Holy crap today was awesome.
The weather this morning start out crap, but then it almost immediately transitioned into this nearly perfect, beautiful day- the sun was shining, there was actually blue to be seen in the skies and although it was pretty warm, it was manageable- I even got a bit of a tan on my arms!! Sending out a huge thank you to the existential life force for the sun because it made today's outing to Elephanta Island absolutely perfect.
Quick tangent: nothing in this country happens when you think it should, or as you expect, but somehow everything seems to work itself out anyway :) Two examples from this morning:
1- our driver showed up a half hour late so we didn't hit the road until around 8:30 am. We were hoping to leave at 8:00 to get downtown by 9:00 to catch a 9:30 am ferry. When that didn't happen we were a bit frustrated, thinking we'd have to wait another hour to catch the next ferry.. BUT, as fate would have it, we ended up having enough time to purchase tickets, have a really yummy breakfast (helloooo European breakfast) and then catch the 10:15 ferry. Lovely
2- as soon as we left on said 10:15 ferry the skies opened up and rain starting pouring and the wind started howling. We had water coming into the boat from every direction and holy crap the sea was choppy. About 10 minutes after we left the dock more than a few people were starting to get a bit nervous when all of a sudden we turned around and started to head back. We all assumed that the trip had been cancelled (as we were warned that during Monsoon season the ferries sometimes stop due to rough seas). Turns out that a big group of Chinese tourists hopped on board thinking it was a 30 minute tour and not a 4 hour trip so we turned around, dropped them off, then left again to make our way to the island. The happy happy bit of the story is that when we set back out to sea, the storm had passed and the ride became (thankfully!!) much, much smoother.
Plus we were able to get a different (and stunning!) view of the Gateway of India and the Taj Mahal Hotel from the water. Someday, when I come back to India and decide to go super swanky/ posh.. I will stay here:
SO, after an hour long ferry ride, which passed really quickly due to the h i larious conversations being had with David and David, a couple from London who had just spent three weeks in Kerala and experienced a lot of the same crazy as our little group, we arrived on the amazing, lush, beautiful island of Elephanta.
Elepanta is about 7 miles north east of the Gateway to India, sitting in a chain of super lush islands off Mumbai. The name was given by the Portuguese after the ginormous elephant statue on the side of the island. There are a handful of colossal caves across the island with some absolutely stunning carvings that date back to the 3rd century BC. Thankfully the carvings in the main cave remain, however those pillaging Portuguese bastards* removed a huge number of them during colonial times so that now most of the caves are empty, having had their statues transferred to museums across the world.
On arriving on the Island we were greeted by a number of stands- people peddling souvenirs, old Indian women selling grilled corn, and candy, and of course the obligatory pack of stray dogs, only this time the dogs had goat and monkey friends with them...
I have to admit I was tempted to pay about $3 or $4 to be carried up the hill like a princess, but thought better of it... after sitting in a car most of yesterday I needed to get my a** in motion and hiking up a long set of stairs seemed like the right thing to do.. but still, these chairs were tempting...
It's CRAZY how many monkeys are on the Island.. and how not afraid of humans they are. This guy had just walked up to a tourist stupid enough to disregard the massive signs that said BEWARE OF MONKEYS- PUT YOUR FOOD AWAY and snatched himself a nice refreshing afternoon drink...
Once we got to the top, this guys was sorta hanging out, making eyes at all the ladies...
The welcoming committee just outside the main cave:
I didn't get as close to them as a lot of other crazy tourists.. but still... this was close enough for me...
Once I was over the "holy crap there are a ton of monkeys here and they are soooo close!" thing, I was ready to head into the caves and see some kick ass 3rd Century BC carvings.
For context, this is the entrance to one of the caves.. absolutely stunningly huge, especially when you think about how old these are, that this is a pretty secluded island, and how beautiful it is on the inside...
One of the largest, and most beautiful (and intact) carvings is that of Mahesh-Murti-Shiva.
There were also different versions of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva throughout the cavern.. here are a handful of my favorite shots from the caves:
I have to admit, as interesting as the carvings and temples were, the crazy animal interactions going on outside were almost as fun to watch. For example, the puppy vs baby monkey staring contest..
and the not so civilized lunch buffet...
Once we had explored as much of the island as we could (parts of the island were closed due to.... you guessed it.. monsoons).. we made our way back down the epic set of stairs, picked up a couple more touristy gifts, and caught the ferry back to the city.
Unfortunately the return trip was against the wind, the water was choppy and it was a bit of a rough 90 minute ride back. Trying to wrap my head around how big this city is probably didn't do me any favors either.. The city seemed to just go on, forever, along the coastline...
Eventually we made it back to the Gateway in one piece, without loosing my breakfast (which is more than I can say for a couple of my fellow ferry passengers).
All in all, another full and adventurous day in India!
*OK, so maybe they weren't so bad as these amazing statues can be seen in other parts of the world, but still.. it would have been amazing to see more of them in their natural habitat!!
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