The catedral in Toledo is one of three Gothic churches in Spain, and is widely considered to represent the height of the Gothic style - easy to see here with the vaulted arches and soaring spire ⛪️ • • • #toledo #catedraldetoledo #gothicarchitecture #spain #españa #travel #wanderlust #adventure #views #girlslovetravel #dametraveler #wearetravelgirls #girlsborntotravel #solotravel #instatravel #igtravel #travelgram #travelblog #instapassport #passionpassport #postcardsfromtheworld #worldcaptures #thediscoverer (at Catedral de Toledo. Santa Iglesia Catedral Primada)

Haven't uploaded my camera pics from the Alhambra yet, but here's one we snapped with my phone to commemorate the six hours we spent exploring the "crown jewel of Spain" 💎 • • • #alhambra #granada #generalife #spain #españa #travel #wanderlust #adventure #views #girlslovetravel #dametraveler #wearetravelgirls #girlsborntotravel #solotravel #instatravel #igtravel #travelgram #travelblog #instapassport #passionpassport #postcardsfromtheworld #worldcaptures #thediscoverer (at La Alhambra, Granada, España)

Sometimes you gotta take days off from being a tourist - last week I hit the one month mark and treated myself to ramen and a pedicure 💁 • • • #madrid #madrileño #ramen #spain #españa #travel #wanderlust #adventure #views #girlslovetravel #dametraveler #wearetravelgirls #girlsborntotravel #solotravel #instatravel #igtravel #travelgram #travelblog #instapassport #passionpassport #postcardsfromtheworld #worldcaptures #thediscoverer (at Ramen Kagura)

The hike under Ronda's Puente Nuevo was GORGE-ous lol get it ⛰ • • • #puentenuevo #ronda #hiking #spain #españa #travel #wanderlust #adventure #views #girlslovetravel #dametraveler #wearetravelgirls #girlsborntotravel #solotravel #instatravel #igtravel #travelgram #travelblog #instapassport #passionpassport #postcardsfromtheworld #worldcaptures #thediscoverer (at Puente Nuevo (Ronda))

Solo travels have come to an end and now I'm zipping through Andalucía with my best friend! The big highlight so far has been the stunning Real Alcázar in Sevilla, which has Muslim, Gothic, and Renaissance influences and is full of hidden courtyards like this one 🌳 • • • #sevilla #realalcázar #architecture #spain #españa #travel #wanderlust #adventure #views #girlslovetravel #dametraveler #wearetravelgirls #girlsborntotravel #solotravel #instatravel #igtravel #travelgram #travelblog #instapassport #passionpassport #postcardsfromtheworld #worldcaptures #thediscoverer (at Real Alcázar de Sevilla)

Seen in Madrid: Beer colder than your ex's heart 🍺❄️😂 • • • #madrid #madridista #cerveza #spain #españa #travel #wanderlust #adventure #views #girlslovetravel #dametraveler #wearetravelgirls #girlsborntotravel #solotravel #instatravel #igtravel #travelgram #travelblog #instapassport #passionpassport #postcardsfromtheworld #worldcaptures #thediscoverer (at Madrid, Spain)

Toledo welcoming us in style with a night hike and #views 🌄 • • • #toledo #miradordelvalle #rutadequixote #spain #españa #travel #wanderlust #adventure #views #girlslovetravel #dametraveler #wearetravelgirls #girlsborntotravel #solotravel #instatravel #igtravel #travelgram #travelblog #instapassport #passionpassport #postcardsfromtheworld #worldcaptures #thediscoverer (at Toledo - España)

The past week has been crazy busy in the best way. It was 104 degrees (40 C!) in Madrid and it took all of my willpower not to jump into the lake 🏊‍♀️💦 • • • #madrid #madridista #retiro #parquedeelretiro #spain #españa #travel #wanderlust #adventure #views #girlslovetravel #dametraveler #wearetravelgirls #girlsborntotravel #solotravel #instatravel #igtravel #travelgram #travelblog #instapassport #passionpassport #postcardsfromtheworld #worldcaptures #thediscoverer (at Parque de El Retiro)

Always a treat to see friends from home halfway across the world 🌍 • • • #coffee #barcelona #bcn #spain #españa #travel #wanderlust #adventure #views #girlslovetravel #dametraveler #wearetravelgirls #girlsborntotravel #solotravel #instatravel #igtravel #travelgram #travelblog #instapassport #passionpassport #postcardsfromtheworld #worldcaptures #thediscoverer (at Plaça Sant Jaume)

Clóchinas y el vino blanco de la casa at a 100 year-old restaurant to kick off my stay in Valencia 🐚 • • • #clóchinas #valencia #valenciagram #wine #foodgram #spain #españa #travel #wanderlust #adventure #views #girlslovetravel #dametraveler #wearetravelgirls #girlsborntotravel #solotravel #instatravel #igtravel #travelgram #travelblog #instapassport #passionpassport #postcardsfromtheworld #worldcaptures #thediscoverer (at La Pilareta)

Revisited one of my favorite BCN spots last night ⛲️ Magic seems to be a theme here ✨ • • • #magicfountain #montjuïc #barcelona #bcn #barceloneta #spain #españa #travel #wanderlust #adventure #views #girlslovetravel #dametraveler #wearetravelgirls #girlsborntotravel #solotravel #instatravel #igtravel #travelgram #travelblog #instapassport #passionpassport #postcardsfromtheworld #worldcaptures #thediscoverer (at Font Màgica de Montjuïc - Magic Fountain)

La Sagrada Família is pure magic ✨ • • • #gaudí #lasagradafamilia #barcelona #bcn #magic #spain #españa #travel #wanderlust #adventure #views #girlslovetravel #dametraveler #wearetravelgirls #girlsborntotravel #solotravel #instatravel #igtravel #travelgram #travelblog #instapassport #passionpassport #postcardsfromtheworld #worldcaptures #thediscoverer (at Basílica de la Sagrada Família)

Spent yesterday chasing Gaudí through Barcelona🦎 • • • #gaudí #parkguell #barcelona #bcn #barceloneta #spain #españa #travel #wanderlust #adventure #views #girlslovetravel #dametraveler #wearetravelgirls #girlsborntotravel #solotravel #instatravel #igtravel #travelgram #travelblog #instapassport #passionpassport #postcardsfromtheworld #worldcaptures #thediscoverer (at Park Güell)

Nice was nice, Barça is bueno 🌞 • • • #beach #barcelona #bcn #barceloneta #spain #españa #travel #wanderlust #adventure #views #girlslovetravel #dametraveler #wearetravelgirls #girlsborntotravel #solotravel #instatravel #igtravel #travelgram #travelblog #instapassport #passionpassport #postcardsfromtheworld #worldcaptures #thediscoverer (at La Playa, Barceloneta)

Reflecting on four days in Nice like 😍 • • • #reflections #placemasséna #ilovenice #nice #france #villenice #travel #wanderlust #adventure #views #girlslovetravel #dametraveler #wearetravelgirls #girlsborntotravel #solotravel #instatravel #igtravel #travelgram #travelblog #instapassport #passionpassport #postcardsfromtheworld #worldcaptures #thediscoverer (at Place Masséna)

Ice cream paint job 🍦 • • • #ilovenice #nice #france #villenice #travel #wanderlust #adventure #views #girlslovetravel #dametraveler #wearetravelgirls #girlsborntotravel #solotravel #instatravel #igtravel #travelgram #travelblog #instapassport #passionpassport #postcardsfromtheworld #worldcaptures #thediscoverer (at Fontaine du Soleil)

Four Days in Kochi: The End of India

The flight from Bangalore to Kochi on Monday afternoon was easy - just a little under an hour - but I’ve never been on a plane that smelled so strongly of body odor, so it was a bit brutal. The airport in Kochi is kind of adorable, much like the town of Fort Kochi itself. Rather than the crumbling palaces of Kolkata or the modern, angular buildings in Bangalore, Kochi has an almost Mediterranean feel. During my hour and a half bus ride from the airport into town, I saw plenty of the red tiled roofs and bright green palm trees that give Kochi its quaint, beachy vibe.

This is the problem with getting so behind on blogging - I have only a vague idea of what I did on Monday afternoon, but I’m fairly certain it involved a long nap after Bangalore’s back-to-back late nights. I settled into my bed and breakfast, which was conveniently located right in the middle of Fort Kochi’s modest downtown area, then I don’t think I did much of anything except sleep. The reasoning behind my visit to Fort Kochi, which is a bit off the beaten path, especially during the brutal summer months of monsoon, is that my sister is interning there this summer through a DukeEngage program, similar to what I did in Kolkata. After my three hour snooze, I walked down to her homestay, to which she had invited me for dinner.

Monday was Eid, so the family that runs her homestay was in full celebration mode. Over a delicious, vegetarian meal involving some sort of tortilla-like bread and a saucey potato paste, I got to know Sajir, the host, as well as the site coordinators and the other 11 students with whom my sister is living this summer. While we waited for dinner to be ready, we played a rollicking game of cards that I think was called “Mao,” and I taught them “Do You Want to Buy a Duck.” After dinner, we played “Contact” for a bit before I walked back to my hotel and slept even more. This trip has really been extreme in terms of alternating between lots of sleep and very, very little, and I definitely don’t bounce back from the late nights like I used to.

Kochi was a stark change from Kolkata: the streets were narrow and empty after dark and without the constant thrum of street salesmen and food stalls. The stores were all actual stores - no garage-door holes in the wall - and the few areas with stalls had large tables full of their goods as opposed to the sidewalk displays of the big cities. Fort Kochi had much more of a small town feel that was appreciated after so many days in big cities. The weather, however, was reminiscent of Kolkata’s insane heat that I’d briefly escaped in Bangalore. Each day the forecasts promised rain, but instead, the heat index climbed well above 100. Once again, I was a sweaty mess, but the ocean air made me feel less grimy at the end of the day than Kolkata’s smog.

On Tuesday, I slept until almost noon, then wandered around the small downtown to get my bearings. I visited St. Francis church, which is where Portuguese explorer Vasco de Gama was originally buried before his remains were brought home, and marveled at the grave stones from the 1600s when Kochi was still a Dutch colony. I also walked along the beach for a bit, but was getting eaten alive by mosquitoes, and tried to go to a church that was closed. A little frustrated, I decided that hey, this is my vacation, and ended up spending the rest of the afternoon reading and writing from the comfort of my hotel’s second floor terrace. Curled up on the divan (a cursory Google search could not confirm the spelling of that but you get the idea), I wrote my final Kolkata blog post and my Bangalore post and read on my Kindle while the blessed rain finally poured down outside, cooling the day off significantly.

 I wanted to get dinner with my sister, but my breakfast of small biscuits and snack of a candy bar somehow didn’t tide me over, so I ended up having a delicious, local fish dinner at a restaurant downtown. The dish is called meen moily, and involves fresh fish and rice in a sauce of zestily spiced yellow curry with plenty of veggies. After clearing my plate, I met my sister at her homestay and accompanied her and her housemates to dinner at a Thai place. Too full from my Keralan cuisine, I watched with a bit of disgust as they gorged themselves on every variety of momo and then walked with them to an art cafe near my hotel, where they all ate huge brownies and I felt slightly nauseous. I went home and, after reading all afternoon and all through dinner, I stayed up past midnight to finish the fifth Game of Thrones book.

Maybe because I stayed up so late, or maybe because of the deluge earlier that day, I had to deal with some uninvited guests that arrived shortly after midnight. At the risk of giving too much information, I was on the toilet when I heard a loud rustling above me, and turned only to see a HUMONGOUS cockroach fly toward me. I contemplated killing him myself, but he seemed bent on attacking me and wouldn’t stay still long enough to be smushed, so I went down and asked for help from the front desk attendant. Of course, when he came back up, we couldn’t find the rascal, so he armed me with a large bottle of spray and left me to fend for myself. Shortly after, the rustling started up again in the bathroom, but I had sprayed an offensive barrier around the door frame to dissuade the enemy from crossing into my bedroom. It seemed to have worked, and he was already in bad shape as he staggered through the doorway. A couple quick sprays finished the job, and I used the large paintbrush and dustpan the attendant had given me to put the corpse into the garbage can. Relieved, I got back in bed and continued to read.

Fifteen or twenty minutes later, I heard the telltale rustling again - but this time from right beside my bed! I looked down and saw another huge cockroach walking toward my nightstand. A chase ensued, and he ran under my nightstand, under my bed, then under my dresser, where I finally got him with the spray. I put his body in the trash can with his fallen comrade, but by then my room smelled so strongly of toxic spray that I was sneezing and coughing. I couldn’t open the door, though, because I was afraid more roaches would get in, and the windows didn’t open either. I decided that, if I died, I was at least going to die without the unwelcome company of the creepy crawlies, and finished my book (finally!) in peace before falling asleep.

After such a relaxing day on Tuesday (not including the chemical warfare I raged at night), I decided to be a good tourist on Wednesday and see as much of Kochi as I could. After a “quick” breakfast of toast downtown (India time), I decided to walk along the perimeter of the peninsula to Bazaar Road and Jew Town, two of the historic areas of the city. Although it involved a lot of fending off autorick drivers downtown who assured me they had the “best price, madam, fifty rupees only, two hour tour,” I was able to walk relatively peacefully. My first stop was Fort Hotel, where I booked a massage for the following morning at my sister’s recommendation, and chatted for a bit with a high school girl and her friend’s mom, who was Indian and chaperoning a group’s post-graduation vacation.

From there, I made my first cultural stop of the day at the Mattancherry Palace, which was built by the Portuguese, sometime in the early 17th century I believe, to appease the local Indian ruler. Different from Kolkata’s large concrete palaces, this building had long, low-ceilinged rooms with dark wood beams spanning the ceilings and seemed to be built of some more natural material. While the exhibit inside was a little underwhelming, I did see some interesting artifacts from the early colonization of Kochi (then Cochin) and from the ruling family’s daily life, including elaborate gowns, a palanquin, and a number of swords and daggers.

I left the palace and walked along Bazaar road, passing all the shops and doing my best to politely ignore (that phrase still feels oxymoronic) the hawkers, until I got to Jew Town. I learned while I was in Kochi that the area was home to one of the very early Jewish settlements, with the community’s history tracing back to something like 550 AD. Jew Town was cute, and I made my way through the small, shop-lined streets to the synagogue. Of course, I had arrived just after 1:00, and like most things in the warmer areas, the temple was closed between 1:00 and 3:00 PM. With almost two hours to kill, I sat in a nearby bookshop and enjoyed a fresh ginger lime soda while reading my next book, “The Girls.” Once I felt I’d overstayed my welcome, I walked back to Bazaar Road and had a bizarre snack of “chips and salsa,” which consisted of Dorito-esque chips and a very Indian-tasting version of salsa, and some more chips. This still left me with an hour until 3:00, so I walked to an antique shop and got a tour from one of the staff, a sweet lady named Dini who told me all about her daughter Didi and her husband, who had passed away a few years back. After getting the full tour of the antique store, which boasted all sorts of imports and also had an altar at which the staff prayed (it was odd), I had almost passed the full two hours. I walked for, like, a mile in search of a public restroom, convinced a guy at a flooring store to let me use theirs, and then was granted entry to the synagogue right at 3:00.

The synagogue was a little surreal, and not just because of its age. The floor was set with something like 11,000 tiles, each of which had been hand painted. Although they all had generally the same blue floral pattern, no two were identical. The ceiling of the modest room was hung with mismatched chandeliers, and there was an altar in the middle of the room. Wooden benches lined two sides of the room, with the Torah at the back and an entrance and foyer, full of commemorative plaques, at the front.

I was glad I’d waited and had gotten to see it, but I was getting pretty tired and my feet were hurting, so I headed back East toward downtown.After stopping at an ATM for some cash, I visited one last cultural site, the Santa Cruz Basilica, which was right behind my hotel. This place was also surreal, and reminded me of the church in Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet film, full of neon and LED lights and gaudy decorations. Pictures will follow, but the ceiling was elaborately muraled and every column had a glass-encased statue of some saint or Jesus at varying ages. There was also a small grotto-type thing outside dedicated to the patron saint of Portugal or something, which was also full of busy fabrics and loud colors and centered around a brightly painted statue.

In Kochi, I largely avoided much attention, aside from the autorick drivers competing for my business, but was approached in the Basilica by a group of Indian men, probably in their 40s, asking if I’d take a picture for them, then asking if I’d take a picture with them. Ugh. I tried to politely decline (not sure if better or worse than politly ignoring) but then felt like I had to leave. I was mostly ready to be home anyhow, so I schlepped back to the hostel to read for a bit. The power was out, so I walked down the street to what became my new favorite coffee shop (more on Oy’s later) and had a smoothie before walking to my sister’s house to pay her another visit. She had a birthday dinner that evening, so I just hung out while she worked on some visa paperwork before heading to dinner solo.

I ate at a rooftop place downtown, Rasa, that was a bit ritzy, but most of the local places, at which I would’ve preferred to eat, were closed because it was after 9:00. I had a weird, but good, green-sauced biryani, and once again ate to the point of nausea. Indian food is such a blessing and a curse - I love it, but I eat too much, and then feel sick for hours afterward. Clearly self-control is not my forte when it comes to eating all of the local cuisine. I stayed up reading for a bit but called it a fairly early night.

Thursday was my last day in Kochi, but my flight to Bangalore, through which I was flying to get to Doha then Paris, wasn’t until 10:30 PM, so I had a full day to explore. I had another quick breakfast of toast, and then went to Fort Hochi Hotel for my ayurvedic Keralan massage. While it was well-executed, I’ve decided that I’m more of a Swedish massage girl. The strokes were far too light and quick for my tastes, but I appreciate that I got the real Keralan experience. Of note is the fact that the type of massage requires complete nudity, which was a first for me. The masseuse was a young girl and very professional, so it didn’t feel the slightest bit odd, but it was definitely weird when she asked me to fully disrobe. The massage was a relaxing 60 minutes, at the end of which I showered and headed back downtown.

At this point, I’m not gonna lie, I was feeling a bit worn down. Being in India, as I’ve said in almost every post so far, is exhausting. Less so in Kochi, but the constant attention that comes with being a petite, Caucasian woman quickly gets old. I felt that I’d done all of the touristy things that Fort Kochi offered and didn’t have time to take a day trip anywhere. I also had checked out of my hotel, so after a brisk beach walk and a quick, very local (read: no utensils) meal of fish and rice at a little shop called Uncle’s, I ended up spending a large part of the afternoon at Oy’s Cafe. Oy’s is owned by a British lady and an Indian man, who met when she visited Kochi last year, and, in her words, “the rest is history.” It’s no secret that I love local coffee shops (I practically lived at Francesca’s in Durham and frequented Tryst in DC), and this place had what I’m sure the local beach bums would call a “killer vibe.” With handmade bamboo furniture, boldly patterned pillows, and eccentric photos and quotes on the walls, Oy’s street sign correctly describes it as the perfect backdrop for an Instagram photo. I’d had a mango and ginger smoothie the day before, so this time I got a blended coffee and set to work on finishing “The Girls.”

Oy’s seems to be kind of a hub for young travelers, and I saw the same group of French kids that I’d seen the previous afternoon. This time, two of them came over to ask me about a place to stay, and we ended up chatting for a while. I recommended the hotel that I’d just checked out of, and then we talked about travel and Kochi and India in general. After reading for a while and finishing my coffee, I went back to my hotel to charge my laptop for a bit on the terrace, and it the girls had checked in and were sitting there as well. It turns out their original hotel smelled of mildew, so I spent the next hour or so with Jeanne, Orvine (I think… she said her American friends just call her “O”), and Sarah. They’re all classmates studying business in Paris, but only Sarah is actually from the city. One of the other girls is from Bordeaux, and one is from a suburb of Paris. They had come to India to work with a business in Tamil Nadu, which marked Jeanne and O’s second visit to that area, and were now spending a few weeks traveling after the conclusion of their project. Despite my shame that their English was so good and my French is so bad, I really enjoyed getting to know them.

Each of the French girls had bought an anklet in Kochi, which seemed to be a local trend, so I went out in search of one in the couple hours I had left before my bus. After buying an anklet and some postcards, I went back to Oy’s (yes, again), and had a chocolate peanut butter banana smoothie, which was amazing, and finished up my book. Sad to leave Kochi, but also admittedly ready to leave India, I caught the 7:00 PM bus to the airport and arrived around 8:45, with plenty of time to spare before my flight.

Although we were supposed to leave at 10:30, the flight didn’t depart until after 11:00 PM, which was fine, since I had a four hour cushion in Bangalore. Upon my Bangalore arrival, however, I was greeted by a surprisingly long customs line. After changing into a fresh set of clothes and rechecking my pack, I waited at customs for almost an hour before a quick exit interview. With the hour I had before my flight, I had one last spicy Indian take on chicken soup. I had put myself on liquid restriction and had a window seat for the 3:40 AM four hour flight, and don’t even think I got a glimpse of India fading away before I fell asleep on the plane.

This is already a long post, and I’ve said most of what I can say about India. It’s rich and loud and mouth-watering and exhausting. I can also say with confidence that I’ll be back, and am almost certain that I’ll spend time living there as an expat someday. But until then, India will live in my dreams as a hazy, half-imagined country where nature and industry both collide and collude. India, ami tomake bhalobhashi, accha?