the airport it was pretty mellow, a far cry from the craziness of the huge cities i'm sure. the taxi ride was harrowing, and a total trip and different reality than thailand, not to mention the US of course. the ride was pretty busy all the way through (1.1 million people). i for one have used my horn in my car all of 2 times in my life, and our great driver probably beat that number by about 100 times. the horn here is a tool of communication to be used in all conversations including "i'm here" , "i'm passing you" , "don't hit me" , "move over now!" and of course, "thanks!". there really is a myriad of horn sounds out there too depending on the age and size of the vehicle. lots of cows out there too. indeed, a very busy ride until the last turn into fort kochin where we are staying. we have a huge room at the princess inn for 14$ (which is a fair amount here for the budget level hotel..the luxury hotels go for 800$ a night though) and it's super nice, though almost unbearably hot everywhere except for on the bed which is right under the fan, otherwise we start perspiring almost immediatley. we are beginning to acclimate, trying to figure out even how to say hello and thank you as india has around 20 different languages depending on the region and most people speak decent english. it seems silly sometimes to speak an entire conversation in our language and then say thank you (because it's the only word i might know, basically) in theirs :) ...training wheels. we had some amazing indian food last night though, northern style with amazing paneer (homemade cheese) and parantha, daal, raita, etc.. chai to finish, it was so good! tonight we're going to dine and get some food at this restaurant called 'the shala' that is recommended by the person who runs our guesthouse..it feautures local cuisine in the kerala style made by women who know how to do it right, with traditional red rice, fresh fish, stewed in coconut milk with shallots, tamarind, and chili. there are a couple other dishes that all sound amazing too. it's a bit of a splurge, the fish dishes are almost 5$ ... but we'll probably balance it out with a vegetarian dish that is closer to $2.5 ..just my style, keeping the finances in the awareness!
the area that we're in has a varied european history dating back the 1400's. as it's a seaport it was influenced by the likes of the famous sailor vasco de gama (who was buried here) and others, who came to trade and bring catholocism. wanting to butter up the locals they offered to build some structures for free as a gesture of good faith to keep everyone placated. that has shown itself here in churches that are hundres of years old, as well as lots of old houses and buildings in a quaint old fashioned european style (like our guesthouse which has wood floors from the early 1800's). once leaving the fort cochin area you get much more of the bustling chaotic busy indian feel..but here in this zone it's like a breeze of the past. other influences from around the world also have shown up here including these huge fishing nets from the chinese that we might go check out today. supposedly requiring four people to handle they are used for ocean fishing (which is nearly visible from where we're staying...). fishmongers sell the catches, including prawns and lobster, which you can purchase for anywhere from 60-300 rupies per kilo (aka .75 to 3$ per pound) and then walk over to a shack and they'll make a seafood curry out of it. our guesthouse owner today chatted with us for a bit and mentioned how some people show up here and leave in a day, and other's who have been traveling india for a whlie show up and stay for much longer because it's such a relief to be somewhere like this. i am not sure how that'll translate to us because we have a huge intinerary of things we'd like to do in both the north and the south, including nepal, and some of it i'm sure we won't be able to fit in....

i feel a little like a small child here, trying to learn customs like eating with my right hand only, nuances of the head bobble that is quite mesmerizing to me (is he saying no??...oh no, he's just head bobbling in acknowledgement) language, how to move more gracefully in this new place..so many things. we're very glad to have each other here, able to talk about what we're experiencing and lean on each other in the ebb and flow of this journey.