Welcome to Bangalore

Our itinerary for today said "long and tiring travel day". We took a 3 hour flight from Delhi to Bangalore ( aka Bangaluru). When we stepped out of the airport we all smiled at the pleasant 25 C temperature! What an unexpected and pleasant surprise. It felt like we had just landed in San Diego, well more humid, but very pleasant. We both thought that the south would be hotter and more uncomfortable. We met our new driver, I still can't get is name right, something to work on tomorrow. The drive to Coorg was very long. About a third of the way there we stopped at McDonalds for lunch. Yes, there is only chicken, veggie, or paneer (type of cheese) burgers served at the big M in India. We wolfed down a belly full of chicken nuggets and fries and headed out again. The roads here are wider and less crowded than in the north. The people in the towns seemed more relaxed, even the cows look a bit plump here. Our new driver is no Vinah. We didn't know how good we had it with him. Brian said that he had several "butt clenching scares" up in the front seat on our drive today. We drove for what felt like an eternity. The kids took it all in stride with the DSs going. We had to stop and ask for directions several times, and he stopped in the middle of the road to read the map. We turned off on a muddy dirt road that really required a four wheel drive. We bounced along for a while and came across four guys walking, so we asked for directions again. I passed forward the contact numbers to call for directions but we were out of cell range. Did I mention that the road was very narrow and along a hill? We stared to look for a spot to turn around. I was concerned. Once he found a slightly wider spot to turn around, I just bowed my head and prayed to God that we didn't get stuck out here on this remote dirt road in India. We made the turn, returned to cell range and found the gate. We were on the right road all along. We arrived at an adorable house set in the middle of a dense forest/coffee plantation. We are spending three nights at this home stay. It was totally worth the drive. Once we got settled, we took the kids out back to swim in the pool. It was drizzling a bit, but this is the rainy season and the monsoon really means something down here. I pulled out my extra layers, just as I was beginning to think that I didn't need them. We had a home cooked Indian meal out side on the porch. Our kind host included some mac and cheese on the menu for the kids. Dessert was flan with a sweet coffee syrup. What a wonderful treat. We all stuffed ourselves. We will sleep well tonight as we are lulled to sleep by the chirping bugs and frogs, and the light dripping of water on the roof.