Rajasthan Photos - Hotel & Pink City

Here's my attempt to get pictures up from the 2nd half of our Rajasthan Trip. For more details, see previous post by Mom. (All pictures are posted small, but can be clicked on to make full-size)

Jaipur, The Pink City - Bicycle rickshaws

More Jaipur - A group of ladies in saree's

Alsisar Havali Courtyard - Great for afternoon tea/coffee and general relaxing

Upstairs Courtyard - Great views of the city & Fabulous sunsets

Hotel Courtyard & Pool (For anyone going to Jaipur, I HIGHLY recommend the Alsisar Havali!)

We all enjoyed first class on Kingfisher!

This is the Palace that sits in the middle of the lake (though I forgot the name and can't find the guide book)

These are elephants that work at Amber Fort (taking tourists up to the main entrance) - apparently their shift was done for the day and they were headed home

This camel was, I presume, available for camel rides outside of Amber Fort. I was craning my neck out the window to get a good picture of him. His handler saw me, and kindly moved the camel so I could get a better snap. And then, the handler crossed the street to ask me for a tip for his kindness.

Rajasthan Trip Report - Jaipur (Guest Blogger Croom)

Mom wrote up her Jaipur trip before she left (she left late late late Tuesday night). I haven't even started it. So I'm going to share hers with you. I would have posted this 3 days ago when she wrote it, but was waiting to have time to post pictures to go with it. Still haven't found that time. Here is her report. Pictures to follow in a day or two.

Here at long last is Part II of my travels to India. On Wednesday the 20 something of January we flew from Mumbai to Jaipur, an hour and a half flight on a wonderful airline called Kingfisher. It had the best service I have ever had on any airline. When we got to Jaipur there was a driver with a sign saying "Rincon." He drove us to Khem Villas, a lovely tented/cottaged place just outside Ranthambhore National Park, and the TIGER preserve. (More details of this can be found on Mary Croom's blog, www.diegoymaryrincon.blogspot.com) It was a lovely place, with 4 tents, 6 cottages and 4 rooms in the main lodge. We were in 2 of the cottages, Diego and MC in one and Luis and I in the other. It was a lovely spot, with gorgeous plantings, a small lake, and walking paths, all surrounded by fields of corn and mustard plants. The first night we were almost the only guests, the second there were about 8 others, so we had wonderful service. The owners, Usha and Goverdan something-or-other were delightful. He is a doctor whose family is from that area. His dad was active in the founding of the park and the organization which encourages the protection of the tiger population in India. Usha was lovely and quite interesting to talk to. She is from a very conservative family in Udaipur. She told us about family customs, her education and the life they live in this very remote part of India. They have started an English medium school in the village (principally so their children could go, I think) and give scholarships to many of the local children, especially those whose parents worked at the hotel.

At night there was a pit fire next to the lake where we had drinks before supper and got to meet the other guests. On Thursday, MC and Diego went on the first game drive and were blessed with seeing a tiger. MC and I went in the afternoon and did not. Those who have been on African safaris might be disappointed with these game drives, because there was not much game. However there was much to be fascinated with. For me, I was most impressed by the force of the monsoon in this very interior region. The monsoon ended in October there this year, and you could see wide swaths of land destroyed by the force of the water, with large trees uprooted and such. Also in the park were beautiful lakes with ancient hunting lodges and mosques and tombs from the times of the rajahs.

On Friday morning, Diego and I took one last game drive, we all had lunch and got back in the car for the drive back to Jaipur. We took a different route, and if I had not known better, I would have thought we were in a different planet in a different century. For at least the first hour we saw more camel-driven carts than trucks OR cars. The roads were barely one lane wide, so someone had to pull off to the side so the other vehicle could get by. It was a very agricultural area, with enormous fields of mustard (which, by the way is a beautiful sight- yellow flowers on bright green stems about 2 feet tall), wheat and corn. At every tiny (4-5 mud-brick huts) village there was a well with a substantial hand pump. Often children were there washing clothes, if not there were women there pumping vigorously for their daily needs. The women were dressed in bright saris of every beautiful color under the sun. Each woman wore large thick silver anklets, even in the poorest towns. Several had large and heavy loads carried on their heads, held in place by a circlet made of thick cloth as we have seen in Kenya and Tanzania. We saw cow patties drying in the sun in great number and in patterned circles. There has been a government initiative to encourage their use as fuel, as there is certainly not enough fire wood for all. We saw men resting on charpoys (just like in a Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth), groups of men squatting in the dust playing cards. There were MANY goats everywhere, and cows wandering everywhere and sheep, too. One thing that struck me was the fact that the driver honked gently (and incessantly) to warn of his coming: for cars, trucks and people, but also for camels, cows, oxen, sheep, goats, dogs and even for birds, so strong is the respect for every living thing.

The 132 Kilometer trip took 4 hours. The last hour was tough, with too many heavy trucks and not enough room on the road. The road did expand to 2 and finally four lanes, but the traffic increased exponentially. All the buses looked about 50 years old and were FULL. The local matatu/dolla-dolla was a very old jeep, what looked to me like a 1950's vintage, crammed with people. The most crowded on had 6 people in the front seat, with two people sharing the steering wheel and 12 or so people in the back. Amazing. Also on the road was an incredible assortment of vehicles, make-do trucks from tractors and things I have never seen before, but made to carry things. The regular trucks all also look like '50s vintage, gaily painted with a sign saying "Goods Carrier" in fancy script.

We arrived in Jaipur about 5:30 and drove straight to our hotel, which was a town palace built about 1900 and beautifully restored in the '80s. Lovely courtyards, high, high ceilings in every room, exquisite marble inlaid floors and art-deco tiles decorating the walls in the bath, which had an at least 7 ft. tub. Our rooms were on the third floor, no elevator of course and the last 10 steps without any *gasp* rail at all, (needless to say, I held on to MC or Diego every time we went up or down) opening onto a roof-top area with tables and chairs and room for Luis to crawl around to his heart's content. Soon we began to hear a symphony of calls to worship: it turns out that Jaipur is 30% Muslim. Some were loud speakers, but definitely hi-tech ones, not the raspy tinny ones we heard in Zanzibar. MC and Diego went out to supper, and Luis and I had room service.

The next morning we engaged a car and driver to see the sights. The first stop was to the Amber Fort/Palace on the outskirts of town high, high on a hill overlooking the city. On an adjacent hill was Jaiger (pronounced Tiger) Fort which was surrounded by an 18 Kilometer wall that looked much like the Great Wall of China. As we approached the Amber Fort, we were immediately impressed with its size: huge. Our driver let us out and we got in line to ride ELEPHANTS up to the entrance. It was an amazing experience! MC, Luis and I were on one, and Diego on another. It was about a 15 minute ride and I was delightfully scared/thrilled the whole time. The fort was started in the time of the Moghuls and finished in Hindu times, so the architecture and decorations were mixed.

We first went into the Hindu temple and saw walls of silver, sadhus, priests and worshippers and suddenly bells began to ring and huge drums rolled. Wow-ee! We visited the public spaces, the Zenanna, the Rajah's quarters and more. It was enormous and awesome. Formal gardens, tall walls, arches, inlay, mirror walls, marble inlay, archways overlooking the city. And a zillion tourists from every corner of the earth. Everything is ocher colored, just like the surrounding lands. It was easy to imagine scenes from "The Far Pavilions."

Oh, and by the way, the main rajah in the 18th century had 12 wives and over 136 concubines.

On our way back to our hotel we saw a surreal palace built in the middle of a lake, a pleasure palace built in the 18th century. We drove through the old walled city of Jaipur and saw the palaces and old homes there. One palace is said to have 5,000 windows, all covered by jalis (where our word "jealousy" comes from), arabesque-y coverings so the women of the harem could watch what was going on in the street, without being seen. That afternoon, while Diego and Luis napped, MC and I went shopping, and was it fun. And we flew home the next afternoon. A wonderful, fabulous, educative and fun four days with MC, Luis and Diego. And I didn't even tell about riding the camels at Khem Villas!

The last installment with my adventures to Goa with Suzanne will be written from 231 Meadow Gate Dr, as I leave at 240 AM for home.

Rajasthan Trip Report - Khem Villas

I take a bit of ribbing for not posting more about life in India. Ten days ago, Mom, Diego, Luis and I went up to Rajasthan and spent two days at Khem Villas near a Tiger/Wildlife Preserveand two days in the city of Jaipur. It was a fantastic trip. I've done a write up on the trip to post here. I am posting in parts, as I got a bit verbose with the write up. Also, I posted small pictures for the sake of space. You should be able to click on any of them to get a better view.

After a 90-minute flight, we arrived Wednesday afternoon in Jaipur – a city of 4M people; a small town next to Mumbai. The airport was tiny, reminding me of airports I’ve seen in the Caribbean. We got our bags together, found the driver that was sent for us (by the Tented camp we were staying at near Ranthambhore National Forrest), and set off for Khem Villas. The temperatures were much cooler in Jaipur; maybe about 60 F. But people were dressed for winter. There were lots and lots more motorcycles in Jaipur than there are here in Mumbai. Though there were still 2, 3, and 4 people on any given bike. The men tended to wear wool wraps around their bodies and warm scarves around their heads & necks.
The car was very quiet. Mom, Diego and I were trying to take in the scenes around us and even Luis seemed interested in the world outside the car. It didn’t take us long to get out of the “big city” of Jaipur; though there were “suburbs” for about another 30 minutes. Once out of the city, the road was a two lane road FULL of traffic. There were small cars and big cars, Goods Carrier trucks, people on motorcycles and people on bicycles, camel-driven carts and people-led camels, people on foot and a few people on horses. While the road had two implied lanes (no markings), in fact often both lanes had cars going in the same direction! Passing in India is not the same cautious endeavor that it is in the US. Cars jump up and around the car/truck/camel/bike in front of them – sometimes as many as 4 or 5 vehicles – before narrowly scooting back into their own lane in order to narrowly miss a head on-collision. I had certainly seen some wild passing in Mumbai. In Mumbai, the speed of the vehicles is pretty slow (because there is just so many of them). In Rajasthan, the cars were going 40-, 50- sometimes 60-mph doing this crazy passing game. I found it better to look out the side window than the front window.
Just at the edge of the “suburb” area, I look back in time to see Luis vomit all over himself. I call up to Diego, who is in the front seat, that we need to pull over. He starts to say that it’s not a good idea, the road is too busy, there are too many people on the side of the road, we should go a bit further. Luis vomits again and I tell Diego we have to stop NOW.
We pull over. The configuration of the car was such that we needed to pull the bags out of the back (hatch-back type car, not a trunk) in order to have some working room on getting Luis cleaned up. I’m still not sure how we got his clothes off of him without making more of a mess, but we did. Mom got him changed into new clothes and I started to work on the car seat (also a mess). Diego told me to take Luis and stand on the side of the road with Mom, such that the car was between us and the traffic. He then undertook cleaning off Luis’s car seat (which was on the traffic side of the car). Our driver very sweetly went across the street to get us some water to help with the clean up.
While standing there, holding Luis with Mom, I start to look around. I saw people and camels and dogs and goats and cows and more camels and more people and cats and more dogs. There are people in shops, men playing cards, women carrying great loads on their heads, women sweeping, all kinds of people walking by. I’m trying to take it all in, thinking that the scenery of people in India will never be boring to me. And suddenly, I realize: we are the spectacle in this scene, this white family standing on the side of the road with great big suitcases sitting on the ground and a man cleaning a car seat while his wife and mother (in law) stand by the side of the road and the driver drinks some water. Welcome to India.
I should mention here that Diego did an amazing job cleaning up the car seat considering all he had was a baby wash cloth and 1L of water. Turns out, his family took loads and loads of road trips when he was growing up. And his twin sisters would almost always, without fail, get carsick. At least once. Each. Diego has lots of experience in such situations. Thank you Diego!
After we got everything cleaned up and back on the road, the rest of the drive was great. The road was two lanes (sometimes a bit less) all the way to the Tiger Camp. There would be great stretches of nothingness, barely a tree, and suddenly a small village would pop up. Usually, it was just a few concrete buildings on either side of the road. Then, there would be a stretch were what looked like a rock foundation for a small strip of shops had been started. But there wasn’t anyone working. And there wasn’t anyone within miles. We saw a few buttes and some had small forts situated on top. Under different circumstances, it would have been fun to have taken the whole day to make the drive, stopping to see more of the various sites. Then, there would be these vast fields with what looked like a plant about 4’ tall with a delicate yellow flower. With the green green green of the plant and the blue blue blue of the sky, the little yellow flowers were spectacular. We asked the driver what they were: mustard plants. I know, the irony!
At some point, the driver turned on some music, very low. It took me a minute to figure out what it was – Toto’s Africa!! Then, we heard some Dancing Queen, Bettie Davis Eyes, You Make Me Feel Like Dancing, and a dozen other early-80’s classics. Diego was convinced that someone had found a mix-tape he’d made 25 years ago!
We arrived at Khem Villas, tired and eager to be out of the car. We were greeted with warm towels to wash our hands & face, a small glass of juice and warm smiles. I had reserved two cottages for us. The place is described as a luxury tent place and it was luxurious. The cottage had a spacious bedroom with a HUGE bathroom attached. There was a big, shaded porch and an open sun patio with each cottage. The finishing touch was a private outdoor tub and shower. It is by far, the biggest tub I’ve ever seen. Apparently, when the place was being designed, the British-half of the investor team insisted on big, big outdoor tubs. The Indian-half of the team thought it was a waste of money. As it turns out, all of the European guests RAVE about the tubs.
Luis had an early dinner of yogurt, toast and a banana (what he basically ate the entire weekend), and was off to bed. Mom graciously invited Luis to stay with her in her cottage. That the next morning was the first morning since Luis was born that I wasn’t listening for him to wake up. It was both great and made me a bit nervous. Although Mom invited Luis back for the next night, he didn’t sleep so well and it ended up being Mom, Luis and ME in her cottage – with Luis and me sharing a bed.
We used the babysitter/watchman trick we learned in Lonovala and had someone come and sit on the porch listening for Luis while we enjoyed drinks around a fire pit (it was about 50-degrees out) and then dinner on the veranda with little coal pots under the table keeping us warm. The highlight of the evening – at least for me – was crawling in to bed and discovering two hot water bottles (one by your feet and one at your back) warming the bed.
At 6a, we had a wakeup call the included coffee and toast. Diego and I were headed out on a Tiger Safari, while Mom and Luis stayed around Khem Villas for the morning (we weren’t sure if the safari would be Luis-friendly; it wasn’t). My strongest memory of the safari is that we saw a tigress walking on the road in front of us, maybe 30’ up. My second strongest memory is of how cold it was. I don’t know what the temperature was, but I’m pretty sure it was near freezing. Khem Villas provided us with a big wool blanket (to wrap around you as you would a giant towel) and a hot water bottle to keep us warm. Both were god-sends. Total, we did 3 safaris. Each adult got to go on two, and stay with Luis during one. Having been on safari in both Kenya and Tanzania, I was disappointed in our safari here. At Ranthambhore, I saw one tiger (yes, very cool, even if it was just one), one mongoose, one hyena, one wild boar, one special kind of owl (whose name I instantly forgot). The only thing we saw in groups was deer. They were beautiful, but didn’t quite meet my safari expectations.
It was nice, though, to see a different landscape of India. Ranthambhore (check out this webiste to learn more about the park) reminded me a lot of the US Southwest –Arizona, New Mexico area (probably Colorado & Utah too, but I haven’t seen those states with my own eyes). There were treed areas and open flat areas and small buttes and streams (mostly dry, but they get VERY full during monsoon season). Mom and Diego saw a beautiful like on their safari (each time, we were in a different area of the park).
The area of Khem Villas was lovely. According to their website, “Khem Villas is established on land that Goverdhan purchased in 1989 and converted into a wilderness area planting indigenous trees and creating open grasslands and small water bodies, spread over an area of 10 acres it has become a habitat in itself.” The camp had been carefully laid out so that each cottage or tent had some privacy while the entire camp was not very big. There were smooth stone walkways that connected the main building (where we ate our dinner), the fire pit/sitting area (where we had breakfast and early evening cocktails), the cottages and the two small lakes (very, very, very small lakes). Usha and her husband Goverdhan run the place and are in and out during the day. But each night, they joined us guests around the fire pit for cocktails and stories. It was a peaceful and beautiful place to spend two nights. It would have been nice to spend several more…
On Friday, before leavings, we signed up for the 30-minute camel ride. It was definitely a tourist trap, but an interesting one. Diego and Luis headed out on one camel, with me following behind. We walked out of the camp and down the road a bit to a large open area at the foothills of Ranthambhore Park. Being up on the camel wasn’t that different from being up on a horse – except that with the guide holding the reins, there wasn’t much left to hold on to. The camel laid down for us to get on it – folding it’s legs up underneath itself, getting very low to the ground. The standing up part (and later, the laying back down part) was a bit hairy. The camel moved in a big of a jerky way, first straightening his front legs (such that you were certain you would topple of the back) and then straightening his rear legs (almost pitching you over his head). Somehow, the laying down part was similar, but with three stages – a front, back, front pitch. After our ride was over, we asked if Mom and I could go back out for a short ride. For reasons that are still unclear, I was instructed to get off my camel and onto Diego’s camel, and then Mom got on my camel. For the second ride, we only went about 5 minutes up to the gate of the camp and back. It was short, but it was fun!
After lunch, we packed all of our stuff back in the car (with some extra water) and headed back to Jaipur.

One Great Thing About India - The View from Our Apartment

Home Delivery

I love that I can call the supermarket (more like 7-11 than Safeway) and order groceries. And I love that they know who I am by the things that I buy. So, almost every time I order, I order diet coke (I like it as much here as I did in the US). And every time I get to that part of my order, the guy on the phone chimes in Nav Bahar (that's the name of my building)? Tonight, the phone order went like this:

Me: I'd like to order for home delivery.
Grocery Guy: Yah.
Two nestle milk - blue box
Nestle Milk?
Yah.
Blue box?
Yah.
How many?
Two
Two?
Yah.
OK.

Two nestle yogurt - plain
Nestle yogurt?
Yah.
Plain?
Yah.
How many?
Two
Two?
Yah.
OK.

Two apple juice - Ceres.
Apple Juice?
Yah.
How many?
Two.
OK.
That's all.

What building?
Nav Bahar
Nav Bahar?
Yah.
Diet Coke?

Guest Blogger - Momma Croom

Mom is here visiting for three weeks. Last week, she wrote up a long email for her friends about her trip here. Since I'm admittedly lax on writing about life in India (as opposed to life with Luis), I thought I'd share her story.

Greetings from India! It’s early morning and I am sitting in MC’s office with the sun coming up and a nice breeze coming from the patio- 67 lovely degrees outside. I certainly did pick the right time to come!

We arrived in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. Diego was at the gate to meet us with two helpers. The first was a lovely young lady who worked for the airport who expedited our way through immigration control and baggage collection and inspection. The second was a man to carry our carry-ons and Luis’ car seat. Once we collected all the luggage- and there was a lot of it- Anwar, Diego’s driver and another driver he had arranged for took all our stuff to the cars. Yes, it took two cars to carry all of us and all our bags. We arrived at the apartment, took showers to rid ourselves of the grime of 24 hours of travel and off to bed. It has taken us several days to shake off East Coast time and acclimate to India time, but I think we are now all set.
The apartment is the only apartment on the seventh and top floor of the building. It was cleverly designed so that all the rooms except this study and the kitchen have ocean views, for the only thing between the building and the ocean is a street and a jogger’s park. Lovely. The Indian Ocean here seems quite mild, no surf and only a few gentle waves over the rocks. The land slides off gently into the ocean, so the tide covers a lot of territory. Not much sand, just rocks and some low bushes with what looked like big white flowers on them. I asked MC if she knew the name of the flowers and she said yes: white plastic bags! They are prolific, and do look lovely from a distance.

The apartment itself is large: about 2800 square feet. All the floors are cool, smooth marble that feels wonderful on bare feet. The walls are brick covered with plaster painted creamy white. All the rooms have built-in chests, desks and wardrobes that somehow remind me of Mackie’s apartment in Daytona… it must be a 50’s Florida look that makes the connection for me. The living/dining room is large and the wall facing the ocean is all windows. You could spend all day watching from them. One of my favorite times is sunset, when the huge orange/red sun points a golden/red path across the water towards the beach. Diego had a dining room table and chairs made before MC got here and they are beautiful. The leather couches they had in Falls Church fit right in and look as tho they were chosen for this very room.

In front of the building, besides the parking area, is a small yard with a slide and a swing waiting for Luis to get a little bigger, and a bit of garden. There are always two or three “guards” by the elevator or gate to assist or just to greet you when you arrive or leave. The gate is securely locked at night. Abbas, the owner of the building lives on the floor just beneath MC and Diego and he is very nice.

Just up from the building is a promenade stretching north quite a long way, maybe a mile or so. Four lanes of busy traffic hem it in close to the ocean and it is a busy, busy, busy place. We usually take Ashley and Luis for a long walk there after breakfast. I skipped this am so I could write this letter. Along the promenade one sees a bit of everything. I will try to describe what I saw one day. First of all, people, all kinds of people. People in running shorts, people in saris, in salwar camizes, in business clothes, in rags, in various and sundry uniforms, in just about everything you can imagine. Many are exercising, walking slowly or fast, doing normal and weird exercises, chatting with friends, watching the ocean or working at a variety of things, like street repair, fish drying. Parts of the promenade are lovely, others not so. Sewage is a problem in Mumbai, and you note it in some stretches more than others. Also many use the ocean to do their morning business and are not shy in the least, if you get my gist. You also see lots of dogs, most strays, but curiously they are not at all aggressive. There are also many dogs on leash, mostly cocker spaniels and other medium-sized dogs, although I have seen a German shepherd and 2 Irish shepherds. Towards the end of our walk is an open air crematorium! It is a busy place and makes you pick up your step and perk up for the day.

The other day MC and I went down to South Mumbai, the center of shopping, and monuments and such. Anwar the driver took us down, and it was an hour and a half EACH WAY! Going we went what I call the industrial route, past literally thousands of tiny shops and businesses, with pipes and fittings and engines and lumber and rags and parts and everything else you could imagine. Besides all the people in each of these places there were people on the street, and I do mean people. There is a series of children’s books called Where’s Waldo? Each page is full of a zillion people doing things with a theme for each page and the reader is to find Waldo among all the busy-ness. That is what I thought of as we drove that morning. Another comparison would be with an ant colony. Creatures everywhere, working,working. There is a vibrancy, and energy that really peps you up.

We did a good bit of shopping at the government-run shop for Indian handicrafts, which was enormous and enticing. Afterwards we went to lunch at a very spiffy rooftop restaurant overlooking the Gateway to India, a colossus of a monumental arch built by the British, and part of the harbor area.

On the way home, Anwar took a more scenic route and gave a wonderful running commentary on the places we passed. Among the most interesting were the following: an enormous museum built in the British neo-Gothic/Arabic style, lovely old apartments, Hindu temples, churches and mosques galore. One is a tomb of a revered Muslim saint, built out in the ocean. When the tide is in, you cannot get there, as the causeway is completely covered. I was surprised at the hilliness of part of the way. On top of one of the hills is a Parsi Tower of Silence, where they leave the dead to the elements. Because of pollution, there are many fewer vultures in Mumbai to take care of the bodies. They have installed solar panels to help expedite the process.

I have not talked about the transport in the streets. In MC’s neighborhood there are zillions of auto rickshaws that run on natural gas. The engines are tiny and make much noise, but they are a wonderful and cheap way to get places: a ride is about 10 rupees, about 25 cents. These cannot go downtown. There are also many, many taxis, all tiny and everywhere. Cars of all makes and models, many Hyundai and Honda and Indian made Mahindra. Trucks are of all sorts and sizes, often gaily painted with a guy on top to keep people away from the goods they are carrying. In addition you see oxcarts drawn usually by only one ox, horses and horse carts, cows and goats wandering about and there is an elephant in this neighborhood, although I haven’t seen it yet!

On Wednesday we are off to Rajasthan to visit, Ranthambore, a national park WITH TIGERS, and to Jaipur, the pink city of rajahs. When we get back, Suzanne is coming from Kenya and she and I will have an adventure to Goa, a former Portuguese colony and currently a favorite beach place.

Where Does the Time Go?

I'm having a hard time keeping up with things these days. In my last post on Luis, I forgot to mention that he is more and more interested both in finger food as well as using a spoon to feed himself. I'm both excited about his new development and a bit terrified of the potential mess. I think I'll have this feeling many, many more times over the next decade or two.

Luis is also doing more and more and more walking. I bought a little walk-behind cart for him which he's enjoying. For the first week or so, he'd either walk behind it or sort of walk on his knees behind it. Yesterday, he discovered that he could put stuff into and take stuff out of the basket. The only catch is that the basket has to be properly weighted down to counterbalance the weight that Luis puts on the handle. Learned that lesson the hard way. Oops!

Catching Up

I feel a bit disconnected from the blog - it feels like a long time since I posted regularly. Looking back at the posts from our trip to the States, it seems like all of the facts were covered, but that there was so much more. I will try to be better about more regular updates. That being said, we leave tomorrow for a four day trip to Rajasthan to spend 2 days at a tiger preserve and 2 days in Jaipur...

Luis is growing everyday. He's almost walking now; he can take up to about 10 steps at a time. He's not completely convinced that walking is better than crawling, but he seems to be willing to give it a try. He still loves to play with the broom. And Pavarti is still very sweet to humor him with it when she comes. Everyday. Here, Luis takes the broom for a stroll - one of his longest single walks yet. I still can't quite imagine Luis as a walking boy. I can only see him as the crawling guy he is now. The other big new thing is how vocal he is. Luis doesn't have any actual words yet; at least not words that anyone understands. But he seems to have his own language and he's very proficient in it. He has a running commentary going on most of his day. He just babbles and coos and giggles and goes on and on. It's fun to listen to. Though, I'm a bit nervous about what life will be like once he actually masters words...

He's also getting better at climbing. Yesterday, he figured out how to climb up onto the divan by himself (previously, he always needed a boost up). This picture actually captures the first time he made it up. Now, he tries to climb onto everything. And once he's up on the sofa or a chair, he tries to climb up the back of it to get to the top. I don't think he's thought about climbing out of the crib yet, but that may only be a matter of time.
I'm guessing that he's a bit taller too. Now, he can easily reach the things that are on the kitchen counter. Yesterday morning, he reached up, grabbed the handle of my coffee cup, pulled it down, examined the contents and then poured it all over the floor. All in about 10 seconds. This new ability is definitely going to require a new level of vigilance around here. We hand wash all of our dishes, and tend to let them dry on a towel on the counter. We'll all have to be more careful about pushing back the edge of the towel. I don't like the idea of Luis grabbing hold of the towel and pulling an entire "load" of dishes onto his head.


Diego took Luis down to play on the slide in our little yard, while I threw the frisbee for Ashely. Let's just say that EVERYONE had a good time. We tried Luis on the swings, too. I think he liked it - but he doesn't quite realize that he needs to hold on (it's more of a big-kid swing than a little-kid swing). All things in good time, I suppose. There is a nice playground at Joggers Park with swings, slides, climbing things and things to ride on. Once Luis gets a bit better at walking, I plan to take him there more to play. But for now, I'm not too excited about Luis crawling around there and putting everything he counters, including his fingers, in his mouth...








I was curious about how much of our Mumbai life Luis would remember. How would he react when he saw Pauline, Pavarti, Shabina, Babu - his Mumbai friends? I got my answer the moment we walked through the door. He was super, super, super, super excited to be home, to see his room & crib & toys. The next day, he was beside himself to see Pauline, Shabina & Pavarti. We went for a walk on the Promenade on Wednesday morning and he was excited to see those sights as well. I was a little amazed that a one year old kid could be so homesick. Though, I should add, that as we got closer and closer to Mumbai (on the plane), I got more and more excited to be home - to see MY room & bed & toys. And Diego. It was great to see him. He very sweetly had a porter and the terminal manager meet Mom, Luis and I the instant we stepped off the plane. Ahhh, the advantages to being married to a muckety-muck airport guy! :)

Cousins Come to Annapolis

Dodie, Alison, Maggie Lou (7 1/2), Franklin (4 1/2) and Solomon (2 1/2) came down to Annapolis when we returned from SC/GA. I am pretty sure that Luis had a fun time with his big cousins - he certainly worked hard to keep up with them and to be around them. In return, they were super, super sweet to him. Several times, Franklin would walk up to me and say, "Aunt Mook; I love Luis." Solly is only about a year older than Luis. Right now it seems like such a big difference. Soon, I know, they will be the same age. I imagine them being this generations version of Dodie & Will McDow. Watch out!

Atlanta

Thursday (1/4), Jeanette flew down to Charlotte. Luis and I picked her up and then hit the road for Atlanta. There, we stayed with Randolph & Lauren (& Shadow). Jason, Cara & Evan Terreri came up for a visit on Thursday. Evan is about 18 months now and (I think) the spitting image of his father. Cara is about 6 months along (carrying Evan's brother to be) and looks so fabulous that I'm a little bit jealous! On Friday, Jeanette, Luis and I went to visit Grandfather (who will be 99 next month!!). Unfortunately, Randolph and Luis were both sick while we were there (Luis's first real cold). None-the-less, I felt that we had a great visit with all of our Atlanta friends. I think the highlight of the trip for Jeanette was finding a drive-thru Starbucks in both South Carolina and Georgia.

Rock Hill

Luis and I flew down to SC on 12/31. Luis very kindly slept the whole way on the plane - and settled in nicely to life at 314 College Ave. Before heading down, I asked Thomas what the weather was like. He told me it was beautiful and 60. So I packed accordingly. Unfortunately, the first night we were there, it got down into the teens with a high in the mid-20's. It was COLD.

New Year's night, my cousin Mary Kathryn hosted a McDow family dinner at her place. With about 25 of us, it was SRO. The evening was great. I especially enjoyed hearing Thomas and Aunt Nell tell stories about when they were young.

On Wednesday (1/2), Mary Kathryn and her son Bo (9 mo) came over for a visit after lunch. Bo is one of the cutest babies I've seen. It certainly helps that he has a pretty mom!

Later that afternoon, Lucy invited Luis and I to come out and visit her horses. Both Luis and Shortstop were very patient for this picture. The second photo is one I loved because of the late afternoon winter light.

Aunt Nell and her children, Chuck & Nellie (both college students) came up from Columbia for dinner both 1/1 and 1/2. Luis absolutely adored Chuck & Nellie. He had endless smiles and laughs for them both and was always willing to play with and sit on their laps. It was very sweet to watch.

There is no picture of Thomas and I playing Yahtzee, though we did every night. Yahtzee has replaced bridge for Thomas and me - and I think I enjoy it more than when I was playing bridge.

Visiting in Northern Virginia

We were in Northern Virginia 12/28 -12/30 for Luis's one-year check up and to do some visiting. Luis and I stayed with the Rimicci's. Luis had a lot of fun watching Matthew (10 mo) and Will (4 1/2) and trying to keep up. I had fun watching all three of them interact. In general, Luis seemed to enjoy all of the kids we saw on our trip. And it made me realize that I need to make plans to get Luis together with other kids in Mumbai.

Matthew & Luis play in the kitchen

Will gives Matthew & Luis toy pointers

Saturday afternoon, Emily and Maggie (15 mo) Poulin came over for a visit. It was a bit crazy with the four kids running around - but it was also loads of fun.

Emily, Maggie & the back of Luis's head

Luis admiring Maggie's lounging abilities

Later that evening, we went for the super-early-bird special at my favorite sushi restaurant. I don't have any pictures of the mayhem there. Let's just say it is excellent that the parent-to-child ratio was 1:1. We wouldn't have made it otherwise.

Home, At Last

Luis, Mom and I arrived last night into Mumbai a bit late, but in good spirits. Luis was a FAN-TAB-ULOUS traveler, sleeping 4 hours on the first leg and almost 6 hours on the second leg. I, as a result, slept about 3 hours on the first leg and 5.75 hours on the second leg. YEAH!!

Again, lots of pictures to post and stories to tell as I get settled back in at home.

A Quick Ta Ta!

Luis, Mom and I leave in a couple of hours to head back to Mumbai. I'm surprised and sad that our trip is over. In just under 4 weeks, I estimate that we covered about 1,000 air miles (domestic) and about 1,000 driving miles to visit almost 65 people. It was a great, great time. A super big thank you to all who traveled, changed their schedule, and opened their homes to visit with Luis and me. It was wonderful.

Luis, for the most part, was an ideal travel companion. He slept (mostly) well in the six different places that we stayed (with 12 sleeping location changes). He charmed everyone we met - even the night we met friends for dinner in South Carolina and he was fevered and sick.

I'm a bit worried about the trip home. Mom will be on our flight, but not sitting with us. Luis is almost over his cold, but I am still feeling crummy from my sinus infection (that is my diagnosis, not that of a medical professional). Everyone, please, cross your fingers that Luis will sleep some on this trip.

It will be good to get home to Mumbai - to Ashley & Diego, our home and our routine. Stay tuned for pictures from the last 2 weeks of our time in the US, as well as tourist-y pictures as we show Mom around Mumbai, Rajasthan and Goa over the next 3 weeks.

Happy New Year

Luis and I are on the road again (still?). Yesterday, we flew to Charlotte, where we'll spend 3 days with Thomas and Lucy (and the 4 dogs and 1 cat) and see most of the Rock Hill McDows. Thursday, my friend Jeanette joins our travel team here and we all head to Atlanta to see Randolph & Lauren, Grandfather and the Terreri's. Saturday, we drive back to Rock Hill and then Sunday we fly back to MD. We'll have a week more before returning home to Mumbai.

Luis did great on the flight down, sleeping almost the whole way. I'm very impressed (and grateful) at what a great traveller he's been. The two overnight trips we took in India were sleep disasters for Luis - so I was nervous about all of this travelling in the US. But in the last 2 weeks, he's slept in three different houses (and on two airplanes) and hasn't fussed once. Yeah! And with the sun coming up almost an hour later here (than in Mumbai), he's sleeping an hour later each morning. Another Yeah!

Last week I took Luis for his one year check up. The pediatrician said that he looked great, seems very healthy and is on track for all his milestones. I was pleased to hear that Luis is doing so well (by medical standards). And in a way, it made me feel like I'm doing a good Mom-job as well. That's always nice to hear.

Luis was 21lbs 14oz (35%) and 31" (85%). For those of you who got used to metric (or just want to compare) that would be 9.92kg and 78.74cm. I'm pleased that he's put on almost a pound in the last month. I personally think he's grown more than 1/2" - and that measurement is much more subjective (have you ever tried to get a height measurement on a wriggly baby?).

Luis's best new trick is giving hugs. He tends to give them at bedtime after I read him a story, or if he gets frightened by something. It's a big, strong wrap around the neck with a couple of squeezes for good measure. They are awesome! Occasionally he'll give a kiss, but that's not so nice - a big open mouthed, slobbery suck on the jaw bone. The intent, I suppose is good. He's still not walking, though he'll take 2-3 steps between furniture several times a day. I continue to think that his proficiency in crawling leads to a lack-of-interest in walking. All things in good time... Luis doesn't have any recognizable words (nor anything even remotely resembling Mama or Dada), but he has a HUGE vocabulary of sounds. And he uses them all day long. His most recent addition is babababababa. Luis mastered a bye-bye wave a couple of weeks ago, but he's just now using it to actually wave bye-bye. This morning while Luis was having breakfast, Lucy's cat left the kitchen. I asked Luis, "Where's the kitty?" His response was to wave bye bye.

One not-so-endearing new trick is the way Luis clings to me and cries when I leave the room. He learned this somewhere on the airplane between Mumbai and Baltimore. He particularly likes to stand behind me when I'm doing dishes at the kitchen sink, wrap one arm around each leg, and kind of chant "eh, eh, eh" which I think means, "Mommy, pick me up - or at least, pay more attention to me".

But even that's hard to complain about when I think of what a happy and easy-going child Luis is. He's still a good eater, eating a mixture of pureed veggies and finger foods like pasta, cheerios and cheese (he stopped nursing three days shy of his birthday). He's a good sleeper taking two 2-hour naps each day and sleeping about 12 continuous hours at night. Luis is curious about the world around him and engaging. I'm really enjoying all of this time with him.