Hindi word of the day: स्वागत (svaagut - welcome)

Well, I'm here! I left my camera at someone's house for a while, so I have now accumulated enough stuff for two separate posts.

I arrived at the Mumbai airport at midnight, snuck past a security/customs guy because I'd lost the little rip-off part of a form I didn't realize I was supposed to keep, and headed outside where I met the program director Uttaraa and another girl on the program, Julia. We got driven to the hotel which provided our first taste of Indian roads (INSANE), met a few of the other girls on the program in the restaurant, and headed up to bed. This was the view from our hotel room in the morning.

The man at the building across the way watering flowers.

Julia preparing to head out for our drive to Durshet, the hillside retreat where we recovered from jet lag and had orientation.

Traffic in Mumbai

No ropes! Construction workers we saw on the drive.

After a two-hour drive, we arrived at Durshet. It's basically summer camp--cute little cabins and beautiful scenery.

Exploring Durshet

GIANT BEETLE

The day after we arrived, a bunch of Indian students arrived for what seemed to be their version of Outdoor Ed. They invited us to join them for a dance party that night which was INCREDIBLE. They taught us some awesome Bollywood moves which we proceeded to fail miserably at. 

Best introduction to India ever. 

The next day, we went on a hike to a tribal village near Durshet. 

One of the little girls in the tribal village.

We learned how to remove rice from its husk in the traditional way.

The women go to the village well a few times a day to get water.

Okay they're kicking me out of the program center because it's closing time which means no more internet tonight, but I'll update again soon (maybe tomorrow?) with more on my arrival in Pune.