Friday February 1st Elephanta Island

A big adventure. After hearing the quote of 2500 Rs a person from the travel agency (2 cars but no guide), we arranged this trip on our own. We had already had the phone numbers of some taxi drivers. (They all gave us their numbers in hope of more business.) The hotel called one of the numbers and explained what we wanted. For 3000 Rs we could get 2 cars for the day. We would be on our own for the boat ride and the entrance to the caves. (Another 300 Rs) So, for about 800 Rs a person, we could have the same trip. We expected that the driver that had been called would contact the same guy he had worked with yesterday, but instead he brought his brother. Here are Salim & Bablu:

The traffic was horrendous as usual. We even took pictures when our cabs were stopped next to each other.

I was able to take some pictures of the people who live on the street.

Sometimes there were toddlers within a few feet of the traffic, obviously living on the curb. How do you keep them from stepping into traffic? Only the strong survive.

The boats leave from the Gate of India. Bablu took us to the ticket booth. (He spoke much more English than Salim. He said that Salim was his big brother.) We bought a 1^st class ticket – but I really think that everything was the same. The ticket guy told us to go to the back side of the Gate and then to #4.

We are underway. The Gate of India and several boats that look the same as ours. Behind the gate, is the Taj palace hotel. (We plan to have a late lunch there when we return.)

Elephanta island does NOT have any elephants. It was named by the Portuguese because there had been a giant Elephant statue on the island. In taking it, their chains were too light and the statue dropped into the sea. It was later recovered and is now in a park. The island has carved caves that have many rooms and statues and were places of worship. We are now very confused because we have heard so many names for Shiva in all its many guises.

The trip to the island takes about an hour. The Indian Navy Dockyard is near by, so we saw a submarine:

There is a train to take you the 1 km from the boat to the end of the pier. We chose to walk and arrived at the same time as the train.

We had been worried because we knew that there were steps up to the cave level, but no one had been able to tell us how many. They do have sedan chairs to carry you up and down.

As westerners, we feel very funny about having people carry us. It turned out that there were only 100 steps that went up on a gradual grade, so we decided to walk. The stairs were lined with souvenir stands, so we would have missed a fun shopping experience. (An Indian woman who was being carried gave us another perspective, “How will they feed their children, if we don’t hire them!”)

The caves really were impressive:

The island has wild monkeys. They are quite aggressive. Lucille put down her back pack and one of them tried to grab it. One latched onto Maria’s little pack that was dangling from her hand. (Maria was also attacked by a cow. She was quite close to its horns and she had to really move and duck to get away.)

We watched this monkey open a half empy coke bottle. He was able to unscrew the top, but didn’t understand how to tip it up to his mouth. He solved the problem by pouring it out and frantically lapping it up from a puddle before it all ran down the tree.

After exploring, we returned to the boat. (Well, we did shop a little.)

We ate in one of the fanciest hotels in Mumbai. Some of us had high tea and some went to the coffee shop for a sandwich and beer. (I was among the sandwich/beer group.) By this time it was almost dark. We called the drivers and they said that they would meet us by the cars where they had dropped us off. It turned out that they had parked there all day for 50 Rs. We paid the parking fee and headed back. Bablu had bought a toy for his children. We presumed that this was a really profitable gig for him.

Back at the hotel, we hit the bar for a beer to restore our nerves after the traffic home. I was fast asleep when Chuck got back from the council meeting. He did feel the need to wake me up to tell me he was home!