Bombay-Mumbai Part I

In arrived in Bombay at noon and after being followed by many cab drivers at the train station a nice man suggested I go outside of the station and grab a cab. The following was kind of fun though since I decided to walk all around the station with quick turns and such and I drove the drivers totally crazy. Anyhoo, after being told a ride would cost R100, the R80, then R70, then R50 a nice guy stopped me on the street and insisted he call the place I was staying to make sure of the address, then got a R40 price for me. Still, I yelled at the driver and told him R35 was final. He mostly agreed. This means he said yes and then for the 15 minute ride he told me a thousand reasons I had to pay him R40. I arrive at the Salvation Army Hostel, handed him R35 and told him it was good karma for him to be nice to a tourist.

The Salvation Army is my first experience with a dormitory. This means there are about 25 of us in a rather smallish space with lots of bunk beds. I was weirded out at first, safety, cleanliness, etc, but after meeting couple of folks I have to say, I settled into it nicely. I cover my bed with a large silk sheet I got, cover my pillow with my jacket and I managed to find a hidden bathroom (shared bathrooms) in the back of the hostel. My valuables go in a locker and my backpack stays out all day. I feel this intense sense of trust among the other travelers and our collective respect for each others things and so I am happy. Oh yes, why here? Bombay is like LA. While I paid R150-250 in most places, here I would pay R600-800 for a single room with bathroom. The SArmy costs R150.

I spent my first day walking around and made the silly decision to buy a LonelyPlanet suggested map of R250. It is so detailed and I have not used it once. It will be a nice present when I leave. I also found BARISTA, India's Starbucks (the other is Coffee Day, which I detested). I love Barista and they make a mean double latte. I think of Nicole every time they give it to me. Nicole makes the best lattes in the world. The Italianist in her works its way every time! Now, a double latte is a must in the mornings and afternoons. And yes, I am starting to get back that HORRIBLE - NEED CAFFEINE feeling. This will change since I will go to smaller places once Tricia arrives. BUT TRICIA, we will first have a yummy latte on the 9th.

This day also marked the first time I had alcohol in India. After a very hot day, and meeting up with Kim, an Aussie I ended up at a restaurant ordering pitcher of beer and eating a mutton club sandwich and fries. Could I be more American? The beer sucked, but the idea of having the beer was great.

The first day was also when I was *spotted*! Ok, so men stand on the streets of Colaba and Fort (where tourists stay) and ask us if we want to be extras in Bollywood movies. It is neat. The deal is that you work from 8am - 11pm, get free food, and get R500. But, you do it for the experience and a potential spot, of course.

For those of you not familiar with India cinema, the industry is famous for Hindi Movies which are usually 2-3-4 hour extravaganzas that consists of a mostly simple story line with a twist. The twist? Every time the movie comes to some sort of significant turning point the actors and the cast break into songs and dances. It is not the usual musical, it's really kinda of magical. Think of THE HOURS, and then suddenly the four main characters starting a dance number while the cast follows with simple moves behind. It's more like that. Sometimes, if the movie is good, or the dance number is good, then it gets put on MTV India. The scene we were shooting (I think) was the final dance number of "Neal & Nicky" and it was set in a barn since the movie is set in Canada. Lots of hay, (Yes, Drew I kept thinking - ROLL in the HAY, ROLL in the HAY - ok people, I a not writing suggestively to Drew in public. I am referring to a funny scene in Young Frankenstein (sp)).

The day was filled with boring moments of waiting for different angles of the shots, lots of hunger and the meals kept getting pushed back and totally tacky outfits. Perfect, as expected. I brought a book so when I was not talking to others I was reading, which was actually nice. This experience also made many of us travelers bond since 20 of us lived through this experience.

As with anything, the best part of the day was when 4 us said, F%$K it, let make this our best B-wood experience ever. This meant every time the music went on we lost ourselves. We danced so crazy people starting laughing, watching and joining in. It was blast and ended at 10pm, getting us back to our place at about 11:15pm.

Yesterday I spent the day with the wonderful Polish girls who arrives back from Kolkata. We did a walking tour, shopped some, and complained about our collective diarrhea (sp). Not the end of the world, don't worry.

The girls are doing the B-wood thing today so I am just taking it easy since my life will really pick up when Tricia gets here. I am going to read some, have a latte, and just be in this mad, mad India.

Julio - all caught up - Dantas

"Into the Woods to Find the Giant..."
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