Landing in Mumbai

June 12th 10:30 am--Looking out the window (which is difficult since my seat is in the middle of the 9 seats across that this plane holds) all I can see is a heavy thick curtain of smoggy gray matter laying atop what I assume to be Mumbai. It's either a very foggy day today or the pollution here is more disgusting than LA. I'm suspecting the latter. After we land, the first thing I notice is the wave of hot wet air covering my skin. I always notice a similar feeling when landing in San Diego after having been in dry Wyoming, but this is worse. So this is what 85% humidity in 90 degree weather feels like. The second thing I notice is the smell, which is constantly changing as we walk through the gate and through customs and baggage claim. The one thing that doesn't change about the smell in this airport/city is that it isn't a pleasant smell. At first it is a dusky, salty smell; Kelsey says it smells like her swim bag in high school after forgetting to pull your suit out from the weekend meet. "Yeah, and when you left a salty soggy peanut bar in their too," I think to myself. Next it starts to smell like something similar to what I think a garbage can full of chicken and sweat might smell like. And the strange smells go on from there...I think you can imagine.

After waiting nearly 45 minutes for the last 3 of our (including one of my) bags which we were sure were lost, they finally arrived. I was happy and extremely relieved to find out we could check our bags again prior to getting on the shuttle. We then took the shuttle bus to the terminal where domestic flights depart. After selecting a window seat I couldn't help but notice a view somewhat similar to the landfill housing I remember from La Gloria, Mexico. It was tin houses with blue tarps for roofs or walls. They were stacked on top of each other and bordered right up next to the airport's tarmac. It looked just like what they show in that slumdog millionaire movie. There's construction going on all over this airport and workers were scattered across the tarmac, all trying to get a good look at the 10 american girls on the bus. Once we got to our terminal we all took a seat. Some fell asleep, some are reading, some went in search of food. Michelle already had an interesting experience in the bathroom where some sort of water was sprayed in the air and fell on top of her head. When she came out to tell us she was half laughing half crying...I decided to avoid this bathroom for now, though I'm sure we'll encounter worse. And now we wait for our final leg of the journey, the quick 2 hour flight from Mumbai to Coimbatore. Though this is one of our shorter layovers it feels the longest to me. I hope they have food for us when we arrive...or its special k bars and crystal light for dinner...yum.

Update: tried the bathrooms, not so bad. Just got on the plane...90% Indian male passengers...you can imagine the looks that 10 american girls would receive. Oh and don't worry, I'm estimating 10% of these men were wearing deodorant.