mysore, bangalore, and cochi

for the first part of our 3-city-tour of southern india, we spent a few days in mysore with a pastor friend of one of our teammates. they showed the typical (i.e. amazing) indian hospitality, and it's a cute town. we checked out a hindu temple on a hilltop station, their little farm, and the inside of an indian hospital...yep, i mentioned it before, but ruffin got food poisoning and had to get an iv for some fluids. kind of the story of our trip south: we loved it, the cities were beautiful and so fun and different than delhi...and we all got sick. our sweet hosts even did an anniversary celebration for justin & hella (10 years!) and included ruff & i in the fun.

(click to enlarge all collages)

bangalore is a city we would love to get back to visit some day. it was beautiful, clean, tree-lined streets (you know i'm a sucker for a good tree...), and had some amazing markets. we were there during holi and got to see a few people looking like tie-died easter eggs (without getting pelted ourselves...though i won't lie, i kind of wanted to). also: bangalore is currently the only city in india with young life, so we were so excited to meet the staff and see some of what they do--young life folks all over the world are so freaking cool and fun to hang out with.
our last stop on our little tour-of-southern-india was in fort cochi, in the state of kerala. it's a cute little fishing town close to a beach with a surprising amount of history. we visited one of the three surviving jewish synagogues in the world, as well as an old dutch palace turned museum, and spent the rest of the time on the beach and cruising the waterways. it was beautiful, tranquil, and craaazy sticky hot.

and now: back in delhi. we get on a us-bound plane three short weeks from today! plan on soaking up the rest of our time here in this unique indian adventure, but are also really looking forward to being back in the states (and to use a washing machine! and see you, of course).