Rafael arrived home from a business trip on November 28th and a few days later his father, Andrzej and father's friend Waldemar arrived. I greeted them with fresh flower garlands and as we walked to the taxi Waldemar kept telling me how pleasantly surprised he was that I spoke polish. (My Father-in-Law Andzrej is on the left, and Waldemar is on the right).Rafael's father had done some sort of favor for Waldemar, and Waldemar wanted to pay him back so he offered to take him on a trip anywhere. Andrzej said he wanted to go to India and Waldemar happily agreed. Of course we had never met Waldemar before and the prospect of traveling for 2 weeks with someone that you don't know is a little nerve-wracking because you don't know if the person will be a total jerk etc.
Waldemar, on the other hand, didn't know anything about us. He is a strict Polish catholic, and Rafael's father "forgot to mention" that we are Hare Krishna's who live in a town dedicated to Krishna!
When we arrived to Vrindavan (after a harrowing taxi ride through the first fog of the season) Waldemar gave us each a present. My present was a little gold coin with Madonna and child on it, and Rafael got a beautiful silver coin with Pope John Paul II on it!
After an Indian Thali Lunch at MVT (the best local restaurant), we took Riksaws through the older part of town and then went for a boat ride on the Yamuna by the old beautiful palace at Keshi Ghat. Both Andzrej and Waldemar were very pleased by the half hour cuise, and we finished the day by doing some shopping in the town.
The second day we went with our friend and neighbor, Lalita, on a trip to see Kusum Sarovar near Govardhana. This place is a beautiful sandstone palace on the banks of a little lake surrounded by sandstone steps. We decided to take them there instead of to Taj Mahal as some friends had recently taken their family to the Taj Mahal (which their family from NY was thoroughly disappointed by), and then to Kusum Sarovar the following day. They all agreed that Kusum Sarovar was by far much more beautiful! Andzrej and Waldemar were quite impressed with the palace and couldn't stop talking about it.
The following day we drove to Jaipur, and visited the City Palace and the Amber fort and the jewelrey market over the next few days. Both of them loved riding the elephant up to the Amber Fort.
On our fifth day together we flew to Goa. Rafael and I had booked an "Eco Hut" in a jungle just off of Palolem beach in Southern Goa. It was the first time for them to see such a tropical place, and our house was in the middle of a lush jungle with bathrooms that were open so that you could see palm trees while you took care of your business!
One day we visited a spice plantation in Goa. The place is a huge plantation, but they do tours on a small portion of the property. It is a huge tourist attraction with hundreds of people there, but the tours are small, with only 7 or 8 people. Our tour guide was surprised that Rafael and I not only knew all of her questions (What are the three most expensive spices in the world?....1. Saffron, 2. Vanilla, 3. Cardamon) but that we also knew the names of all of the spices in Hindi (thanks to my cooking/shopping for 8 years or so in India). She kept asking us if we had been to the spice plantation before. Rafael tried his hand at climbing a betal nut tree after watching one of the workers shoot up it...but he wasn't able to really get more than 3 feet off the ground! We also visited an old Portugese home, and were led around by the occupant (because the regular tour guide hadn't arrived yet!) It was really amazing to see the grand house and all of it's fine antiques and old photos.
We had a plan to continue to Hampi to visit the ruins of the Vijay Nagar Empire, but Andzrej and Waldemar were enjoying themselves so much on the beach that we just decided to stay in Goa for the remainder of their trip.
We flew to Delhi a day before their departure for last minute shopping! All in all they had a very good experience and were very happy with us for taking them around!
