One silver lining to being in India during the scorching spring and summer months is the opportunity to celebrate Holi in the country of it’s origin. I’m pretty sure the colorful festival is on every traveler’s bucket list, and as the day approached, I was so looking forward to checking this one off mine. Leading up to March 17th, billboards sprung up around town advertising day-long concerts and big expensive parties with DJs and colorful powder-and-foam covered dance floors. Asking around, I was told that these parties cater mostly to tourists and the backpacker crowd…not exactly the kind of place one brings their toddler…
I know it’s been weeks since I’ve posted to this blog! I promise more updates are forthcoming (on Holi and our getaway to Mumbai), but in the mean time, here are some random things to fill in the gap.
Last Saturday, Greg, Ellie and I hired a car to take us out of the city and into the mountains. We were interested in seeing the 14th century Sinhagad Fort that once protected the region from Mughal invasions. The fort is only about 30 km from the city center, but with road conditions and the mass of traffic, it still took about 2 hours to wind our way up the steep mountainside. Pune is only the eighth largest city in India, but with a population of 2.5 million people, it is still a vast sprawling metropolis that has swallowed up many small villages around the mountains.
Before Ellie was born, you could say that Greg and I lived a nomadic life. We moved abroad, traveled as much as we could, and tried to throw ourselves at every adventure that presented itself. But then, as babies often do, Ellie changed everything. People began remarking that our traveling days were over now that we had a tiny third wheel along for the ride. And certainly, for a while we were content to stay put as time and logistics became exponentially more difficult. But I just never understood why, if traveling was such an important part of our lives before, having kids should change that. If anything, our desire to experience new places intensified once we promised to give our little girl as much of the world as we could.
We’ve officially been here one entire week, so I thought I would share some snapshots of our life the past 7 days. Of course Greg has been working a lot, but Elliotte and I have tried to get out and explore as much as possible…not exactly easy when crossing the road requires us to take our lives in our own hands. We’ll get better at it, I’m sure. Read on
